Really stupid question inside...so dumb I wont put it in subject lol.

OK, totally thread hijacking here but is it not hard for you guys to kill an animal you have cared for and fed for months, or even a year or more? lol I'm such a wimp. I mean I guess if I HAD to I would but I think I would just rather keep paying like 50 bucks a pound (not really) for organic chicken breasts. Do you only do it when they are old? Or sick? Or just when they get to be the right age? My husband is really pressuring me to 'take care' of the chicks once they stop laying. I mean, what will I do with 14 hens when I'm not getting eggs? Does that sound selfish? lol
 
CowgirlPenny~ Mine too, But I just say "yes dear" and leave the room
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He know's who rules THIS roost
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Like I said above, we butcher all of our cockerels, but I will never butcher an old, no-longer-productive hen. I figure after all the eggs they've given us over the years, they've earned their retirement.
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I'll probably end up looking like an Old Hens' Home someday, but I can live with that.
 
You cannot just look at the killing part or you are right you may never kill it. You have to consider the other benefits like a meal, teaching the kids where food comes from and being a responsible animal owner. Unless they are pets, when a chicken becomes unproductive say egg to feed ratio is low you may have to cull, if for one reason so the young hens can become more productive I mean ever pick up a hen that has quit laying she is fat compared to a frequent layer and is consuming resources the same that is just one reason to do them in. No You do not wait until they are old or unpalatable you rotate and utilize that is good animal husbandry but not always pleasant.
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I love my chickens, that I must say first. But- at the same time, they are food. At the end of the day, that's why I got them. Yes, mainly for the eggs, but I did not want a rooster at all, and the one we ended up with has become a real pain. So this spring, he's in the pot. As for the hens, well, I am in an urban setting and can't just keep adding more and more chickens. I don't have the space. So when the hens are nearing the end of their laying days, they will have to go, too. It's just practical, really. Otherwise, I'd be here with hens eating feed and not producing eggs for possibly a few years. I got half the number we can support last year, and the other half are coming in a few weeks. We'll just stagger them like that.

If I had lots of space for them, so that I didn't have to worry about it, maybe things would be different. But I doubt it. Well, maybe one or two favorites would be kept around.
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