How many people eat their chickens when they stop laying or have too many roos?

[Wednesday]

I couldn't find a poll on here. I was wondering how many folks here actually eat their hens past prime or their roos. Do you butcher them yourself if so? What do you do with hens past their primes and roos if not? I read a sad article about people dumping them at animal shelters with the explosion of backyard chicken keeping.

 

[AK Baha]

I'm a new chicken owner and hens are not laying yet but when the time comes we will butcher and eat them.We live a mostly subsistence life style hunting,fishing,and harvesting what we can so I have no problem doing the deed.

 

[Whittni]

I do not eat my chickens but I don't keep them for eggs or meat purposes. I show them and they can do that their entire lives. Some people do eat their chickens and keep them only for eggs. Most people will do it themselves with a plucker.

 

[Wednesday]

I do not eat my chickens but I don't keep them for eggs or meat purposes. I show them and they can do that their entire lives. Some people do eat their chickens and keep them only for eggs. Most people will do it themselves with a plucker.

Showing is something I never factored in. Hmmm.

 

[cafarmgirl]

It's pretty much a mixed crowd. Many people butcher hens, or have them butchered, when they hit about 2 years old. But just as many keep their birds for as long as they live. If you keep chickens just for egg production then you'll fall into the first group. If you are someone who simply enjoys chickens for what they are you'll fall into the second group.

My own birds have a home with me for life because eggs are not my main reason for keeping chickens, just a nice side benefit!

 

[Wednesday]

I am having hard time reconciling my views. I was vegetarian for years. I now eat wild caught game or non factory farmed meat. I try to make as many of my family's meals from scratch. I have a non laying hen that understandably nobody wants and have limited coop space due to predators for all day free ranging. If I buy organic chicken from the store, it seems hypocritical not to eat my own chickens. We have a local butcher that will do it for a few dollars a chicken when brought in alive. A friend who cannot eat her own chickens is giving me 9 of her non laying hens to take to the butcher. I got chickens for their eggs and am really enjoying their personalities. It's not an easy answer.

 

[iheartnh]

I am like you and your friend - I buy organic, but already know when the time comes, I cannot eat my own birds. I can't eat anything that I looked in the eye and take care of. And, right now I'm pretending they will lay and live forever (HA!), but when non-production and space become an issue, I have a friend who is an avid hunter and has no qualms about dispatching the birds for her own consumption.

 

[Wednesday]

I trade friends baked goods for venison. I purchase already processed wild boar friends hunt. I have never hunted anything. I feel like I am taking the easy way out buying things I have not raised since I can compartmentalise it. I wonder if I will actually be able to take them to the butcher for the first time next week.

 

[farnorth]

By the time a hen stops laying they are usually pretty tough for eating aren't they? A friend butchered her flock when they got too old to lay, but then could not eat them. She gave me some legs quarters and honestly the only thing I made was chicken stock with them, the meat did not get tender at all.

 

[Wednesday]

I can stew anything long enough to make it tender, normally. Just never did it with anything I have named...