*gulp* what do I do with them when they're "done"?

[KellyHM]

You just have to decide what's right for you and what you can live with. All my layers and breeders are more like pets to me. None of them get eaten, although I do sell some of the breeders from time to time when I start on a new project. My regular layers that are my pets will forever live here. However, I do raise meaties for food. I know from the beginning that that's their purpose and I'm ok with it since they have a nice life while it lasts. It all depends on what you want to do.

 

[chickerdoodle]

We'll probably have old hens using the first chicken wheelchairs someday...

 

[deidreschultz]

I'll keep my hens till they die of hopefully old age. After all the yrs of egg laying they will do seems only right to let them live out their lives happy and peaceful. I would think they would be rather tough to eat when they get that old. I remeber when I was young my father butched several older chickens not sure of the sex, but they were so tuff you couldn't hardly stand to eat them.

 

[vtchickenlady]

This has been a great thread. I often fret over this very thing. I'm hoping my girls will just start to die off naturally. Geez, its like dying after menopause! What a bummer. I agree that they could be too tough to eat by then. Personally, I could not do the killing or cleaning. I would have to pay someone else to do it. I wonder if it would be too wierd to let our dog eat them (cooked of course). Seems like he's earned the right for being such a good watch dog.

 

[Beekissed]

If you can them, they are very tastey and tender! They say that old hens make the best chicken stock....especially if you cook the feet.

I canned 13 qts of old hens and spare roos today and the broth and meat is sooooooo much better than commercial chicken. Actually, there is no comparison.

So....Sue the Roo, Beth the Golden Comet, Fanny, Nan, Thunder and Lightning, Moby Dick and Lonesome Dove and other nondescript hens are now being repurposed for the nutrition of another creature(s).

Nothing wasted here!

 

[Lil Chickie Mama]

BeeKissed you are one of my fav's here on BYC! I may have to pm you later about canning chicken meat...look out! I've heard similar that the older ones make either very yummy chicken (or rooster) and dumpling stew or chicken and noodle soup. I don't have an idea how though. I processed 3 of my tasty roos and while I loved (only 2 of the 3) them, it was easier than I thought. They were pets too. They would sit on my shoulder or my head

when I was out with them. I had to have my husband "whack" them, but once the head was removed I was fine with it. Dinner in funny packaging. I hope you'll be able to do the move before they stop laying, but if not we'll all be here to comfort you!

 

[chickensducks&agoose]

You can always offer 2 of them on CL each spring, as Laying Hens, $3 or $5 each, and then get 2 new chicks. Then the next year, do the same, then the next, do the same, and cycle them through that way...

 

[Chicken Fruit]

You could drop them off at the butcher. So you dont have to butcher them yourself. When you pick them back up they look like any other chicken you'd buy from the market. Or have a neighbor drop them off or something.

 

[patman75]

I'll take your "soup" chickens and you can have mine. That way none of us are eating our named pet chickens.

 

[shaggy]

if you were only 200 miles east -- i'd take them off your hands


one in a while a lady that lives near me ends up with few roosters --- i butcher them in exchange for a bird or 2