What do y'all do with older hens?

[Kadu]

I keep chickens for food, eggs and meat,
grown under better conditions than grocery food.
Egg sales pay for their feed.
No space or resources for keeping 'pet' birds, pet budget goes to my dog.
It's a hard balance, but that's where the Romance meets Reality.

I rotate my stock kind of based on winter space.
Neither I nor the birds like a crowded coop in winter.
I hatch chicks every year in late winter.
Cull (selling or gifting or slaughtering) all males by 14-16 weeks.
Older hens(~18-30mo) are culled before hard winter hits.

Wow I really like your plan. This is what I want to do too but I get attached to some and don’t follow through. Plus I have the absolute worst egg selling skills. I end up giving the eggs away for free.
Going to see if I can try selling some eggs for once. do you get attached to any of your hens and keep them longer? I’m curious. I have that problem. I’ve seen that it’s gone down over time, so maybe that’s a start.

 

[Chickassan]

I just let my old ladies wattle around and enjoy their golden years.
They normally take the leisure time to finely hone their butthead skills.
Perfectly fine by me, it is like looking in a chicken mirror.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Mine live out their retirement right here. I have a 10 yr old rooster and my next oldest are 2 EE’s 8 yrs old

 

[BantyChooks]

I know all you chicken addicts want to get new chickens every year. This becomes a problem later on because you will still have some of your older hens that have stopped laying.

I want to know what y'all do in this case. Do you process older hens? what do you do if you get attached?

Yes. If the bird has sentimental value, or if I can't be bothered to put in the work for such little meat, sometimes I'll sell them. I don't generally find that they become pets these days—I'm far more attached to the ducks, so if I make a pet out of a chicken, it's generally a choice.

 

[MrModina]

I have replaced non-laying hens before and restarted with new hens, but this year I wont be due to an outbreak of MG at my house. So anyone here now will have to stay until their time comes, or a predator gets them. Or I decide to eat one.

What's "MG?"

 

[aart]

Wow I really like your plan. This is what I want to do too but I get attached to some and don’t follow through. Plus I have the absolute worst egg selling skills. I end up giving the eggs away for free.
Going to see if I can try selling some eggs for once. do you get attached to any of your hens and keep them longer? I’m curious. I have that problem. I’ve seen that it’s gone down over time, so maybe that’s a start.

I only have a half dozen egg customers, all friends/acquaintances,
not a seller either and selling to the public is a PITA...have done(tried) that in other arenas.
Have had a few favorites, try to sell those, but can't always.....set the precedence early on that chickens are for food not pets, and I don't anthropomorphize any animal, even my dogs.

 

[Rammy]

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

Processing a non-laying hen is not evil. Factory chickens kept in cages so small they cant even move or see the light of day is. At least the chickens have had a happy , free range life, and is processed to feed a thankful family. Most people dont even kni

What's "MG?"

Mycoplasma gyllipsepticum.

 

[Jamited]

I got my Hens as pets in the first place. The eggs I get -which are very specific -are a delightful bonus. Having watched them grow, develop a personality and for them to respond to me I could no more fly to the moon than 'process' them. I assume that means dispatching them. What is an outbreak of MG? I'm vegetarian by the way, but that's purely my choice, but chickens are such sweet little characters - it's a shame to treat them as a commodity. I would gladly take on older birdies as pets. Wouldn't schools take them in your area or petting zoos? I hope you find a solution

 

[Jamited]

My egg layers are spasmodic not specific although as my hens are bantams their eggs are weeny!

 

[ButtonquailGirl14]

I love them forever mine are all pets.. they all stay until they pass of natural causes. Like my 9 year old polish hen! I have only had her for 2 years, but I rescued her from being disbatched.. I actually know all her previous owners