What age to "retire" laying hens?

[A.T. Hagan]

Generally speaking when a chicken reaches the end of her second lay cycle she no longer lays enough eggs to be worth her feed. Time for the pot or sell her off. This has pretty well been true for many decades now as it was often discussed in the old poultry books for the early twentieth century. If the economics of the situation are of no concern to you then keep them as long as you want. If they are then that's the time to cull them out.

I have daughters so go both ways. We have a select few birds that are pets. They are named, and they can distinguish them right away from the other birds so they'll grow old and eventually expire of whatever it is that aging chickens expire of.

But everything else is livestock and when they reach the end of their second lay cycle they are done except for a select few I want to use for breeding.

I believe modern day practice among the big commercial farmers is to cull the entire flock after one lay cycle since they started taking so much heat over forced molting.

.....Alan.

 

[ChickenWisperer]

Quote:
For the most part, I've had my heat lamp on all winter - and my production has personally tapered off to 50% or less.


I didn't mean it in a bad way - promise. I consider selling them to a stranger, who might not treat them well, or even worse send them off to an auction, to be bad. I do admit, mine are pets (just as validly as the dog and cats and hedgehogs) and I drive myself insane trying to keep them happy and healthy. I cuddle them to the point its rubbed off on my dad, who is the most practical person in the world.

They would make nice hens for someone new to chickens. They already have an established flock order - are older and more experienced chickens.

However, I personally feel it's the moral thing to do. I could never eat my birds - or any in my possesion - but as long as they are killed humanely I can see how others could eat them. After all, I do eat chicken.- but as you've stated, that seems out of the question.

Free production roosters aren't hard to come by - at least were I am. Have you considered looking for an incubator? Or building one? I'm not sure how much building one would cost.

 

[babylady4]

My MIL has a 13 yr old chicken still strutting around her farm. Not quite sure when she gave up laying but it has been YEARS. She likes to hang with the dogs now.

BTW she is an EE...

 

[ranchhand]

I had a 14 year old who laid 5 days a week. Black Australorp x Energizer Bunny.


That's a true story! I left her in Austin rather than move her cross-country, and she was taken in by my neighbors.

 

[rancher hicks]

Quote:
As I stated in my other post it's entirely personal and I have to agree with much of what is said here. Which is why I vowed not to name , Nearly headless Nick and Frenchy and Cowboy Curtiss , (who I sold and regret) and Eric, (but Eric isn't friendly and I think he's going).
Nick is the Del roo and while he's not pretty he's older and has a nice personality, how am I going to get rid of him for a younger roo? Maybe it gets easier in time. So like I said it's entirely personal. It's a love hate relationship, I hate that I love my chickens. Well maybe not Eric.

 

[speckledhen]

Well, mean roosters (or hens, for that matter) will be be sent to Freezer Camp. We have no trouble with that.

 

[Kim_NC]

Our chickens are livestock. They live a very good life here - free ranging, free choice feed, fresh water daily, secure coops at night. I think it's nice that some folks keep chickens as pets, I just don't. We raise chicks, sell started pullets, etc - there's no space for aging hens in our system.

I only keep them for 2 1/2 to 3 yrs, depending upon when Winter comes in their laying cycle AND how good a layer they've been.

For example I have a group that are now 2 1/2 yrs. They're laying 5 eggs/wk each, will probably pick back up to 6/wk. I kept them for breeders this season, but this Fall I'll cull them. They will not be worth the Winter feed or another season for me. I already culled the same group for any that were not laying 5-6 eggs per week last Fall.

Usually I offer older hens for sale on Craigslist at $6. I'm honest about their age - at that price, it works for some folks. If they don't sell, then it's freezer camp. I usually process them in with a batch of young roos from hatches, or with a batch of Conrish X.

I do keep roos for breeding well past that age. My breeding roos actually get names and I'm more attached to them. Mean roos become useless quite quickly and hit feezer camp without a qualm.

 

[ghulst]

Time to make soup out of them. We did last week and it was the best chicken rice soup I ever had.

 

[IggiMom]

Kim, how do you know which ones are laying well or not? Do you trapnest them?

Catherine

 

[dancingbear]

Quote:
Yes, I have several hens that are at least 6-7 years old, who still lay around 5 eggs a week. That's good enough for me to keep them in feed. In fact, my eggs sales pay for feed for both the layers and the extra roos that I raise for meat.

What's Dairy Texture? I've never heard of it. I'm wondering if it's something I may want to add to my hens' layer ration.

Mine free range, so they get lots of greens and bugs. I've never had one survive past maybe 8 or 9 years, they get slower and meet with misadventure at some point. I had an old red hen of unknown breed, probably RIR or NHR, she died on the nest box laying an egg when she was about 8 or 9. She was laying at least 5 extra large, dark brown eggs a week, when she died. I knew for sure because she'd started going to the barn every day to lay her eggs, instead of the coop like the others. She had her own spot there, I went and checked for her egg everyday. One day she was dead on the nest.

I understand when people replace layers due to costs, but I also think many jump the gun and think the hens are finished, when they've just hit a temporary slow down. Mine go through cycles, depending on season, weather, molting, etc. You could be getting rid of your layers, just before they hit their peak production in both size and quantity. Unless you have a big commercial operation, it's not generally going to make or break you to wait a couple of months and see what happens.