what to do when the egg laying is done

[silkiechicken]

Make stew!

 

[Intheswamp]

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Im with yah!

I hear both of you and I'm not sure what I'll do when the time comes, but....the OP is concerned with production and is looking at it from a valid utilitarian viewpoint. She has already stated her desire not to throw feed at a non-productive flock and that she has a modest family of 5 which is a flock in itself to feed

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firstbatch, I believe you have already been given some good advice as to what to do with the chickens when the time comes. Another option is pressure cooking them.

Most people will feed their birds through the first molt (non-productive time) and will butcher at the second molt. Be aware, though, that chickens will produce well past the age of the second molt...sometimes for several years. It takes time and money to get a bird up to laying age to begin with so that should be taken into consideration, too. Depending on your production needs and the size flock that you're comfortable with a drop-off in production may not be a major issue. If you keep the minimum number of chickens for your needs then you will need to freshen up your flock regularly.

Somebody posted their flock rotation plan a few days ago...very good explanation of what they did...hopefully they'll chime in here. As I recall it was maybe having hatched chicks, 6-month-olds, and 18-months. The 18 month-olds being at almost butchering age. I'm not sure that's exactly right, but it was so that 1/3 of the flock was being rotated out yearly(?). Man, I hope somebody chimes in on this as I feel that I'm really butchering it.

There are ways to keep "fresh hens" in place and keep production levels up to par while "rotation" takes place.

I saw the little slip of the tongue about possibly getting attached to some of them...with that possibility already in your mind if you name them you won't want to eat'em. Beware of the name game.

Like I said...hope someone else chimes in.

Best wishes,
Ed

 

[silkiechicken]

If you are looking at pure production for food, you can't beat a plain white leghorn. Not much meat but if you are going for eggs that is the best. When I was at production only, I grew up a batch in the spring, and culled out everyone that was grown up two springs previously just before school started. They can lay for longer, but if you have cooler winters, especially with heaver birds like sexlinks, they will eat a good amount of feed. Another thing to consider with sexlinks and high production breeds, is that they can be prone to ovarian cancer and other reproductive issues, which if they succumb to them or show signs of anything "off" I don't eat, which may or may not be significant depending on what you want to do with the "spent hen".

 

[LyonFuzz]

They've spent their whole lives producing for you.....maybe let them enjoy a retirement?

 

[Jen71]

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HAHAHAHA! I love this!
Very funny.

 

[silkiechicken]

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Great if you can afford to do that. I know I sure couldn't and to me at least, most of them are livestock instead of pets. Figure the life I give them is way better than the life they could have had in a factory was, and because I eat the meat, they have served dual purposes in their lives.

 

[fancbrd4me02]

I have a flock of birds ranging from weeks old to about 9 years. Up until last year, the 9 year old was laying a couple of times per week. My next oldest are some Polish hens and they are 5 this spring. They are laying about 4 eggs per week each right now. Due to thier age, they sometimes slack off for longer time periods than the new layers. However, I have gotten a lot out of them, especially considering Polish isn't known for a heavy laying breed. The next group are 2 & 3 year olds, they lay pretty consistently. I have 1 year olds, starting to lay reliably. Some of my best layers are my bantan D'Uccles. The (duccle) hens I have lay an egg a day almost without fail.

Since I don't want to cull or sell my older birds, I maintain a flock where they are "sharing" the burdon of egglaying. What I mean by that is, I only add one or 2 birds per year to my layer flock. I keep the birds from years previous. At this point I have about 12 layers of various ages. I get between 7 and 12 eggs per day. Pretty good for a bunch of old ladies! By adding a bit at a time, I have figured a way to keep my costs down, allow the old girls some retirement/home until death, but still get plenty of eggs. Where most people keep a flock of a certain size, and then replace, I just add to to keep the average amount of eggs produced steady. the flock can't really get too big if I add to it carefully qand only as needed, especuially when you consider that not all chickens live to be 9 or older.

 

[Intheswamp]

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Not a bad system, fancbrd4me02, and looks like plenty of eggs for a family.

Best wishes,
Ed

 

[Dixiedoodle]

Many of us just won't do this but I do understand... My husband grew up on a farm. Everything was used, then reused and /or used up! They processed two older hens every Sat. for Sunday dinner! The 'ol' fat hens were boiled, cooled and the meat picked off the bones. They used it for Chicken and Dumplings, Chicken Pot Pie, Chicken and rice. The bones were picked clean and then slow boiled for hours w/herbs, onions, celery. It was strained thru cloth to remove any bones and this was canned in jars and used for anything that needed chicken broth! The bones were then fed to the animals...I can remember his father in law saying -- "the older hens make the best broth because of the fat they had one them--these chickens you buy in the stores aren't good cause they are processed too soon..."

Good luck..

 

[cybercat]

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The chicken breeds that will burn out early are your hybred. Sexlinks, red or black star, cinnom queens, ISA browns, production reds, indian rivers, golden commets just to name a few. These will burn out in 2 years sometimes sooner sometimes later. Reason they lay extra large to jumbo with no breaks. So yes these stop laying in a short time.

Now your breed chickens unless production lines will last much longer. Due to the fact they will start to lay later and mostly lay 5 out of 7 days the fist year then going down to 4 or 5 out of 7 days and finally 3 to 4 out of 7 days. They will lay for years unless they get sick or egg bound. It is not unheard of to hear of chickens 7 years and older still laying a steady 3 days a week.

Many will replace there chicken after second year. Some will just add a few more like what was mention to make up the less days. Alot depends on what you can handle. Those that must get rid of old stock sell them if they do not butcher.

One reason I raise dual purpose is so I have a flock that will breed itself (with my help in selection) so I do not have to buy new everytime. I rather raise my own and those I do not want either get processed here or sold to others for their mixed flocks. I will not raise a meat line and a layer line. To many chickens and way too much feed. Dual works best for us for we are not heavy chicken eaters. So waiting the longer time to process is no sweat for us. You can process older birds and not just for stew. It just takes the know how and the time to do it. None of my birds that I will process will be younger than 20 weeks and most over a year due to my breed pattern. Read up in our meat bird section for information on how to deal with older chickens.

Good luck on whatever you decide. Chickens are fun to watch and fresh eggs are the best.