laying flock

[Malibufarmer]

how long do u guys keep your laying flock. also what do u do with them when u are done with them.

 

[tiffanyh]

Forever--mine are quite old and they still lay almost daily. They are pets though also...

 

[Poison Ivy]

We still have our original hen which was a gift from Santa. Henrietta is around 8 or 9 years old now. There is no way she will ever become chicken stew. She will stay with us to the very end as will the others. What happens to the ones I sell I don't worry about but I do ask people ahead of time what they want my chickens for. I ask that they use them for eggs only or as pets. Last group I sold the little boy was telling his dad he was going to think up names after they got home. lol he was so cute.

 

[iwanteggs]

I plan on eating my chickens. I am not sure how long to keep them. I read that the egg production slows after year one and really slows after year two. Currently I plan on culling 4 after they are two years old and raising 4 more. The following year culling the other 3 and raising three more. Then skipping a year and starting over. My oldest chickens will be three years old. I want to keep egg production up.

Can anyone comment on this plan?

 

[silkiechicken]

That sounds like a good plan. Be sure to get production breed hens if you want eggs. Leghorns are crazy layers! So are sexlinks but man, thoes flightly leghorns can't be beat. I cull the non-"untouchables" every 2nd or 3rd year. The untouchables are the birds that have survived hawk attacks and know when to sound alarms. One of the untouchables ran off and challenged a hawk trying to eat her only child twice in one day, so shes around for flock protection... as the rooster ran and hid

 

[Malibufarmer]

thnxs guys.well i have it all planned out. laying flow will be 2years old in october and i have 2 week old chicks that with be able to lay in october so thats when i will cull them. is it ture that 2 year old hens have such hard meat that they can only be used as soup hens.

 

[V Chic Chick]

Commercial laying farms see hens as uneconomic after two years. They can, however, continue to be decently productive when kept under better conditions than the ones in the battery cages!

When they get to that age then there's no way you can have a nice roast dinner out of them (I believe that 30 weeks is the limit) but I'm sure they're palatable in casseroles, stews, soups etc. - something with a long cooking time.

 

[spock78]

I haven't seen a chicken that you CAN'T put in the soup pan. Well, as I was just hit over the head by wifey, I will say you can stew any chickens except Wifey's 2 pets. LOL!!

 

[syarb]

I cull mine every two years. I keep a rotaion by getting newbies (pullets) after the older ones are culled, so it keeps my egg production up also. I have RIR's and they are great for laying and eating.

 

[Arklady]

I have a 4 year old RIR that is doing fair enough egg production that I am keeping her around but I like to sell the girls when they are still laying. People want to buy hens for eggs and the stew pot. They come back once in a while and ask if I have more. I have one gal I need to contact she buys my birds. This one old girl I may just cage her till I see what she is producing and I may cull her if she isn't giving me many eggs a week.
Three eggs and under a week is poor production. I do not name my chickens they are chickens.

Arklady