Do you replace your hens when they start to molt?

[Mrs. K]

I am tempted to butcher, as she has nearly all the feathers gone! Good grief, do I have one in a hard molt

 

[SD Bird Lady]

That is your call. I have no problem with you butchering her. But, if you want to put things in perspective to feed a replacement to POL it will most likely be less cost effective then giving her some cat food on the side for a month or two.

 

[cafarmgirl]

My younger flock turned 1 year old on Sept. 4. In the last month 6 of the 8 are molting heavily, not laying a single egg. The other two show no sign of molting and are laying every day. So if I decided to slaughter birds every time they molted I'd be out most of this young flock and starting over, paying to raise pullets to laying age again. Doesn't make sense.