What to do with chickens when they stop laying?

[Farmer Mike S]

Now, hens don't wake up one morning and decide this is the day to stop laying. They taper off.
The average hen has the capacity to create 10,000 eggs - they'll keep going for awhile
Since profitability is not a concern for you, i.e., feeding them for no financial return, you can be magnanimous.
Put it off til next year.

Tapering off is no problem, because all I need is about 10-12 eggs a week out of my 5 chickens to be satisfied. The issue is that I have always heard they lay a maximum of like 350, not 10,000. I currently get about 30 eggs a week and I end up giving most away because I only use them for personal consumption; my family won't eat them. It actually brings me into a rant on how offended I get when people who eat factory farm eggs say my eggs "aren't safe". No matter how much I compare the yolk colors, tell them how much better my eggs taste, show them the bad conditions of factory farms, and drop some science, they still won't eat my eggs. There's people I give the eggs to who absolutely love my eggs and want more, and then you got people who refuse to even take my eggs. I just don't understand how people think properly managed free range eggs are unsafe compared to dirty factory farms.

Back to my point though, I'm only interested in personal consumption, I'm just worried about them no longer giving me that

 

[olderoo]

olderoo beat me to it... DO NOT leave them free range and let nature take it's course.  You will attract lots of predators who think it will be a great place to move to, and you'll shoot yourself in the foot for your future flock to be able to free range, even with you outside.  When I moved to the area we now live in, we rented for a year first while we looked for a house.  The neighbors next door had a huge flock of 40 chickens they would let free range every day.  I used to watch out the window while I folded laundry and admire the flock and then Mr and Mrs Fox would come and take one or two.. EVERY DAY.  Eventually wiped out most of their flock and those chickens are not in a run 24/7. 


I pray those predators don't discover my dirty little secret of Chicken buffet most of the day here. . My LGD helps too.   ALso, I am on my second laying cycle with my hatchery girls.  Thought they wouldn't be as prolific, but so far. they are!
 Good Luck,
MB

when will they stop meeting your needs?
You'll want to consider two things

1. Age
2. Annual output

Typically 2 years is the tipping point for profit. But this requires you keep track of feed versus egg output and is not really something the hobbyist is much concerned with.
This leads to annual output.
Judging output annually is the only practical way to evaluate a hens ability. Right now, in Spring, output is high. In Summer's heat, or during the molt, or in Winter, output will drop. So you should average the output over the span of a season.

I said a hen has the capacity for 10,000 eggs. That is the approximate number of ova she carries. Each ova represents a future egg. But...

Does she live long enough to achieve her capacity?
Was she driven so hard to produce eggs during her life that she is "spent" physically and so fails early?
Was she nourished well and allowed to follow her natural production cycles?

As you can see, there is no absolute. I can tell you the max lifespan recorded for a chicken is something like 22 years. I would monitor your hens for three years minimum, as I expect they will go one meeting your needs at least that long. Most egg production plans have you keeping TWO flocks. One is the old and the new ones the replacements.
Once you detect a drop that is obviously going to impact your consumption, well.... It is time to start phasing out the old.

Try reading this and see if it gives you some ideas

http://journeytoforever.org/farm_library/ppp/ppp8.html

Or you could just wait until you get so few that you are considering buying eggs. Replace your layers then, and take a break until they start laying again.

 

[Spangled]

My hatchery birds have been productive well past 5 years of age----I've never had a bird just quit laying. Even my 7 year old birds were giving maybe 3 eggs a week. Just something to consider.

That's exactly what I was going to say. I have right now two Black Copper Marans. One is 5 and the other is 4.5 years old. They are both laying and have been since February and we live in the northern half of the US and we don't use lights or heat in the winter. I haven't been counting the eggs since it doesn't matter to me right now, but I have lots of dark eggs in the cartons. When I used to count their eggs, my Black Copper Marans laid between 3 and 5 a week except during molt, a little bit of winter, and periods of broodiness.

I don't know if it matters or not, but those mentioned above aren't hatchery chickens. Nothing against hatchery chickens. Never met a chicken I didn't like.

 

[bobbi-j]

bobbi-j,

What kind of rooster is that in your avatar. I thought it was a Columbian W until I saw it's tail. Is it a cross of something. He is neat looking!
MB

Thanks! He is a Brahma/EE cross. He's just a year old and so far very mild mannered. I'm hoping he continues his good behavior.

 

[Melabella]

Thanks! He is a Brahma/EE cross. He's just a year old and so far very mild mannered. I'm hoping he continues his good behavior.

Very handsome, I think you will be ok with that cross. Brahma's such sweeties...I had a Columbian Wyandotte mis sexed roo from a hatchery order, and he was one mean rooster and had to go. Don't think you'll have that issue.

Good Luck,
MB

 

[5 Acre Rooster]

Choice is personal, everyone has their own views. I keep mine around for awhile. They give the occasional egg and also seem to teach the younger birds the "ropes" . And in winter an extra body helps with a little warmth added to the coop. Not much but a good excuse. If you choose you can also use older birds for broodies if they will or breed chicks from them, just use a young rooster.
Normally only birds that go to camp here are problematic birds or if they get injured, except meat birds. Even a few of those made retirement around here, well retirement for CX anyways. I have 4 from last year that joined the layer flock and give me eggs daily (1-4).

Unless I pen some for breeding all my birds free range completely. We have all the predators as well as oodles of feral cats people dump in the country. Even had an owl that found tree roosting birds very tasty. I check every few days (Nights) for predators. Generally my roosters let me know if there s a disturbing presence in or near a roosting area. Although I did lose a drake the other day but him and mate were penned by themselves.

 

[suewags]

So, we're considering getting a few backyard chickens for eggs, but not sure what to do with them when either they stop laying or when we decide we'd like to have some chicken for dinner. We're not vegetarians and are ok knowing where our food comes from, but I don't know if we have it in us, to do it ourselves. Are there any local (northeastern MA, or southern NH) abattoirs where we could bring them when the time comes? How do other people "dispatch" their chickens? What's the freezer method? I don't want to torture them, they'll have a happy life and ideally a quick death.
Thanks for any advice.

 

[bobbi-j]

Very handsome, I think you will be ok with that cross. Brahma's such sweeties...I had a Columbian Wyandotte mis sexed roo from a hatchery order, and he was one mean rooster and had to go. Don't think you'll have that issue.

Good Luck,
MB

Yeah, his father (the Brahma part of that mix) was just as mild mannered as this one. He'd just move his hens away when I would go out where they were free ranging. Never got upset when I'd pick up a hen to check her over. This one, one day while I was checking the hens did look my way, but didn't come after me or anything. Just watched. I'm not too worried about him.

 

[bobbi-j]

So, we're considering getting a few backyard chickens for eggs, but not sure what to do with them when either they stop laying or when we decide we'd like to have some chicken for dinner. We're not vegetarians and are ok knowing where our food comes from, but I don't know if we have it in us, to do it ourselves. Are there any local (northeastern MA, or southern NH) abattoirs where we could bring them when the time comes? How do other people "dispatch" their chickens? What's the freezer method? I don't want to torture them, they'll have a happy life and ideally a quick death.
Thanks for any advice.

You can ask at your local meat markets if they do chickens or not. None around here do. Frankly, the hatchet and stump method (in my opinion) is the quickest, most humane death. Slitting the throat is another option (do a search on killing cones, slitting the jugular, etc.). Not a fan of sticking a bird in a freezer to let it slowly freeze to death. The quickest death is the most hands-on, I think. There is no pretty, easy way to humanely kill a chicken quickly. I know I'll probably catch a lot of flak for my opinion, but that's fine. To each his own.

 

[tadaen sylverma]

So, we're considering getting a few backyard chickens for eggs, but not sure what to do with them when either they stop laying or when we decide we'd like to have some chicken for dinner. We're not vegetarians and are ok knowing where our food comes from, but I don't know if we have it in us, to do it ourselves. Are there any local (northeastern MA, or southern NH) abattoirs where we could bring them when the time comes? How do other people "dispatch" their chickens? What's the freezer method? I don't want to torture them, they'll have a happy life and ideally a quick death.
Thanks for any advice.

The freezer "method" you referring to is an expression. Nice way of saying slaughtering birds for food. "Send them to freezer camp".