For those with legal chicken limits...

[AmeliaBedelia]

For those of you who legally can't have more than a certain number of chickens, do you keep them their whole lives or cycle them out to make room for new ones? If you switch them out, what age do you do so?

I am not legally allowed to process chickens on my property, just FYI. I'd be rehoming them, not eating them. If that makes a difference.

So far, we have two small "batches" of chickens, 1 year old and new chicks.

 

[0die]

either have a BBQ or give them away after they stop producing.

 

[chickentrains]

Following, I love my girls but we are only allowed 6 (haha we have 7 )..

 

[RojoMarz]

I've seen several mentions of a 'three year' type plan. Year 1, add group A. Year 2, add group B. Year 3, add group C and rehome/process group A. Year 4, add group D and rehome/process group B, etc.

 

[topochico225]

We keep ours for eggs and as pets. Here in East Baton Rouge, we can only have 3 in yards less than 1 acre, so it's not a big deal that we can't process, etc. We usually keep our hens until the end of their lives. Unfortunately, we've never been able to have chickens until the end of their lives. We've always been moving from house to apartment then to different house. Hopefully this time we're staying in place.

 

[Mrs. K]

Adding a few, and removing a few is the best plan I think. Especially when you get birds near that 3 year old age.

Mrs K

 

[Tervuren]

My first chicks are arriving next month and I'm limited to 6 where I am. My plan is to keep them their entire lives. I can't see that plan changing, especially since they'll be primarily pets. When I get down to 2 or 3 in (hopefully) several years from now I'll order more, so I don't have the unhappy situation of one hen on her own.

 

[aart]

For those of you who legally can't have more than a certain number of chickens

Legally I can have as many as I want, but my coop space dictates a number limit for winter.

I've seen several mentions of a 'three year' type plan. Year 1, add group A. Year 2, add group B. Year 3, add group C and rehome/process group A. Year 4, add group D and rehome/process group B, etc.

This is basically what I have done.

 

[Sally PB]

I can have as many as I want too, but like @aart, I'm limited by my coop space. I'm on year two, planning to add some chicks. I can see myself enlarging my coop this year or next. Chicken math...