Is it time to put hens in my freezer???

[chickenzoo]

I have 3 year olds that are still daily layers.... my chickens do double duty- lay eggs and scratch horse poop. If they stop laying they still can scratch poop - and I'll pay them in chicken feed so I don't have to lift the apple picker... LOL

 

[gritsar]

My 19 month old hens have finished their molt and are laying every bit as well as they did before it.
That being said, if I find that I have too many to handle after I add chicks in the spring, I will most likely keep my favorite girls and find homes for the others; sell em for a couple bucks if I can (free if I can't) and not ask what the new owners intend them for.
My roo has a home for life.

 

[chicktwit]

My grandmother did process hens when they got about 3. I like my Mom have let older hens live out their lives for good service. That being said I've got some older leghorns that are eating more eggs than they're laying. I may be more like my grandma there cause she couldn't abide an egg eating chicken. Boy I'm really being tempted.

 

[technodoll]

None of my chickens will ever get eaten, unless disease or a major incident causes a death they will live out their old age with me as my pets.

Eggs are a major bonus but I expect to get less and less out of my girls as they age, but I will keep adding young girls to the flock to get eggs.

If it has a name and I've seen its face, there is NO WAY I could ever kill or eat it

 

[hen-thusiast]

Quote:
Don't blame you. Wish we could let our ladies out to freerange and take care of that. I'd love to give my apple picker a break.

 

[the simple life]

I don't know, I use to think that I could never cull any of my egg layers but now I am not so sure.
I have meatbirds that go to the processor when its time so if I had to get rid of any hens they would go there, I would not do it myself.
I have already sold or given away 21 roosters this year, I hatch way more roosters than hens:/
I don't ask what they do with them but after I sold some to this guy he told my husband he was going to eat them and then a woman I sold the first two roosters I ever had to just told me this week that she ate both of them.
It bothered me but I am trying to be realistic here, people are going to eat the roosters more than they are going to buy them for pets.
I cannot keep 21 roosters so what is the choice?
Some people can't believe I raise meatbirds, they think that is just awful, so how can I judge what people do with the roosters that I can't keep?
While I do have hens here that will live out their golden years here whether they ever lay another egg I am just starting to realize that I cannot do that with all of them or I will have hundreds of hens here, I have to keep buying new pullets every year to keep up my egg stock as I have a deal with a farm that buys all my eggs and sells them there.
I have a couple of egg eaters that I tried to break of it, I seperated them and changed their diet etc. I am right now giving them another chance but if I find they are back to doing it then I will drop them off at the processor.
I just cannot risk having them teach the rest of the flock to do it and losing all my eggs, it will cost me.
The eggs I sell pay for their food and supplies.
So I guess what I am saying is that when faced with a situation you never know what you are capable of doing, circumstances change.

 

[MIKE555444]

I don't have the funds or the space to offer a long term home to roosters that won't be producing eggs. So unless he can pull that off then I know what has to happen. I will keeps as many as I need to produce fertile eggs but thats all I can do. Not that I like it, and I won't be cruel about it but I will do what needs to be done to have a sucessful and productive flock.

 

[gsim]

We have decided for now to not kill any of ours. They are all hens/layers. Not all named. We got into poultry in belief that economy will worsen, especially with the cap and trade bill soon to be voted on, plus our mandatory premium for national health care. So we decided on gardening and poultry as two things we can do to make it easier to be able to pay our property taxes each year and stay in the home we built that is paid for. We will dro lots of things we now pay for in order to survive it it is necessary. If things worsen to where we have to, we will begin to cull our flock accordingly. If not, they will probably die of old age whenever that is.

 

[cactus-hen]

My chickens are not pets in the sense that I cannot hold them but they have names and personalities. It's not that I am against processing chickens for food. I have extra unnamed roos in the freezer. I just can't imagine talking to Flo one day and eating her the next. I never got into the business with the idea that I will make money. There are many a day that I sit out in the yard with a book and my chickens. Just hanging out with them gives me a sense of connection to the land. They will live out their lives scratching horse poop.

 

[GrannySue]

Quote:
Me. But I don't count on them as income/egg producers. I've got 3 old Hylines right now who are totally useless, haven't laid since early summer. I rationalize this by reminding myself that I used to have an aquarium. Just as much work as a chicken coop, with no return except the joy of watching the fish. So I watch the chickens now - my feathered aquarium!
Right now, due to long nights plus a couple of the girls molting, I'm getting 2 eggs a day. Australorps about 16 months old. Bless them!