Layer hens

Layer hens are the egg flock. They are lighter than meat chickens, with the frame and the appetite of a bird that has to lay, not bulk up. On a farm they live for a laying year or longer. A broiler is usually gone to the kitchen in a matter of weeks.

People mix the names up. A layer gives you the egg. A broiler — sometimes called a brailer — gives you the chicken meat. Spent layers can be cooked, but they are not the bird we raise when someone asks for meat. They are older, leaner, and better in a long stew than as a quick roast.

A pullet reaches point of lay around 18 to 22 weeks. Production climbs, holds a peak, then eases. In that first year a good layer lays on most days. Eggs may be small at the start and more even later.

Later, many hens molt: they drop feathers, pause, and grow a new coat. Laying slows or stops during the molt, then returns. Daylight matters. Short winter days can slow a flock unless the birds get enough light.

A mixed flock can give brown, cream, and tinted shells together. Lohmann Brown hens are the brown-egg layers we explain on their own page. The egg itself is the same kind of food whatever the shell color.

Room, daylight, and a nest that stays clean. Layer feed, with calcium for the shell, plus water they can always reach. Hens that can walk outside tend to give yolks with more color, because green feed shows up in the yolk.

We collect eggs by hand. If you want birds of your own, ask about layers. If you want dinner, ask about broilers or rabbit. The layer stays for the basket.