WHAT DO YOU DO WITH YOUR OLD HENS?

[philipchickymad]

I haven't had to cull any yet, but I will. I have my birds for eggs and meat. I think they have the best life a chicken could have. they have a supremely safe coop at night and are free to roam all day. that's the way I like it. one of the ones I will be culling is a girl I've had from the beginning. she causes so much chaos in the coop at night that everyone has a hard time settling down because of her.
I will make sure she has the least amount of fear possible and no pain when the time comes.

i have 4 four yr old chickens that have stopped laying and i need new young chickens but no space because i have a contract with selling eggs to my grandma and i need the chickens to all lay what should i do with the old ones
i dont paticully want to cull them bcause they r pets what should i do please help me

 

[CAjerseychick]

I guess my thinking is, hens dont eat all that much if they are not laying and do good work keeping bugs down and "ploughing" your fields with their chicken tractor feet-- so why not just let them be? We got 3 young pullets out of this years hatch, so they will be reproducing egg layers for us yearly - no need to buy new egglayers, so I feel we will always have eggs.... and have (right now) enough room for everyone... I guess if we run out of room we will see.....

 

[bobbi-j]

i have 4 four yr old chickens that have stopped laying and i need new young chickens but no space because i have a contract with selling eggs to my grandma and i need the chickens to all lay what should i do with the old ones
i dont paticully want to cull them bcause they r pets what should i do please help me

Well, since you have a contract for eggs to sell, it seems to me that you are going to have to figure out what to do with your old hens or make room for more to add to your flock. If you absolutely can only have four hens, I think you know what you have to do. You don't necessarily have to kill them. (By the way, "cull" does not mean "kill", necessarily. To "cull" a bird simply means to remove from the flock - sometimes that means to kill the bird, sometimes that means to find them a new home if you don't want to kill them.) You may be able to find them new homes - advertise and maybe someone will be willing to take them. It's best, though, if you don't ask what they plan on doing with them. Some people keep them around for bug control, some keep them in their unused garden space and some, well, will eat them. You are the only one who can decide what to do with them. It's one of the hard parts of chicken-keeping that we all have to deal with sooner or later.

 

[philipchickymad]

Well, since you have a contract for eggs to sell, it seems to me that you are going to have to figure out what to do with your old hens or make room for more to add to your flock. If you absolutely can only have four hens, I think you know what you have to do. You don't necessarily have to kill them. (By the way, "cull" does not mean "kill", necessarily. To "cull" a bird simply means to remove from the flock - sometimes that means to kill the bird, sometimes that means to find them a new home if you don't want to kill them.) You may be able to find them new homes - advertise and maybe someone will be willing to take them. It's best, though, if you don't ask what they plan on doing with them. Some people keep them around for bug control, some keep them in their unused garden space and some, well, will eat them. You are the only one who can decide what to do with them. It's one of the hard parts of chicken-keeping that we all have to deal with sooner or later.

thanks bobbie i think ill advertise them

 

[humphrey farms]

I name all my chickens.

We eat them. We eat their eggs.

I like naming them. It makes the whole experience a little more personal than just throwing feed to them.

I sit and watch their antics for hours when I feel like it.

I love the peeps.

I think everyone deals with their flock differently.

 

[amkuska]

We bought our birds for bug control, fertilizer and entertainment. As long as they still eat bugs they get to keep their heads. We did cull one rooster for extreme aggression, rehomed one for minor aggression, and one hen because all the others picked her. She's now a therapy bird for a disabled gentleman and they get along so well its enough to make you teary eyed.

 

[Christabelle]

Mine are ornamental. I cull roosters quite a bit, if they are nice looking birds I try to find someone looking for a nice roo- if not I process them. Hens are sold young if they are not exactly right. I've never culled a hen. The ones I keep are favorites- and friends/pets. I don't look down on people who cull old laying hens- to each their own really. I already spend so much on birds that the feed for a few elderly hens is the least of my worries.

 

[DancingRoo]

I just let mey hens live out their lives but I know it's not possible for everyone. I do kill mean roosters but give them plenty of time to straighten their butts up before they do. Roosters are wonderfully entertaining but there are too many great ones to put up with a jerk. My hens spend their days hunting and pecking so they do a lot of their own feeding, even though they have crumbles & scratch to eat whenever they want.

Cindie

 

[Sandstorm495]

I would never cull my flock. Why take a chickens life just because they are not laying? I will let my chickens live the rest of their life in peace without interfering by culling. After all, just because chickens are animals, doesn't mean they don't have a right to live their whole life out.

 

[Sandstorm495]

We bought our birds for bug control, fertilizer and entertainment. As long as they still eat bugs they get to keep their heads. We did cull one rooster for extreme aggression, rehomed one for minor aggression, and one hen because all the others picked her. She's now a therapy bird for a disabled gentleman and they get along so well its enough to make you teary eyed.

So you didn't buy them for the eggs? And you cull them if they stop eating bugs?