What do you do with old chickens that stop laying?

An old thread but great topic. My sister started most of her chicks at the same time, and then 5-6 years later ended up with only one regularly-laying hen because she was the youngest. I wanted to avoid that, so I plan on getting a few new chicks every year (plus, my kids are 7 and 9; how great is it to get to play with chicks every spring as a kid?! OK, it's great as a grown up too!). That way, my flock is never comprised of chickens all the same age.

(Apparently you should do this with car-buying as well. You don't want to wind up having both people needing a new car at the same time; it's much easier if someone always has a car about 5 years older than the other person's car, then repairs and replacement costs rarely line up in the same year).

My sister wound up with a chicken with cancer who died this year and a blind chicken that did fine for 6+ years until she disappeared this spring, so she never did have to cull the old birds. Then again, she only has 1 layer and a few chicks right now, so she's not getting many eggs. I hope that mine die of natural causes as they get older, but we are not opposed to eating them if they are not laying and are not favorites (some I just know we will keep until the day they die, no matter what).

Brooke 1 said:

We have decided to get chickens. Working on designing a coop, talking to other chicken “farmers” and deciding what kind of chickens we want base on egg production, and temperament of the birds and reading the internet and Raising Chickens for Dummies. However, during dinner this evening, my wife asked me what we would do with the chickens after a few years and they stop laying. Now I am asking you, what do we do? We are both animal lovers and want to have maybe 10 or so chickens for eggs for us and our neighbors.

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If you look around you will find many people ( such as myself) take in old lady hens. I have no interest in the eggs being a vegan. I allow them to live out their lives. I love hens. They take a while to settle in but we keep many for as long as five years after they stop laying. Its also interesting that many people kick them out since they stop laying but actually they still occasionally lay the odd egg. My dogs are happy recipients of the odd egg they do lay. Depends how many you want and how much you love them. Over they last 10 years I have taken in lots of groups old hens. I currently have 4 tho when I took them were 5. They were supposed to be around 4 when we took them in and that was 3 years ago so sad to end there lives before you must. They get to free range when I am at home but not when I am at work because we do have foxes. I note you are in Bedford? Is that Bedford UK? I am up near Rugby if you need a home for a few hens a few years down the line. I keep saying these are the last but there always seems to be some more come along.

brax said:

I note you are in Bedford? Is that Bedford UK? I am up near Rugby if you need a home for a few hens a few years down the line.

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That is a kind offer @brax , but that post is 9 years old.

Ours retire with us. If they've given us their eggs their whole lives they deserve to stay as pets and pest control for the rest of their lives.
My oldest chicken is 12.
If you choose to eat yours the thing people did with old birds where I come from was use them for soup.
'Suppenhuhn'
I guess the cooking and water makes even tough old birds palatable

It really helps not to keep chickens, as in these particular birds, but rather plan on keeping a flock, and birds come into and go out of the flock. I add and sometimes have to subtract birds nearly every year, sometimes several times a year depending on my luck.

It is best to have a multi-generational flock, so say you plan to get a dozen birds, build for that, but don't fill it the first year. Get 6 birds, add 3-4 more the next year, chances are you will loose a few, one way or the other, add 3-4 the next. By the fourth year, you will have lots of experience, and you might have to cull some birds, or sell some older birds to make way for the new... you are keeping a flock.

Mrs K