Aging flock. What do you do? Thoughts??

[Kuntry Klucker]

Hi All,

I need some of you thoughts. I have a flock of BO's that are 5 years old this summer.
I have noticed that egg production has dropped off quite a bit. Molts take longer,
and all in all they are not as productive as they used to be.

I am quite attached to my birds, so killing them does not bode well with me.
When I got them, I knew they would be backyard pets. Some people put dogs
in their backyard, we put a flock of chickens.

They are still great at insect control, they till my gardens, make great fertilizer which I put on my gardens, and all in all
buddies in the backyard and still useful in other ways beyond egg laying.

I have two indoor cats that don't give me anything physically such as eggs or what not.
they do occasionally bring me a toy mouse in the mornings but that is about it, as far a gifts go.

That being said, as they age I keep retuning to the same question that keep popping in my head.
Should I let them live out their years or should I send them to rainbow bridge. What is best for them?

What so you all do with your aging flocks? How long can I expect BO's to live? What are you thoughts?
Would it be crazy to choose to let them live out their remaining yeas in hentirement?
I am having a hard time finding the fine line between live stock and pets. Does anyone else struggle with that?

Here are a few pics of my set up if you are interested in their digs.

Thanks in advance

 

[Mrs. K]

Look at individual birds. As mine got old, you could tell they were getting stiffer, and in more pain. Any like that, especially going into winter, I would put down. One can always bury it and plant a rosebush.

I am surprissed with all those BO's, that one of them has not gone broody? Try piling up a nest with 6-8 golf balls (this is a new theory of mine, getting you to help collect data) see if one will go broody. Summer is a prime time to do it. IF so, get some chicks and put under her.

I am thinking that nature will soon begin to thin your flock, personally, it took me a while, but I am loving a multi-generational flock. Chicks raised in the flock are a joy to behold, and the flock quickly accepts them. You get so many advantages to multiple ages, youth will lay all through the dark days of winter, older birds know the territory and lay bigger eggs.

Culling is hard, but it is better if you add a few, lose a few each year.

Mrs K

ps: BEAUTIFUL SETUP!

 

[ECBW]

Between live stock and pets, there is hobby.

No, I won't take my chicken to a vet and spend hundreds like I do with my lazy cats and dogs.

I would give them back to the farm or sell them to others for food.

 

[Kuntry Klucker]

Look at individual birds. As mine got old, you could tell they were getting stiffer, and in more pain. Any like that, especially going into winter, I would put down. One can always bury it and plant a rosebush.

I am surprissed with all those BO's, that one of them has not gone broody? Try piling up a nest with 6-8 golf balls (this is a new theory of mine, getting you to help collect data) see if one will go broody. Summer is a prime time to do it. IF so, get some chicks and put under her.

I am thinking that nature will soon begin to thin your flock, personally, it took me a while, but I am loving a multi-generational flock. Chicks raised in the flock are a joy to behold, and the flock quickly accepts them. You get so many advantages to multiple ages, youth will lay all through the dark days of winter, older birds know the territory and lay bigger eggs.

Culling is hard, but it is better if you add a few, lose a few each year.

Mrs K

ps: BEAUTIFUL SETUP!

Thanks so much for your post. I have had a few go broody and hatch a few clutches for me. It was fun to watch them grow up to adult birds.
Each has its own personality and is quite fun to interact with.

Glad you like the set up. It is a hobby of mine keeping up with the coop and such.

 

[Toddrick]

Your BO's laid edible eggs for five years? Did the shell change after the first couple years?

 

[Kuntry Klucker]

Between live stock and pets, there is hobby.

No, I won't take my chicken to a vet and spend hundreds like I do with my lazy cats and dogs.

I would give them back to the farm or sell them to others for food.

Yea, they are very much a hobby. I do not treat them like live stock but I also do not put the emotion and dollars into them like I do my house cats.

I would never take them to a vet, there is not one around here that would take a chicken anyway. Some will make house calls for horses and other
large animals but not for chickens. When they go I just let them go. I don't try to fight too hard unless I know that it is something that I can fix.

If it is beyond me, I just love them and let them go to the next life. I do enjoy my birds and they are very much a hobby for me. They keep me busy and give
me something to do as a stay at home mom.

 

[Kuntry Klucker]

Your BO's laid edible eggs for five years? Did the shell change after the first couple years?

they are still laying. I will get about 2 a day from 12 girls. The shells are pretty much the same. They are hard and the eggs are rather large.
I give them oyster shells for the hard shells and feed them treats a lot, I am not sure if that makes a big difference or not.

 

[Toddrick]

they are still laying. I will get about 2 a day from 12 girls. The shells are pretty much the same. They are hard and the eggs are rather large.
I give them oyster shells for the hard shells and feed them treats a lot, I am not sure if that makes a big difference or not.

Just curious because my sister's RSL's laid big brown eggs every day for two years and then they molted, and the eggs became horrible looking. From what I hear production breeds, especially RSL's tend to fizzle out after two to three years like that. I guess the BO is not so much a production breed, or at least not to the extent of a lot of the Reds. I know American (hatchery) BO's are bred more for production than heritage breeds, but it sounds like they might have better longevity than the very high production Reds (maybe it's because their eggs are smaller IDK).

The reason I'm keen to find out about this topic is because I crossed my Red with a BO. Plus, I am currently crossing my sister's RSL's with one of those roosters. Hoping the BO infusion keeps the eggs at least edible for a couple more years, even if they lay less frequently.

I've learned a heck of a lot about chickens, but how they age is something that will take years to gain first hand experience with!

 

[Monguire]

What I've discovered of myself in the course of my chicken husbandry...my feelings on the chickens have swung back and forth like a pendulum. When researching chooks on BYC before we made the jump, I made a conscious decision to treat them as livestock and manage them thus. After getting our first fuzzy-butts and watching them grow up into the distinct personalities that make up our wonderful flock, my resolve started to falter and I very much started thinking of them/treating them as pets.

When sickness hit in late winter and we lost one (and almost three others) after long nights keeping them comfortable and hydrated, I realized that the self-inflicted emotional trauma associated with all the myriad critters/conditions that kill chickens was ultimately not worth the investment. At this point in time, I think the pendulum has more or less centered itself. The bulk of the flock are livestock that will live in a happy, healthy environment while providing me eggs. When egg production drops off AND if they have no other worthy merits (excellent brooder/mama, calm authority/flock stability, etc), into the freezer they go.

There are however a special FEW that either through personality and/or actions have endeared themselves to me and will live out their natural lives in my care. My matronly BO fits this description. She is my lap-chicken (one of the 3 out of 13 chooks) but she rises above the others because she is soooo very inquisitive, talkative and human-friendly in addition to being almost show-quality in her appearance and a calm, benevolent dictator over all the hens. I don't have the decades of experience that some folks on BYC have with chooks, but I do have a keen eye for the exceptional and this BO has it in spades. I will mercy-cull if health deteriorates to the point of suffering but otherwise, she'll never know the knife.

I think everyone has to determine (through time, trauma and experience) where center is for them. Flock-management is never so simple as "doubling my hens means doubling my eggs, YAY!" That's the paradox of chicken math. A linear increase in population yields exponential increase in noise, poop-load, behavioral issues and emotional stress (for the keeper). Everyone should have a realistic plan on how to manage their flock to wherever their comfortable center is. I very much like topics like this that stimulate discussion of such!

Owing to all the "plans" that were rendered "overcome by events" and all of the emotional trauma/anguish suffered on this wonderful journey of chook husbandry, I'm very much of the opinion that if Mother Nature and Murphy got together and had a baby, it would be a chicken.

 

[Kuntry Klucker]

What I've discovered of myself in the course of my chicken husbandry...my feelings on the chickens have swung back and forth like a pendulum. When researching chooks on BYC before we made the jump, I made a conscious decision to treat them as livestock and manage them thus. After getting our first fuzzy-butts and watching them grow up into the distinct personalities that make up our wonderful flock, my resolve started to falter and I very much started thinking of them/treating them as pets.

When sickness hit in late winter and we lost one (and almost three others) after long nights keeping them comfortable and hydrated, I realized that the self-inflicted emotional trauma associated with all the myriad critters/conditions that kill chickens was ultimately not worth the investment. At this point in time, I think the pendulum has more or less centered itself. The bulk of the flock are livestock that will live in a happy, healthy environment while providing me eggs. When egg production drops off AND if they have no other worthy merits (excellent brooder/mama, calm authority/flock stability, etc), into the freezer they go.

There are however a special FEW that either through personality and/or actions have endeared themselves to me and will live out their natural lives in my care. My matronly BO fits this description. She is my lap-chicken (one of the 3 out of 13 chooks) but she rises above the others because she is soooo very inquisitive, talkative and human-friendly in addition to being almost show-quality in her appearance and a calm, benevolent dictator over all the hens. I don't have the decades of experience that some folks on BYC have with chooks, but I do have a keen eye for the exceptional and this BO has it in spades. I will mercy-cull if health deteriorates to the point of suffering but otherwise, she'll never know the knife.

I think everyone has to determine (through time, trauma and experience) where center is for them. Flock-management is never so simple as "doubling my hens means doubling my eggs, YAY!" That's the paradox of chicken math. A linear increase in population yields exponential increase in noise, poop-load, behavioral issues and emotional stress (for the keeper). Everyone should have a realistic plan on how to manage their flock to wherever their comfortable center is. I very much like topics like this that stimulate discussion of such!

Owing to all the "plans" that were rendered "overcome by events" and all of the emotional trauma/anguish suffered on this wonderful journey of chook husbandry, I'm very much of the opinion that if Mother Nature and Murphy got together and had a baby, it would be a chicken.

you have a very logical and rational approach to this, thank you for sharing your opinion. I guess I am still working on my center. When I got them I knew that they would
not be eaten, they would be pets. I wanted a pet chicken for a while. Since you cannot get just a chicken (they are social animals) I got a small flock. I have 13 right now.
I had more but they died for this or that reason, I don't really know they were just dead. burial was not hard, just had to be done. Now that they are 5 I look for this to happen more.
I guess what I am dreading is the time that I have to mercy kill because they are in such pain or such bad condition. I don't really know how (physically) to kill like that without
making it worse for them or it emotionally I would be able to. Maybe if they are is such pain that I might find it easy to slit their throat and let them go into the next life.
I have never had to kill a pet before, and cannot afford to have a vet do all of them. I will have to at some point grow and do it on my own. It will be hard.

I guess that leads to my next question. What is the best method. I have heard of kill cones, cutting off the head with an ax, braking the neck. all sound terrible. which is the most humane for both animal and human who has a weak stomach.

I guess that is the part of keeping chickens that I don't like.