Butchering a broody hen

[victoriasews]

Is it ok to butcher and eat a broody hen. She has gone broody 3 times in less than a year and has only laid a dozen eggs in the year since she was a chick last spring, so I want to cull her but didn't know if the hormones would affect the meat.

 

[Molpet]

Broody hens are dry. They use their fat up sitting.

 

[New duck mommy 2021]

Is it ok to butcher and eat a broody hen. She has gone broody 3 times in less than a year and has only laid a dozen eggs in the year since she was a chick last spring, so I want to cull her but didn't know if the hormones would affect the meat.

Have you let her sit on eggs and hatch ? Just wondering if this would cause her to start laying normal again after

 

[Ridgerunner]

Welcome to the forum from Louisiana. Glad you joined.

Is it ok to butcher and eat a broody hen.

Interesting question. I have butchered a hen when she was broody and did not notice any real difference from other mature hens. I bred my hens to go broody so most older hens I butcher have been broody a few times in their life. You just need to cook them like a mature hen, which yours is.

 

[victoriasews]

Have you let her sit on eggs and hatch ? Just wondering if this would cause her to start laying normal again after

We don't have a rooster so no eggs will be fertile. I did get her 4 baby chicks but she would rather sit on a hard rock than snuggle in the babies. Unfortunately, I am now raising 4 chicks in a tub again.

 

[New duck mommy 2021]

We don't have a rooster so no eggs will be fertile. I did get her 4 baby chicks but she would rather sit on a hard rock than snuggle in the babies. Unfortunately, I am now raising 4 chicks in a tub again.

Baby chicks are different to sitting
But I understand your frustration

 

[FunClucks]

We don't have a rooster so no eggs will be fertile. I did get her 4 baby chicks but she would rather sit on a hard rock than snuggle in the babies. Unfortunately, I am now raising 4 chicks in a tub again.

Mine accepted a baby she didn't hatch just fine. Sorry yours wouldn't.

 

[Morrigan]

How old were the chicks you introduced her to and how did you go about it? In my experience it is the very rare broody who will not take foster chicks provided the hen has been broody for over 10 days, the chicks are younger than 4 days old, and you introduced the chicks at night. I know this advice is a little late for this hen, but in case it helps in the future.

Only once, did I have a broody not accept the chicks to foster. I butchered that broody and used the meat to make sausage. Taste was perfectly normal for an older hen.

 

[victoriasews]

The hen had been broody for a couple of weeks and the chicks were introduced the day I bought them at Tractor Supply. The first guy said he thought they were 3 days but they looked a little older than that to me and a guy I talked to later said they had been about a week because I told him they had little tails started. The chicks were introduced in the evening. The hen talked to them but never took them under her wings. I checked every now and then and the chicks were always huddled in a corner. It began to chill a little more than I was comfortable leaving them unattended, so I took them inside and put them in a tub.

 

[3KillerBs]

If the hen is freeloading and not meeting your needs it's fine to cull her.