- Jul 6, 2011
- 698
- 16
- 111
I now have a nice flock of 27 hens...of them, at least 5 are old, at least 4-5 by my guessing. None of them lay anymore, or if they do it has been so sporadic that I have not noticed them ever in a laying box. I was talking to a lady who has raised chickens for many years and talking to her about processing them. She told me not to do it now, but to wait until spring, so I could basically use them as heaters in my coop. She said the five of them would be that much more body heat in the dead of winter. We live in Wyoming and have very cold winters here, so that does make sense. However, I will still be feeding them for the rest of the summer, fall and then through the winter. What do you do with your older hens? They are BO, a BSL, and a few white hens that I not sure of the breed, but I believe all are dual purpose birds. Will their meat still be good after all these years? Should I bother with processing them or just cull them...and now or spring time?