Retirement Ladies

Retiring Egg Laying Flock Description

The bottom of the page shows a selection of our egg laying flock that are due for retirement. Our retirement ladies come from our egg-producing flock and most are still laying but won’t be expected to lay an egg every day. When a chicken gets older, then her laying capacity will tail off. Some might even lay very infrequently. They are all in good health and would like to find a nice home, preferably in a small laying flock so that they can enjoy their well-earned rest.

Our retirement “policy”

All our girls get to live out their lives here till their natural demise if they are not re-homed. None are ever “dispatched” just because they no longer lay enough, or lay at all. Egg numbers are not that important to us, their good health is. Our retirement option is not a “rescue hen” situation because their fate is not in dispute or ever at risk. They get to live their full natural lifespan either way.

What to expect from our retirement girls

Our retirement selection is usually done in Autumn. As they have been with a cockerel for some time they could be looking a little “careworn” for example, they may look somewhat scruffy. Cockerels are truly magnificent birds, but their “bedroom manners” are not very tender. As they mate every 10 minutes, they do cause some feather damage or loss at times to our girls. When a cockerel has a favourite (usually the easiest or most submissive hen) then she will have more feather loss than most. The feather loss pattern will be around the top of their heads and mid backs due to being firmly grasped and trodden on by the cock bird.

Feathers will grow back in a few weeks with some TLC, a good diet, and some girly “me” time. Depending on the time of year some hens may be in moult (annual phenomenon) and as a result may resemble a hedgehog in parts while they are in the process of growing their new finery. They are all in excellent health.

Expected Lifespan

The lifespan of our retirement ladies is not expected to be very long as they are often 2-3 years old come retirement. Egg laying takes it out of hens however many eggs they have produced thus far. We find the average hen lives 4-5 years in good health. As in humans things can happen which alter the normal expected lifespan so nothing is guaranteed.

Prices

Hens are priced individually according to age and breed. Please ask for details of our availability as it changes regularly. See below for the individual birds profiles. Hopefully they will be living with you soon 🙂

Laying Flock Breed Size

They are all classified as large fowl. Some are light and some are heavy.

Breed Temperament

All our egg-laying flock are pretty docile with no real squabbles going on. They are all good-natured girls.

Eggs

You may get some eggs from these girls below. They are medium/large sized and pale cream coloured.

Chickens Currently Looking for Retirement

We have three large fowl heavy hens looking for rehoming. They are approx 3 years old. I am getting 1 to 2 eggs a day from the group but I have no idea who is producing them. These beautiful hens were rehomed with me due to their owner moving house and being unable to take them with them. Buff Brahma and Faverolles hens are to be rehomed as a group as they are an established flock so it would be unfair to split them up. I have treated them for lice and worms as a precaution and they have been in quarantine for 3 weeks. Both Brahma and Faverolles comes into lay at over 35 weeks of age, so they are not old old. They have taken a while to get going in laying eggs, but the eggs are a very good size, now they are laying. Brahma will probably go broody at some stage, but not overly so in my experience with them. The Faverolles hen is a non-standard colour and has a cream body and blue tip to her tail and neck hackles. They are £20 each. An adult Brahma or Faverolles is normally £35. They have a lovely calm temperament so will make excellent garden pets.

They are a large bird similar in size to an Orpington and just as fluffy. They have feathered feet also unlike an Orpington.