Lots of eggs, but not at every price
The laying hen is the representative of the chicken breeds bred for egg production. We are not talking about laying hybrids here. These specimens are usually not suitable for fattening and are relatively good flyers due to their lower weight. In terms of temperament, laying hens are also often more active than their heavier counterparts and are also good feed converters. Laying hens lay best in their first year and this decreases steadily from year to year until they stop laying altogether. With some breeds this can be as early as 3 – 4 years of age, while others still lay a few eggs occasionally. The laying performance can also be influenced by the feed. The more protein and nutrients a hen is fed, the better it will lay, but it will also stop laying earlier. This is because a hen already has the full number of eggs in her ovaries on the day she is born and when the eggs are empty there are no more eggs.
In the industry, the male chicks of laying breeds are killed on the day they hatch, as they are of no use.
As a laying hen is not slaughtered early for eating - it is supposed to lay eggs - and this is usually only done after 2 - 3 years, it is often only suitable for a soup chicken or fricassee, for example. But even if they don't put on as much meat and fat, they are still a thousand times tastier than the chicken from the supermarket.
Here are some examples of laying breeds
Ancona
Araucana
Barnevelder
Brakel
Hambuger
Lakenfelder
Leghorn
Rhinelander
Wyandotte