Economic impacts of longer lay cycle in Canada: Evidence across different housing systems and hen strains

Recent advancements in genetics and management practices have enabled laying hens to sustain high productivity and egg quality for laying period of up to 80-100 weeks. However, despite these gains and evidence showing the adoption of longer lay cycles (LLC) in the United States and Europe, Canadian egg production remains largely anchored to a 51-week cycle, with laying rates exceeding 90% at culling. Producer hesitancy may reflect the absence of farm‑level economic analyses across bird strains and housing systems. This study addresses this gap by evaluating the economic impacts of LLC across aviary, enriched, and conventional systems using farm-level data from 20 commercial flocks across Canada, with lay cycle duration ranging from 50 to 67 weeks. We apply partial budgeting and econometric modeling to evaluate the impacts of LLC on profitability. Results indicate that on average, across housing systems and bird strains, each additional week beyond 51 weeks increases producer profit per dozen eggs sold by an average of 1.2%. Optimal length of lay is estimated at 62 weeks in current market and production conditions. Although based on a limited sample and not generalizable to the entire Canadian egg sector, these findings provide empirical evidence to Canadian egg producers on the potential economic viability of LLC across different housing system and bird strain combinations.