Feeding advice for bantams (one broody, one moulting)

[Lucia]

Hmmm, Had a conversation with someone yesterday who stated to me (he is not a chicken person) that it was pointless keeping my hens after they were 36 mths old as after that age the eggs produced are nutritionally compromised/much lower in protein and you never got that with eggs bought at the supermarket even from battery eggs but especially if they were free range!?!

 

I did ask him if he knew that the eggs on the shelf in the supermarket were usually weeks old and as such I would think that would have an impact on the eggs nutrition, that eggs from happy naturally kept hens would surely be better than eggs from a battery hen even if it was from an 'elderly' hen and he had clearly never enjoyed the taste of a newly laid egg! (He also seemed to be missing the point of why I have hens and looked at me like I was a weirdo when I said that we wouldnt be eating the hens!)

 

Now I plan to keep my hens until they pop their clogs but is there any substance to his assertion?

[Angels4]

I wouldn't thinks so...... The girls continue to eat the same foods throughout their life, so their nutrition would be the same. He must be confused.

[Egluntyne]

I think your answer is in your first sentence

 

(he is not a chicken person)

[Budgies]

I would be much happier to eat an egg from an old girl happy hen in your garden than I would eating an egg from an 8 month old battery hen, put it like that!!

 

Incidentally, when I spoke to Shaun at Wernlas earlier today, he said he knows of a 16 year old chicken who still lays the occasional egg!

[Ain't Nobody Here]

I wonder what exactly he was basing these facts on . Read it on the internet or summat, no doubt .

 

Incidentally, when I spoke to Shaun at Wernlas earlier today, he said he knows of a 16 year old chicken who still lays the occasional egg!

 

Wow . How brilliant .

[Lucia]

Thanks guys - as I thought..........very nice chap but as I say - not a chicken person.