What do you do with your chickens????

[Kaitie09]

I have actually been thinking about this too. We have 12, 1yr olds and I know they will stop laying eventually. We had our last hen until she was close to 7 yrs. She would pop out an egg every couple weeks. I have actually started designing a "retirement" coop so I will be able to move out the non-layers and replace them. The new coop will only have 1 nesting box for the occasional layer. Although all of mine are not pets with names, I don't think I could kill them.

 

[GardenGal]

A friend of mine took in older chickens from people in her neighborhood, 4 years, 6, even 8 year old chickens. She gave them great food and a wonderful home, and they went on to lay eggs for years. That's my hope with our gang!

I thought I could do chickens for meat as well, since I eat meat, but now I just can't. Maybe the older ones will make excellent mentors

 

[gritsar]

My girls are here for life. My older hens are 3 years, 4 months old. They're molting right now, but I'm still waiting for that slow down the books talk about.

One of my older girls molted in less than two weeks time and is back to laying 5 days out of seven.

 

[CC1892]

Fred's Hens :

This is a management decision. With light weight 300+ eggs per years production strains, there's very little meat, really. Sort of a soup stock and that's about it. Still, we have friends, who have large families, and they are not well-to-do. Feeding a family in this way is quite satisfying.

We turn over the production strains every 14-18 months. The more traditional breeds are welcome to stay as long as their production is reasonable, which we define as 240-250 eggs per year, or 4-5 eggs per week. With horrendous feed costs and going higher, we are personally in no position to feed poor layers. Again, these are management decisions that flock keepers must make.

I agree with this statement entirely, which is why I didn't name my birds. My flock is small, so I plan to cull every few years, giving me the chance to experience many other breeds of chickens. I am partial to Heritage breeds and look forward to taking advantage of an occasional broody hen to hatch new chicks. You're so right, the production strains do have compact light weight bodies, that are built to produce and not for meat per sae. This is a practical consideration regarding the cost feed and supplies. There will be no waste in this economy, we all seem to know someone who could benefit from the birds we decide to cull. Until then, we will appreciate the eggs when they arrive, the reduced kitchen waste, compose for our heirloom tomatoes..and of course the entertainment.​

 

[welasharon]

Probably I should mention mine are mostly polish and seramas....so kind of a moot point! LOL

 

[chickensbythesea]

We've got two groups here, the "named" and "the chickens".

The ones who have earned names get a lifetime pass. A name here isn't like Nancy or Lulu, we have "the friendly gang", "runt", "toe biter", "ugly", "the one that isn't ugly", and other similar identifiers. If your personality stands out enough that we can immediately pick you out of a crowd, you're a pet.

The chickens who are just a part of the herd of chickens, well, we're a little less attached. They fall into 2 groups- the ones we don't particularly like, and the ones we just didn't get attached to. The first group is flighty, bossy, loud, and not at all pet material. When they stop laying, they won't last all that long- mean freeloaders aren't that fun, and I'd rather have productive birds I actually like. The other group will get to retire here, but if they get badly hurt or seriously ill, they'll be culled, instead of having me bend over backwards like I would do for the named girls.

 

[Hummingbird Hollow]

I've done some thinking about that myself but have not had to cross that bridge since my entire flock of 8 is only 10 weeks old. My pullets were all named and hand raised and that will make the thought of butchering them sort of difficult. However, at the same time, the main reason we got chickens was to eat more ethically. To eat locally grown produce, humanely raised and humanely slaughtered meats. I've been a contributor to a variety of organizations over the years that promote the protection of wildlife or animal welfare so I end up on all of the mailing lists.

There is this one organization that brags about how they have taken in something like 200 un-adoptable dogs that no one wants as well as animals like a pony who was going to go to the slaughter house, a 4H calf that someone couldn't bear to sell for beef and assorted other animals and how proud they are to be giving them a home for their natural life. I have to ask "and what do these 200 unwanted dogs eat...grass? No they eat beef and chicken and horse meat, those other animals you have so proudly saved the next pen over!" We live on a planet where rain forest is being burned down and wild habitat is being destroyed to produce soy beans and corn and wheat. It shouldn't be used to feed unwanted, unproductive domestic animals IMO.

I hope I have the resolve that when my hens have led a happy, productive life I can give them a quick and painless death, rather than have a flock of birds that eat pounds and pounds of corn and soybeans every day that could put to a better use...we'll see if I can keep this attitude when it is actually up to me to do the deed...

 

[mstrrlm]

Why do you guys say "stew" for old hens? why not plain old chicken dinner or fried chicken?

 

[NYRIR]

The older they are...the more "expertise" to cook them so they aren't tough....remember the saying " She's a tough ol' bird?"

 

[the3ofus+oursixchicks]

i dont care if mine ever lay an egg or not(of course i want them to)but mine are pets and here for their life. i would be devestated if something happen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!