what to do with your old chicken

[DrakeJake]

what do the backyard chickeners do when the chicken gets old. i dont want to see what happened the first time when i first got my flock. being inexperienced i watched as this poor old hen spent her time alone just standing, sometimes leaning. and one day woke up dead. i have another doing this and i dont want her to suffer so what do people do. im in town so im not butchering, what do i do

 

[SilverPhoenix]

You can always take her the vet and have her put to sleep. That is a peaceful way to end her suffering...

 

[soap&eggs]

vets are very expensive to have them take care of your chicken(s). when you say old what age ? chickens can live alot longer then most think. are you sure they arent sick with something else ? ive had chickens live to 14 yrs old. as for all other old birds around here, which i have any usually depending on breeds are excellent broody hens, dont matter none if they lay a egg or not i raised them all and they stay til their life ends. normally my old ones dont ruffleup or lean..they just basically act fine and poof..like a heart attack. fast. some breeds like the production seem not to live as long as others...maybe read up on dieases & see if yours maybe are just sick.

 

[DrakeJake]

Yup, had no intention of bringing a chicken to the vet. i dont know how old really. i initially started out with 4 from a friend young healthy birds 2 years ago, still have them. then i got 4 from an egg farmer getting rid of her old stock last year. she said they were a year old but they sure looked bad. no feathers left from the overcrowding, very dirty crowded place, ticked me off, it was one of those that began to stand alone sleeping a lot. she honestly looked very scraggly and old even when her feathers came back, when the others began to pick on her last summer i locked her up in the coup to let her go in peace (in knew she would be gone within hours). then i got another 5 from a friend a month ago. they also looked very healthy and fat. it might be my imagination with what i thought i was seeing the other day, it is cold and they dont move around as they were even a week ago. i was suppose to bring a few to a farmers place last summer and they would provide me with the place and show me how to butcher but they obviously forgot. I will continue to keep an eye. I'm a very compassionate person for rescuing any animal in distress and providing a home and food inside or out (many stray cats) but I've had to develop a thick skin at the same time. I will go out of my way to resuce an animal and do what i can but our income is quite limited as I'm out of work at the moment so vet bills will absolutely not be an issue here again. 2 years ago we used 2 months mortgage payment in order to get our cats back from the vet who basically raped us with a bill for 3000 to get them fixed. never never again will i allow an animal to be more important than the person who cares for it, that was absolute insanity. I will however and have as recent as last week picked up a cold lost rottweiler, let him in my jeep and drove around until i found his owner. we have also allowed the stray cats to seek refuge in our warm garage inspite of the disgusting mess they have turned it into and the weekly newcomer that arrives. theres a crazy person that comes weekly to feed them and so does my neighbor, oddly enough neither wants the mess they have both delivered to my backyard with makeshift shelters of boards and straw along with chicken or turkey carcasses they leave for the cats. whatever, springs around the corner and ill clean it all up again.

 

[MyKidLuvsGreenEgz]

I don't know what we'll do when one of our "pets" die... whether chicken or goat. When our quail had outlived their usefulness and I couldn't keep up with them (was in the middle of a crisis), I gave them to some friends behind us and told them that I didn't want to know what they did with them, or how they tasted. They returned the empty clean cage a few weeks later; they never said and I never asked.

But our chickens ... they are so much more personable. Don't know what we'll do.

 

[abhaya]

would your nieghbor be willing to put the bird down for you? I rotate my laying hens so I dont really ever have old chickens.

 

[DrakeJake]

nope, she's as soft as a marshmallow. she feeds all the alley cats because her husband wont let her have a cat of her own. i wish she'd feed them in her garage. when im sure this chicken is indeed sick I will find someone to deal with her since i cant, i dont have the heart either. i dont want to know or see. i am able to make and agree on a hard decision but im not able to carry it out.

 

[HorizonSon]

I'd stew the bird... You said that it OS because you are in town, as to why you are not processing the bird... Is there some kind of fascist law making it illegal? I wouldn't be suprised, in this day and age; everything being done to imprison and enslave.

God; thank you, for getting me out of the city!

 

[DrakeJake]

your hilarious, i love blunt. i cant cause i cant do the dirty deed. dont know how and im not sure i could do it anyway. gotta find someone who wants a free bird maybe and they can do it but i know ill feel like crap sending her off pretending its to a good home. im pathetic. yes you and all on acreages and farms are extremely blessed. i pray and dream always of a life out there. horsed, goats, sheep pigs cows...all of it, i want it all...i just want to be sufficient and leave this suffocating way of life a long way off.

 

[HorizonSon]

One of my sisters lives in Santa Clara. She might want it for the stew pot. Should I ask her?

I think I got my threads mixed up; because I was thinking that you lived in San Jose, CA.