Why is it so hard to choose to butcher my old hens

[bobbieschicks]

i know butchering my roosters and nonlaying hens is the practical choice but that doesn't make it any easier.

I keep thinking that perhaps she will start to lay again in the spring, but spring comes and she doesn't. Then just when I decide she must go I find she has laid an egg. One glorious egg. The perfect color. The whole reason I chose that breed and hatched and raised her - to lay that beautiful colored egg. And I think to myself perhaps she will start to lay again, and I decide to wait. And wait. And wait. That is my process. The cycle in which I am stuck.

Yes, I know that they have lived good lives to date as most nonlaying hens are five years old now. I look at them and they have names. They didn't at first, but over time I started to nick name them. I know that was a mistake. But it was hard not to do. The Easter Egger who looks like a hawk, Hawk. The Splash Maran who lays chocolate colored eggs, Bunny. Wisely the three Rhodes Island Reds were never individually named, but they are collectively called the Red Sisters. There's Ollie, the olive Egger. And the Easter Egger sisters, Smokey and Lacey. And my favorite of all, the Partidge Silkie who goes broody at the drop of a hat, Shirley Jones. Only the Olive Egger and Silkie still lay with any regularity. And the Silkie has her cycle where she lays a week then goes broody. The Silkie will get to live on as she continues to be a layer and a periodic broody. The Olive egger will also make it to spring. The rest are not laying and haven't laid in months, or with regularity in years.

My new flock of pullets are just about to start laying and they need the resources that the older ones continue to use. They are not named and there are multiples of each breed in hopes that I will not grow attached to any one chicken. Too late of course as there are already a few who love to run to me for treats and linger to get petted briefly. I don't try to treat them like pets. I try to treat them like livestock, but it doesn't work for long. I am attempting to remain aloof from them in hopes it will make the ending process easier. I doubt it will.

The roosters are another story. I can distance myself enough from them to choose to butcher them as needed. Knowing that they will injury themselves and perhaps kill each other helps to chose to butcher all but one. However even that is still a difficult thing to do. I know how to butcher. I know who to butcher. I know when to butcher. But knowing and doing are two different things.

So I'm stuck in this cycle. It's fall, almost a month away from the first day of winter - December 21st. I wanted to have all the laying hens in one coop by winter. The younger pullets have made a way into the coop and it is nicely populated. But that also means I need to make room for the ones in the grow out pen to move over as well. Eliminating just the roosters won't be sufficient to have enough space for the flock. Redesigning the inside of the coop won't eliminate the problem either as eventually I will reach capacity. My head knows it's the right choice to butcher and use their meat. My heart keeps trying to find ways to let everyone live... a bigger coop, an additional coop, a separate area, etc. etc. etc.

I do loop back around to the thought that letting them live out their days until they die of natural causes, does waste their opportunity to provide us with one last meal. Perhaps that is what I will cling to as I make this hard hard choice.

 

[BantyChooks]

I don't think anyone finds it easy. I have a hard enough time with the roosters, and admittedly keep a few on because I don't have the heart to 'do it'.
It seems traitorous to butcher the old ladies when they've spent their lives giving you eggs, but in truth dying of old age is not a pleasant thing and when they stop laying is when they usually are ailing. Good luck, we're here behind ya... know that they don't know or care in their chicken-y brains, and their existance was a good long time and full of happiness. Best to end those lives before they are in misery and whilst they can still provide food for you and your family.

 

[Chickassan]

I can't do it either, that's why I've only got six hens and a roo. My plan is when the six old girls go dry I've still got enough to get six new girls and eveybody will be ok. I'm even attached to the roo,but in my defense he's a very good guy.

 

[BY Bob]

Everyone will have own perspective on this one. I am probably not too helpful to you. I got into this for pets and probably a feeling of nostalgia for home, where we did raise them for food. Between molt and the onset of winter we have not gotten an egg in weeks. In fact my wife told me to go threaten the girls with the soup pot. Unfortunately they know I am all bark no bite.

We have no plans to cull rather to enjoy their company as long as they are around. Eggs would be nice, but not necessary.

Remember, you need to do what is right for you and your birds. Only you can decide what that is.

 

[Windus]

My chickens are pets, no way I could eat one of them but everyone is different.

 

[Morrigan]

I so, so, feel for you. It's a heartbreaking decision and one I've spent a lot of time thinking about. I recently posted about the exact same issue. When I first got into chicken-keeping, I wanted to let all the hens live out their retirement. But, I didn't account for the fact that many of my hens would go broody, raise chicks, and therefore my population would expand beyond the space available for them. I finally reached the stage where I needed to make some culls this year.

The one thing I learned is that older hens, particularly hatchery stock, start having problems as they get to be over 3 years old, and they can be very good at hiding them. Keeping a vigilant eye and culling a hen before it dies of "natural" causes can be a great kindness. To illustrate, here is the story of two older hens who were on my cull list.

--The first was a very sweet 4+ year old orpington. I knew she was getting a little slow and having trouble flying to the roost, but I just couldn't bear to cull her and kept putting it off. She was still moving around with the flock, had beautiful feathers and appeared to be eating. Then one day she went rapidly downhill and two days later she was dead. I learned that, hiding beneath all the feathers, was an absolutely emaciated hen. I believe she had cancer and had spent her last few weeks literally starving to death. It would have been a mercy to have culled her earlier.

--The second was an almost 5 year old gorgeous speckled sussex and one of my favorites. I knew for a fact, that she hadn't laid an egg all of last year. For that reason, I strongly suspected that there something wrong with her, although her appetite was robust and she was roosting. But as I watched her more carefully, I could see that she was hanging out by herself more and more, and she wasn't as light on her feet as she should be. I finally steeled myself to cull and, to be honest, shed some tears after I had carried her over to my husband to do the deed. When we cut her open, we discovered a 2 pound mass of congealed egg in her abdomen. I'm amazed she was still able to fly to the roost. It had to have been horribly uncomfortable. It was only a matter of months, and probably until her poor body try to ramp up egg production again in the spring, until she died. I was very glad to have spared her that end.

Check the weights on your older hens, and feel them over to make sure there are no masses. If you know they have ceased laying eggs, I think you can reasonably expect some type of reproductive disorder. I have other hens of the same age who still consistently lay. Even at 5 years old, egg production should not totally cease if the hen is otherwise healthy.

In the end, the other thing I had to remember is that I had created a chicken eco-system. Every eco-system needs a predators to keep the population in check. If you have a created a safe yard for them, you need to step into that role. It's your job to keep the flock at a healthy size. It's not fun, but it's not cruel, and part of the circle of life.

Let us know how it goes.

 

[Peckadoodle]

Thank goodness I'm a vegetarian (for health reasons, nothing political) because I could not eat my friends! Their eggs provide my protein intake, for which I am thankful and let them live out their lives here on the farm. One is 7 years old and doing just fine right now.

 

[sourland]

As a kid I was told, "Never name your food." At this point in life , I feel that everyone needs a few pets.

 

[CannedMonster]

I so, so, feel for you. It's a heartbreaking decision and one I've spent a lot of time thinking about. I recently posted about the exact same issue. When I first got into chicken-keeping, I wanted to let all the hens live out their retirement. But, I didn't account for the fact that many of my hens would go broody, raise chicks, and therefore my population would expand beyond the space available for them. I finally reached the stage where I needed to make some culls this year.

The one thing I learned is that older hens, particularly hatchery stock, start having problems as they get to be over 3 years old, and they can be very good at hiding them. Keeping a vigilant eye and culling a hen before it dies of "natural" causes can be a great kindness. To illustrate, here is the story of two older hens who were on my cull list.

--The first was a very sweet 4+ year old orpington. I knew she was getting a little slow and having trouble flying to the roost, but I just couldn't bear to cull her and kept putting it off. She was still moving around with the flock, had beautiful feathers and appeared to be eating. Then one day she went rapidly downhill and two days later she was dead. I learned that, hiding beneath all the feathers, was an absolutely emaciated hen. I believe she had cancer and had spent her last few weeks literally starving to death. It would have been a mercy to have culled her earlier.

--The second was an almost 5 year old gorgeous speckled sussex and one of my favorites. I knew for a fact, that she hadn't laid an egg all of last year. For that reason, I strongly suspected that there something wrong with her, although her appetite was robust and she was roosting. But as I watched her more carefully, I could see that she was hanging out by herself more and more, and she wasn't as light on her feet as she should be. I finally steeled myself to cull and, to be honest, shed some tears after I had carried her over to my husband to do the deed. When we cut her open, we discovered a 2 pound mass of congealed egg in her abdomen. I'm amazed she was still able to fly to the roost. It had to have been horribly uncomfortable. It was only a matter of months, and probably until her poor body try to ramp up egg production again in the spring, until she died. I was very glad to have spared her that end.

Check the weights on your older hens, and feel them over to make sure there are no masses. If you know they have ceased laying eggs, I think you can reasonably expect some type of reproductive disorder. I have other hens of the same age who still consistently lay. Even at 5 years old, egg production should not totally cease if the hen is otherwise healthy.

In the end, the other thing I had to remember is that I had created a chicken eco-system. Every eco-system needs a predators to keep the population in check. If you have a created a safe yard for them, you need to step into that role. It's your job to keep the flock at a healthy size. It's not fun, but it's not cruel, and part of the circle of life.

Let us know how it goes.

Beautifully said Morrigan! Grief is the price we pay for love. We will remember each of our birds. Culling can quite often be a kindness.

 

[Chickassan]

Definitely, I'm on the side of not culling just because they got old and non productive. I know if a girl gets ill and is suffering it will have to be done. The ladies just provide so much besides eggs it just seems like a travesty to off them when there are no more rabbits in the hat, you know?

Beautifully said Morrigan! Grief is the price we pay for love. We will remember each of our birds. Culling can quite often be a kindness.