Poll: Statistics on the fate of "spent" layers

[chicksurreal]

i don't consider chickens as pets. my conure is a pet. some of my dogs are pets. some dogs hunt for me. they are hunting dogs. chickens are livestock and they are here to feed me and put money in my wallet. would i be sad if some of my older hens died or got killed? of course. they are still livestock and part of the farm(food).

Our goals may change as we add different breeds, but the ones we have right now (except for the cuckoo marans cockerel) are a light breed and none were purchased for food, just eggs and pest control. I had no idea how much fun they would be!

I know that many people do get chickens for food, we may too, at some point. Not sure about that yet, but I do believe that chickens raised in the BYC fashion, on farms and such, have a much better life than those raised in a commercial setting whether they end up on the table or not.

 

[Gramma5]

My girls aren't even a year old so I haven't had to make any decisions yet. I did find a lady who "rescues" old chickens. I will have to decide when the time comes. From what I understand they wouldn't be especially tasty anyway.

 

[bobbi-j]

My girls aren't even a year old so I haven't had to make any decisions yet. I did find a lady who "rescues" old chickens. I will have to decide when the time comes. From what I understand they wouldn't be especially tasty anyway.

Oh, they are very tasty, but it's all a matter of how they're cooked. Personally, I like to pressure-can my spent layers. Canned chicken makes a wonderful ingredient for a fast, easy meal. We farm, and fast and easy are good things during planting and harvest time. If you don't wish to do that, they also work well in the crockpot. What to do with your spent layers is a matter of personal preference, of course. Our chickens are not pets. Our chickens are livestock. They lay eggs, then they provide us with meat. It's our way of doing things.

 

[cary 1973]

before I even got my girls I knew I was not going to eat them they are pets first everything else second. I think its a personal choice for all and do with what you can live with in your heart. there is no right or wrong answer for this.

 

[chicksurreal]

before I even got my girls I knew I was not going to eat them they are pets first everything else second. I think its a personal choice for all and do with what you can live with in your heart. there is no right or wrong answer for this.

True.

 

[bobbi-j]

before I even got my girls I knew I was not going to eat them they are pets first everything else second. I think its a personal choice for all and do with what you can live with in your heart. there is no right or wrong answer for this.

Agreed.

 

[Kelsie2290]

How many people have pets and non-pets in the same flock?  It didn't occur to me that that was a likely scenario.   I probably can't use much more than a dozen eggs a week anyway, so I'm not looking for a high rate of production... if hens are still laying an egg a week, I think I'd consider them productive -- for those that cull, at what rate of production do you cull?
I'd love to see more statistics here...   with the small numbers it looks very bimodal.

When you are dealing closely with small numbers of personable animals, it seems to be human nature to sooner or later start considering some as "pets", even if that was not your original purpose in getting them... and if it is not "you" somebody else in the family won't want to eat Fluffy... This is BackYard Chickens, so you are going to get a lot more pet people than if you were asking on a forum for high volume commercial poultry producers or something similar.

Not sure if you have seen this BYC Poll, but it has around 3000 votes I think and about 70% of the people say that one reason they keep chickens is as pets. https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...hy-do-you-have-chickens-select-all-that-apply

When / What people cull gets kind of confusing, like most people here, we have various chickens for various reasons. The straight egg layers, commercial strains, usually around 2.5 - 3 years old when they start the second full molt, they tend to really start having health problems them anyhow and unless they have gotten into the pet category they are all culled one way or another. Ones that are here because of unusual egg color or something, usually when they get below 2-3 eggs a week, have overly long molts or 3-4 years old. Fancys that are here just for pretty don't get culled unless they cause problems with the other chickens that I like better than them. Pets, pretty much only get culled for health reasons.

 

[deborahca]

I want to thank everybody for their thoughtful responses here. I AM trying to at least wrap my head around the issues here before my chicks arrive! Since I can't see free-ranging because of predator issues, and I have a limited amount of space, it's a topic I'm struggling with. Since I can't even really contemplate eating the wild quail that come around, I suspect I'll wind up retiring everybody, but... I can definitely see more than one side of the issue. I'm impressed by how well you all share opinions around here!

 

[ChickenLegs13]

I raise mine for meat & eggs, so every chick I hatch meets the hatchet sooner or later.

 

[bobbi-j]

I want to thank everybody for their thoughtful responses here. I AM trying to at least wrap my head around the issues here before my chicks arrive! Since I can't see free-ranging because of predator issues, and I have a limited amount of space, it's a topic I'm struggling with. Since I can't even really contemplate eating the wild quail that come around, I suspect I'll wind up retiring everybody, but... I can definitely see more than one side of the issue. I'm impressed by how well you all share opinions around here!

It's a personal choice, and depends entirely on why you want chickens. For those who have chickens as "pets with benefits", retiring them all would be an option, since they don't really care one way or another if they get eggs. For those who sell eggs or depend on those eggs to feed the family,and has limited space, when production slows, someone's gotta go to make room for younger, more productive hens. If one has unlimited space, one could retire the spent ones while getting a few younger ones to keep getting eggs. No one situation fits all of us, obviously. And we all feel differently about our birds. Mine are not pets, although I do enjoy watching them do their chickeny thing when they're out and about, scratching and pecking and eating bugs. I also enjoy picking eggs when they're laying. I also enjoy a good jar of canned chicken when I want a fast, easy meal. I'm glad you're thinking about it now, though, rather than "when the time comes". Planning ahead will make whatever you decide to do easier when you need to. Enjoy them! They are a fun hobby.