How long do you keep your chickens?

[MPio13]

How many years do you keep your chickens? I know many people consider them their pets, while others are more utilitarian about their flock.
Do you keep them for their entire lifespan or say goodbye when they stop producing?

Also what would be cause for early dismissal? A large or frequent vet bill for a sick/injured chicken? Or maybe one bird displays a trait that you don't like?

I have 7 birds. 4 I got a pullets last year. The other 3 I adopted and I am not sure of their age. Wondering how long I'll have these gals around for before I bring them to the auction and get an entire new flock. Or If I sort of replace one at a time on a as-needed basis.

 

[Brookethechickenwhisperer]

It all depends how bad you want them.

 

[sourland]

For me it depends upon the bird. Some earn/deserve pet status. Others are treated the same but form no emotional attachment. 'Pets' get life time rights. Quality of life determines how long they will live. If it appears that they no longer have quality of life it becomes my responsibility to give them a merciful death.

 

[cluckkatie]

I'd like to keep them until they stop laying eggs, which is about three years, and then hand them over to a butcher for free meat for them. I wouldn't want to have to butcher (let alone eat!) my own pet.!

 

[sourland]

With the production breeds, production drops off every year. Many set up a rotational system where they replace half or one third of the flock every year in order to maintain desired levels of production.

 

[bobbi-j]

For me it depends upon the bird. Some earn/deserve pet status. Others are treated the same but form no emotional attachment. 'Pets' get life time rights. Quality of life determines how long they will live. If it appears that they no longer have quality of life it becomes my responsibility to give them a merciful death.

This.

 

[cavemanrich]

I only keep mine as pets, and do eat the eggs. They live until they die naturally. Longest went 13 years. Resent went 11. Many lived 8 or 9 depending on breed. Predators took some sooner...

 

[Sneebsey]

Mine mostly live out their lives here; each year I keep back some pullets to add to the flock and bolster egg production, but I sell a fair few locally too. Once they become a member of the flock they get a name and can stay for life; I mix breeds freely in the laying flock and find that the mixed breeds tend to have longer production lifespans than the commercial laying hens I've had in the past. One of my leghorn mixes is around four years old, and I can still rely on her for a good quantity of eggs each year.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

For me it's about the quality of bird. If I caught lighting in a bottle and raised an outstanding cock or hen then it would be around for as many years they are making fertile eggs. For lesser breeder quality birds their degree of quality would dictate if they stayed three or four years. All others are eaten as cockerels, sold as pullets or rotated in layer flock that are sold off or stewed fall of third year before egg production drops for molt and winter.

 

[theoldchick]

At my place, if he/she has a name then it lives out a normal lifespan. Since my lively-hood does not depend on my chickens, some I keep, and some I sell as young birds before I get attached to them. My main concern is providing a quality life for them, and if they are slaughtered, the act is done humanely and with respect.