If I may ask a personal question: how do you view poultry? I view mine as food, or a source of potential income. My laying hens, either lay eggs or become food. My roosters either service the hens and produce, or become food (Except for Lucky, as I am a man of my word, and he will eventually just die of old age. An agreement I made, and intend to keep. And he is an awesome rooster, tame, and fertile). I tend to take a pragmatic view to animals. It may be time to let the hen go, or, well, eat her. At least she provided food for your family. There is a hierarchy I go by: God, family, and then the animals. I do spend a lot of hours every week caring for the animals. That being said, I also refuse to let an animal suffer unnecessarily. I had to put down a wonderful old GSD once, because she had cancer. She was a wonderful dog, but I wasn't about to let her suffer with cancer. So, I let her fade, and petted her as she died. She never realized she was dying. She just thought she got tired. Just some food for thought.
