Thereby ant disturbed layer (7,3)

I believe the answer is:

battery hen

'layer' is the definition.
(animal which lays eggs)

'thereby ant disturbed' is the wordplay.
'disturbed' indicates anagramming the letters.
'thereby'+'ant'='therebyant'
'therebyant' with letters rearranged gives 'BATTERY HEN'.

I've seen this clue in The Times.

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