What do vegetarians do with unproductive laying hens?

[77horses]

Quote:
You are vastly misinformed, have you not been reading the post, no offense but 99.99999999 % of BYCers have their chickens for only this purpose. just read the previous post and you do the math. just stating some facts. As for what to do with your hens when they no longer are productive, most vegetarians around here will cull and eat them when nobody's looking.

AL

Uh sorry to disagree, but when somebody's a Vegetarian, they don't eat ANY meat; that means not even when nobody's looking.

And yes a lot of people on here keep their flock as pets; and I'm proud to say I'm one of them!

 

[deenamr]

Mine are staying around as pets. The retirement home is in the plan and my hens aren't even a year old yet.

 

[Chihuahuamom]

Actually Al , most on here recommend killing, eating etc, believe me I am one that was told over and over to kill my roosters. People seem to think if you aren't getting anything from them they are a waste of space, which is ABSURD. I'm glad to see the majority on this post is for Saving them !! And vegetarians DO NOT eat any meat, whether someone is looking or not!

 

[Jeff9118]

I dont know al6517 but in his/her defense I took it as a joke. Well it cracked me and my wife up anyways. I do agree that true vegetarians would never eat meat even if no one was looking.

 

[WalkingWolf]

I plan on eating my hens when they stop laying, that includes the lips and fries too. I have special plans for dinner for the dogs too when they stop barking too. And nothing like fried koi when they outgrow the pond...

 

[Enchanted Sunrise Farms]

None of my chickens are old enough to stop laying, although our favorite hen Penny goes on strike every now and then.

i love her, though, and she has a forever home with us.

i think we will continue to add new egg-layers every couple of years. We did add some Red Stars last year, specifically for egg production. However, when they are done laying, i can't imagine not keeping them, even though they are a bunch of out-of-control hoodlums.

Not sure what we will do down the line when we end up with 100 senior citizen chickens. We better start their pension fund now.

 

[HorseFeathers]

Some folks just love having chickens and don't mind if they're not laying. You could try to find someone like that.

 

[Chicky Tocks]

We rehome our hens to a family who "puts them out to pasture". We've met a lovely family who has lots of acreage and they love to have the older hens just for freeranging. A hen can be of more service than just to provide you with eggs. If you have a nice freeranging flock, they will keep your bug and tick population down.

Unfortunately, although we have six acres, we live too closely to other homes and we get the occasional dog straying in our yard so we can't freerange our girls. It pleases me to know that after all of the service our hens provide to us, we are able to let them retire properly through these people.

 

[al6517]

Quote:
My comments were meant as tongue in cheek humor towards vegetarians eating meat in a dark corner, it's just that I met a so called group of them once and they were very funny about their covert meat eating habits, I know that most are devout & somewhat fanatical about it. as for the culling group those of us that do cull and eat are just being logical and practical about our poultry raising operations. That we cannot practicaly afford to keep 1-200 ravenous ( pet chickens ) and to process is logical & humane.

AL

 

[ThePolishPrincess]

I wouldn't doubt that you will get attatched to your girls. My mom is vegetarian and I'd try eating dirt before I put my mouth on my guys. You learn to love them as members of the family if you keep them around for that long, name them, etc. You bond. We plan to keep our girls around until they go to poultry heven by themsleves. We refuse to cull any of them.

As the years continue, my parents will look into moving to the city when I go away to college. I plan to keep any of the remaining fowl and rent a house to keep them with me if allowed, which I'm prepared to do. They are mine and I would love to have them as long as possible. Each year we get a few more layers, but we don't have too much room and they are all for pets/eggs to sell or eat. You think getting rid of them sounds easy, but as the bond between chook and owner strengthens, so will your will to part with them.