What do y'all do with older hens?

[quackersandfern]

Keep them in the flock. What else would you do??? Killing them cuz they stopped laying is evil...

 

[21hens-incharge]

Keep them in the flock. What else would you do??? Killing them cuz they stopped laying is evil...

THAT is a matter of opinion.
Some would say that waiting for them to get sick and die is evil.

For me and mine....I process older hens.
I have had a few birds I would consider young get sick (reproductive disorders). There needs to always be a "what if" plan for ending a suffering.

 

[ASteelman]

I have a few that are five years old. I was getting very close to processing them a few weeks ago, and I think they sensed it because their laying has picked back up slightly! Still, the days are getting shorter and I'm sure they'll stop for the winter soon enough. It doesn't really make financial sense to feed them all winter going into year 6, when production is going to be MAYBE an egg a week. Another issue with these hens is that they're at the top of the pecking order and big ole' bullies, so they're making it very hard for me to integrate the newer generations!

 

[sourland]

Keep them in the flock. What else would you do??? Killing them cuz they stopped laying is evil...

Judgmental and a matter of opinion - not everyone has the luxury of supporting non productive birds.

Pets/named birds have lifetime rights. Flock birds are processed.

 

[NimTheOrpington]

I think that you should give all the love you can too the older hens, considering that they usually don’t lay as much anymore.

Some people say it’s pointless to keep older hens, but I disagree because then you can stop worrying about them becoming egg bound.

 

[lomine]

My chickens aren't pets but that doesn't mean I don't care about all of them. I do my best to give them a good life as long as they are here. But I'm not made of money and I don't have unlimited space so I'm not going to keep free loaders. I've sold some older hens and I've processed a few. The best stock I've ever made was from an older hen. Some have earned a place for life as they have proven to be fantastic broodies and that is valuable to me. I do what works best for me and my flock.

 

[chrissynemetz]

Everyone has different goals for their chickens, different circumstances, and different ideas about flock maintenance. We all individually do what works best for us. There's no need to be critical about the way others manage their flock numbers.

 

[HollyWoozle]

We keep ours until they are sick and need to be culled to stop them suffering essentially (or they die of old age). We don't need them all to lay in order to have enough eggs for our needs and enjoy keeping them regardless of what they produce, but I appreciate we are lucky to have the space and resources for that. We have 15 at the moment and have had up to 20, all with names, although I'm the only one in the family that knows them all.

I took on six rescue hens from an egg farm in June 2018 who would've gone to slaughter. Four have died since then, which is not unusual, but giving them a well-earned retirement has been an oddly emotional and rewarding experience for me. On the whole they are still pretty decent layers too.

 

[Ridgerunner]

-I'm revisiting some of my practices because I'm seeing some adverse affects. I have a coop without fencing (protected by very attentive LGDs) where the older hens live with some roosters. They get fed and they get to forage. But this coop is near the house and they've started to roost on the porch and scratch the ground around the porch to the point where the tree roots are bare and we've lost about a foot of soil to erosion. need to stop this before it gets even worse.

To me the best way to manage that problem is fencing. Either you fence them in or you fence them out. That kind of stuff can happen with young birds as well as older birds.

 

[Shadrach]

I wish I could take a few of the courses of actions mentioned above with some of my relatives; not because they are no longer fertile, but it would make life so much easier.
Of course I don't, and I don't with the senior hens either.
I don't have a senior hen bar one now (she's never laid and egg in her life and she's 7 now) who doesn't lay any eggs. Fat Bird laid 8 eggs this year I think; she's 9, just to let the young ones know she's not totally past it yet.
There is often a difference in approach with those who keep chickens rather than hens and the conditions in which they are kept in.
I keep free range chickens so the various tribes reproduce themselves. There are advantages to this ime that far outweigh the cost of feeding and housing an unproductive hen, or a low production hen. Most of these things don't apply to those who keep hens primarily for eggs in coops and runs.
So, I think one consideration must be how you keep and manage your flock/s.