What do you do with chickens that are done laying eggs?

[yinepu]

I have over 100 chickens.. when my girls get to old to lay they become crockpot hens...

 

[Nicole01]

We will care for them until the end. It will be hard to say goodbye.

 

[GardenerGal]

My oldies get to live out their entire lives. When they stop giving eggs, they still give poop, and that is as valuable because I'm a professional gardener and it makes fantastic compost!

They also are great bug eaters and kitchen-scrap processors.

Everyone earns their keep. My oldest hen, 10-years-old, just passed on last month and she was laying even at that ripe age.

 

[pjknust]

Mine will retire and live out their life eating same thing my younguns eat. They are pets, and I treat my pets well, no matter the cost. I enjoy watching my hens peck around the yard. That is my entertainment. I rarely go anywhere, Im a home body, so I very much enjoy my hens, and my grandkids do to. They have given to me, and I will give back to them.
If the country keeps going down the drain, we may have to butcher at some point, but only if we have to to survive.

pam in TX

 

[annie3001]

Quote:
I love and care for them for the rest of their days (years

)


JJ

me too!

 

[Beekissed]

As other members have said, they will die of natural causes

Natural causes sounds good....sort of natural. But....what sort of causes does an older bird die of, exactly? Organ failure? This is sometimes slow and painful. Illness? Also not necessarily a smooth ride into the chickeny heavens. Do they just keep pecking along in the green grass and suddenly fall over in an instant, dead and gone? I've never seen it in my lifetime...it would be nice, but doubtful that it happens. Or do they sometimes have seizures, huddle around looking miserable, stop eating and drinking and just waste away?

Who wants their "friends" to suffer in that way?

I met a lady a couple of years ago that said she couldn't bear to kill any of her older flock and was just going to let them die of natural causes and animal predation. How cruel! I'd much prefer a quick and humane end to a comfortable and good life for my "friends" than to wither away into illness, disease and painful living. Not to mention being torn apart while they are still alive by some fox, hawk or dog.

 

[WestfarthingHomestead]

We're getting Silkies to be our pets and to brood for the other hens. They're mostly fluff anyway and not worth the trouble of plucking for the morsel or two we'd get. But, our children understand not to make pets out of the layers or meaties (their male offspring) as they will get the axe and go into the freezer. Don't make a pet out of anything we're going to eat, that's the rule.

 

[Miyashi]

All pets over here...they will die of old age. If anyone gets sickly and starts having problems, they will go to the vet to say goodbye....and everyone will be buried in the yard with a special stone for each one.

 

[Mrs. K]

My old hens get crabby and mean. I like to get chicks each year. I always loose some to predators, ugh! but I love to cook, and love having my own chicken broth.

I think I really like having the flock, not so much individual birds, but I do get attached to a few, but the dang coon harvested that one!

Also if you have a good broody hen, and not a real big flock, and space so everyone is not crowded, you can raise the chicks right in the flock, no reintroduction problems, and this year, when the aforementioned coon, ate my favorite hen, Butter who did have a brood of 11 chicks, who were only 3.5 weeks old, my flock did not bother the chicks, even when she was no longer there to protect them.

I like cycling mine.... but I admit, I would have kept Butter at least one more year.

MrsK

 

[cafarmgirl]

My hens have a home with me for life. I will treat them just like any other animal I have, if they become sick and no longer have quality of life then I will end it. Until then, carry on girls.