I have to ask, where is this?
Raised 3 chickens solely for egg production -- and after a year, only one is laying successfully.
- Thread starter Jellycat
- Start date
I have to ask, where is this?
For organic feed that is coarsely ground, I ferment it and they clean up all the fines because they're bound up in the fermented gruel.
Lots of places disallow killing chickens.
Lots of places disallow killing chickens.
Where I live, it's also illegal to kill your own chickens. I live in town and it makes sense. They don't want people running chicken processing operations in their backyards. I understand that.
You've gotten a lot of good advice and I do hope you can get your girls laying for you. The only thing I can add is what is, in my opinion, the next best thing to culling the chickens yourself. I understand not wanting to because you have grown attached to them and everything, but the world simply can't hold all of the non producing chickens. There is no chicken retirement home where all the chickens who don't produce anymore go to live happily ever after. There are people who don't mind a non laying bird or two, but those people already have all the birds they want, likely. As difficult as it is, you may have to accept that culling is probably the only option if you don't want to keep them. Since you personally are not allowed to do it, you can either find someone to do it for you (often you can find people who will do it for a fee and you get the bird back ready to eat) or you gave give them away with the understanding that someone is going to eat them.
When I started my flock, I hatched my eggs. This was my very first experience with hatching and chickens in general. I hatched 15 chicks. The legal limit where I live is 4, no roosters. 5 of my chicks were roosters. My 3 young kids and I loved on them from the day they were hatched until the day I gave them away, knowing that for the most part, they would end up being eaten. I see people all the time on facebook groups and CL trying to give birds away "to a home that won't cull" and that's just not realistic. My only stipulation and hope is that they were dealt with humanely.
I don't know what other option there is if you don't want to keep them but aren't allowed to cull them. There just simply aren't enough homes for all the birds that people get attached to but not enough to keep themselves. I don't mean this to sound harsh in any way, but for a non laying hen there are really only 2 options. Either keep her yourself if you don't want her to be eaten, or let someone do it and move on. There just aren't a heck of a lot of people out there wanting to take in all the non laying hens out there.
I guess one other thought is you might find someone who will take them to see if they can get them laying (so giving them away with the understanding that they don't lay regularly) but you have to understand that if they don't, they are going to be culled and you don't have any control over that.
You've gotten a lot of good advice and I do hope you can get your girls laying for you. The only thing I can add is what is, in my opinion, the next best thing to culling the chickens yourself. I understand not wanting to because you have grown attached to them and everything, but the world simply can't hold all of the non producing chickens. There is no chicken retirement home where all the chickens who don't produce anymore go to live happily ever after. There are people who don't mind a non laying bird or two, but those people already have all the birds they want, likely. As difficult as it is, you may have to accept that culling is probably the only option if you don't want to keep them. Since you personally are not allowed to do it, you can either find someone to do it for you (often you can find people who will do it for a fee and you get the bird back ready to eat) or you gave give them away with the understanding that someone is going to eat them.
When I started my flock, I hatched my eggs. This was my very first experience with hatching and chickens in general. I hatched 15 chicks. The legal limit where I live is 4, no roosters. 5 of my chicks were roosters. My 3 young kids and I loved on them from the day they were hatched until the day I gave them away, knowing that for the most part, they would end up being eaten. I see people all the time on facebook groups and CL trying to give birds away "to a home that won't cull" and that's just not realistic. My only stipulation and hope is that they were dealt with humanely.
I don't know what other option there is if you don't want to keep them but aren't allowed to cull them. There just simply aren't enough homes for all the birds that people get attached to but not enough to keep themselves. I don't mean this to sound harsh in any way, but for a non laying hen there are really only 2 options. Either keep her yourself if you don't want her to be eaten, or let someone do it and move on. There just aren't a heck of a lot of people out there wanting to take in all the non laying hens out there.
I guess one other thought is you might find someone who will take them to see if they can get them laying (so giving them away with the understanding that they don't lay regularly) but you have to understand that if they don't, they are going to be culled and you don't have any control over that.
I guess it never crossed my mind that a place would allow chickens but not allow for the inevitable culling that would go with chicken keeping. I can understand not wanting backyard processing operations but I figured FDA and USDA regulations had that part covered. To me it seems a bit of an overreach to keep someone from eating their own livestock without having to break the law or pay extra for processing.
Oh look, there's the train rails...
Well to be honest, while I understand the reasons for it, the two roosters from my hatch that we ate were processed in our backyard. What the neighbors couldn't see didn't hurt them....
When I fought my city and they relented and wrote a chicken ordinance it allows for processing as long as it isn't viewable from off the property.
- Apr 8, 2015
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The OP mentioned they don't want to cull them previously so laws regarding whether they can or not really have no relevance here.
I think the only options are attempt to work on making her produce more eggs by altering her diet as Nupe mentioned (which may or may not work) or rehome her.
I think the only options are attempt to work on making her produce more eggs by altering her diet as Nupe mentioned (which may or may not work) or rehome her.
I don't blame you a bit. Good fences make good neighbors.
Good for you!
Hence the derailing comment...
That is why I mentioned rehoming with the understanding that they may be culled...it's just something for the OP to think about, they have a lot of options to look into and have been given a lot of very good ideas.
Everyone with chickens needs to understand up front that for all laying hens approximately 90% of their alternate sex brothers will be culled.
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