When your hens stop laying....

[misskes]

I consider mine pets so they will get to live out their lives after they've stopped laying.

 

[RodNTN]

My chickens are pets, no killing involved.

 

[GC-Raptor]

I got my girls for eggs, 1st. Meat, 2nd.
I wanted a high egg producing, non flighty duel purpose, bird. I researched for nearly a year. And I chose a sex-links type. Now did I want Red or Black? Well I wanted to buy locally. So around here the farm and garden and TSC have chicks beginning in March. I searched TSC, Mackeys and Shagbark. I found Golden Comets at Mackeys. I was there on the weekend and they were coming in Thursday or Friday. I said I'll take six. They are now 15 months old.
I plan to get another six (or more if I build a bigger coop) next spring. I plan to butcher my hens around 28 months, before the second molt. I will take good care of them, till then.
My mom had around 50 chickens and ducks total, 3 times more chickens than ducks at any given year. I grew up with them since I was born. My mom hatched chicks yearly, under a broody hen. Sold eggs and sold and ate the cockerels and stewed the older hens. GC

 

[sassysarah]

Mine are pets! If they don't lay anymore I'll bring them in house.... Jk! Lol

 

[Bluechick2u]

Mine are pets! If they don't lay anymore I'll bring them in house.... Jk! Lol

You'll want chicken diapers then... yup, its a real thing.

 

[azygous]

Sometimes I swear I'm running a nursing home for elderly hens. They get to live until they die of natural causes or I need to euthanize if sick and unable to recover.

As for laying, that's a splendid way for them to earn their room and board. But they don't get kicked out when they quit laying.

I have a nine-year old Brahma who quit laying at age six. I have a two-year old Black Copper Marans who quit laying after the first year. I have an eight-year old Silver-laced Wyandotte who is still laying pretty regularly, and some six-year olds that are still laying like they did in their youth.

While layers do drop off in egg production after the second year, it's certainly not a given that old hens won't keep on laying eggs.

 

[FluffyButt789]

We have 16 chickens. 12 are hens. Of those, 2 are very young, 3 are teenagers and will start to lay this fall, 3 are our original babies and are laying daily (though one is in brood mode now), and 4 are older hens we have bought from a neighbor. The older girls are not laying daily but they are so sweet I cannot think of butchering them, or any other hens. We do butcher roosters due to their aggressiveness, so we may consider butchering a hen ONLY if they are aggressive. But all of my girls are my babies and will get to live however long they may.

 

[Gray Farms]

I eat mine. Usually butcher in the summer while they're molting. Them and the young cockerels from this year. My freezer always has chickens in it.

 

[The Golden Egg5]

I will let mine die off of natural causes and as they die off, add in younger pullets and chicks or hatch my own with my chickens eggs (once I have some)

ETA: I got my first egg today! So the plan can start!

 

[tastyacres]

For me, every animal on my Farm has a purpose! My dog guards my family and me, cats keep mice away, goats provide us with milk and meat, chickens eggs and meat, etc!

We butcher our hens at the age of 3-4-years... I am not one to really get attached to poultry.

I did keep my 4-first hens! They were 4-years when we got them but I put them on a completely organic diet and they laid till they were 7-8-years.

I usually will feed them to the dog, and for bone broth.

This also probably has to do with the way my parents have raised me...