Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
year. Many other breeds lay far fewer. Even individuals within a single breed will lay at
different rates. In a commercial farm setting, birds that lay fewer eggs than the average
for their breed are culled.
Just as a hen will lay less or not lay at all when she's getting less than 15 hours of light
(see page 102), production will slow down when temperatures fall below 45°F (7°C) or
rise above 80° (27°C). She will also stop laying when she molts (see page 107).
A pullet will reach full productivity when she's thirty to thirty-four weeks old, and her
eggs will be a normal size by that point. Hens reach their peak in the spring, and a good
layer will fill your basket with five to six eggs a week. After she molts, her eggs will be
larger but slightly fewer.
Once a hen turns three years old, she's past her prime, and you'll notice a considerable
drop in production. She may continue to lay until she's ten or twelve, though in steadily
decreasing numbers.
SHELL COLOR
Depending on the breed, eggshells can be white, cream, tan, blue, green, pink, even a
brown so dark it's brick red. As a rule, hens with white earlobes (yes, they're called
earlobes) lay white eggs, and hens with red earlobes lay brown eggs. Like every rule,
there are exceptions to this one, and we're not even factoring in the Araucana and
Ameraucana breeds, which lay those blue beauties. Some slight variations in hue aside,
each hen will lay eggs of a specific color—unless she is stressed or ill (which will result
in paler brown eggs) or aging (ditto).
A breed's earlobe color determines the color of its eggs .
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