Culling older birds?

[MROO]

Do you take out older birds from your flock and if so, at what age? We have very limited space in our coop plus feed costs are double of what they were, so I can’t justify keeping birds that aren’t laying well. At the same time I have a hard time justifying culling them too. Our oldest birds are 3 years, so they’re not old old, but they are laying less frequently and one of them hasn’t laid in a year. We lost a couple of birds in the last year so I’ve gotten eggs to hatch but I am still struggling with deciding who to cull and whether to cull at all. Our rooster is also 3 years and as far as I’ve understood he is less useful for fertilizing eggs by now.

A three year old hen with no eggs for a year? Before you start weeding out low-producers, you may want to do a parasite check. What breed is she? Even the production mixes, like the stars or comets, will continue laying past the 18 month commercial culling point. They just slow down some. Mites and many other nuisances, can cut production significantly. Good luck!