Just like your feedback.
I have 14 hens. They all still lay eggs, although it's much less than before. Part of it was their lice problem (which is gone now - whew!)
I've read that chickens can live to be 10 years old. But I know that generally, they only lay for a few years. What have YOU done with your chickens? Have you kept your non-laying hens around anyway? Or did you cull them eventually?
I'd reall, really hate to have to cull any of mine. They're not exactly pets but they're not just my livestock either. So I'd feel bad. BUT, I don't know if I can keep 14 hens around the next 10 years when they don't lay.
Granted, if I go the culling route, I won't do it now. They're still laying. I'm talking about in a few years when there are no eggs.
Long time chicken owners, what have YOU done?

I usually cull laying hens after their 4th year or so. I just keep them for a hobby, maximum production is of no concern to me, but I do like to keep some productivity. I keep back a few pullets each year so that I never have to replace the whole flock at once. Your birds may continue to lay for quite a number of years, and may live a vey long life (I have heard of 20 yrs+) if well cared for. When I cull, I sell the hens, so their fate is out of my hands.

Sunni, older hens are supposed to make very good soup. If it's just one or two hens, they could be kept around, although it's not economical, and you have 14. Don't make me think ahead, I don't want to butcher any, ever.
Mark, I would never sell older hens, God knows how they could get maltreated, in that case I would use the hatchet myself.
Just my opinion. Anny

Hey,

Despite what the "books" say, I've found my chicken flock to go against everything they say! Not only are they laying at the ripe old age of 5-6 yrs (and at pretty much as excellent a rate of lay as when I first got them), but they're surprisingly steadier than some other strains of chickens that I've read about. I'm hoping to his the Guinness Book of Recors with the oldest laying hen in the world ;-)

I've also heard that old hens make good soup, although some people disagree in that older hens probably taste like shoe leather!

I've never culled (yet), although I guess you could say nature culled for me when some wild dogs came and tore my chicken cage apart, slaughtered 2 hens, and nearly attacked a man I know. Yikes.

Happy laying!

Hi Josh, what breed of bird do you have?

:( I just couldn't eat my hens. I have no problem with chickens being raised for food. I think meat birds (free range) lead a very good life before their demise to the pot. BUT, I just couldn't eat MY hens. And I think we'll probably do what Mark above does. Wait till their 4 or 5 and cull them. :( I personally wouldn't do it, but my husband would.
I feel bad just thinking about it, though. I just can't see having a chicken around 10-20 years with no eggs.
Anyone else have any experience in this area?

Sunni, you wrote exactly what I was thinking! When you say cull, do you mean sell the birds like Mark or send to the pot (maybe someone else's pot), by way of your hubby?

This is a problem for me. We have a small commercial (and expanding) natural, organic egg business, so the economics of production is important to us. Although my family has kept chickens for quite a number of years, we started our expansion only a couple of years ago. Soon, we will be facing the question of what to do with our first set of 'spent' hens.

Like Mark indicated, my thoughts were to put an ad in the local newspaper that all the rural and farm people read offering to give them away or sell them ... You know that they're going to be butchered. I just don't want to be the one who has to do it. I will keep some of our oldest 'pets', but we just can't carry hundreds of hens into their unproductive years.

I have a friend who runs a 5000 bird confinement facility (egg production). Did you ever wonder what happens to those birds? After a year of laying (which means about the age of 18 months), the birds are given (free of charge) to a processing facility and they wind up as the meat in Cambell's Chicken Noodle Soup. There is so little meat on the layers (Leghorn females) that the processing plant can't make any money if they had to pay the grower for them. The grower gives them to the processor just to get rid of them to make way for the next batch of young, more productive pullets.

When I used to raise fryers for the freezer, usually sexlinks, there were always several beautiful pullets (as I let my birds get fairly large before butchering), and I would keep 3 or 4 for eggs for the family. When they were in their second or third year and hardly laying, I sent them to be butchered with the new batch. They were large and fat, and I could never think of eating them--at the time. I simply placed them in the bottom of the freezer, and months later, didn't know them any more--new hens had taken their place. And stewed, they are the most flavorful fowl with lots of super broth, and perfect pot for dumplings! Only 2 or 3, is acceptable. I could never do a dozen!

The oriental restaurants in Portland, ORE. used to take my folks spent laying flocks. Doubt they do their own chickens any more, but they came with crates and took them all away. I doubt they were sold, I didn't know about that part. CJR

I have cooked our free-range cockerels for my family in a number of ways... roasting like a turkey, pressure cooked, fried, baked, crock pot .... my family just doesn't like the natural meat flavor or texture. They want that soft, mushy KFC. It is really hard for me to choke that stuff down. I have butchered a lot of home grown cockerels and still have about 9 or 10 in the freezer now. I get one out from time to time to boil, cut up in small chunks and make soup. I just don't tell anyone where the meat came from. My biggest problem is that the other people in the family are townies and they are accustomed to KFC and that's their standard of perfection against which all other chicken is measured.

My pressure cooker is a cheap one and only utilizes 11 pounds of pressure. I am thinking of getting a new pressure cooker if I can find one like my gramma's ... it had a pressure guage on it and we all wondered when it was gonna explode and how deep would the crater be.

I haven't eaten a stewing hen since I was a child. And I can't remember that far back. But, I'll try almost anything once.

Hannah asked above what I meant by cull. I'd think I'd have a problem selling them to somone to butcher because who knows what their conditions would be like before they were culled. Stuck in a tiny dirty cage? I couldn't bear that. I guess I could live with it if I knew they'd be butchered right away, but I don't know... -sigh-
I think when the time comes, I'll my husband cull them humanely and I'll bury them in the backyard. I'd make sure their last day was great... free range out in the pasture, big meal of treats, etc. I dread the day.
I haven't gotten an egg from my americanas in weeks. :(

I'm raising barred plymouth rocks. They've served me soooo well. I've been reading about the vanishing gene pool and endangered chicken breeds and realize that the strain I have now might be kind of rare. Wow. I purchased another batch of chicks and they haven't been as wonderful as my first flock (who are still laying after over half a decade!). I'm thinking about breeding my first flock and, hopefully, will get good results.

I understand Sunni (Sunniten)'s worries about selling her hens. I have a friend who is very cruel to his chickens and wouldn't dream of selling my flock to him (even for a million dollars). I've become attached to my first set of chickens, especially since they lay so well, and I treat them like pets. At first I thought I could slaughter my chickens but, ugh, I can't bring myself to doing that now.

I know that chickens like mine are rare and am wondering if anyone else has had similar experiences with their chickens.

Thanks for your response Sunni and Josh. I don't like to think about culling my birds either. I had to take 3 roosters to the feed store this fall because I just couldn't decide what to do either. I like to think they went to a good home with lots of hens, but because they were large and healthy they probably got eaten. I know they looked better than any other bird at the store. Most birds there stay for quite a while, but she sold mine in less than 2 weeks, so hopefully everything worked out for the best, I hope.

Bad day! I've just dicovered that the first chick we've raised is a cockerell! It's certain - he just crowed! Now I'm going to have to make some barbaric decisions about his right to live or stay with his family group just because of his gender! I don't want to eat hens I've raised and don't need to. If we were starving and there were food shortages well then that would be different. My husband would eat him. If I take him to the farmer's market he'll be sold for 50p as ferret food! I know I can't have two cockrells, we started off like that and it was stressfull for the birds, the hens were run ragged - I have 7 hens - and Louis died suddenly and mysteriously, I think it was stress due to his being the underling, so I didn't have to do anything myself. I could get another shed and start another hareem, but where would that lead? - Ive 4 little chicks now and am pretty sure at least two of them are cockerells. This morning when pooble crowed phillip - our cock and Poobles dad - came rushing up and there looked like there would be a standoff, but Nikita - who raised Pooble but is not his egg mother - ran up and stood between them!
He's soo handsome Buff Orpingto x Black Rock, burning gold with irridescent green tail feathers. I'd really welcome hearing your ideas on the options, but no smug comments about reality. If he's got to die I'll do it myself.

Midardo,
Post a "Free Rooster" sign in your feed store. I did that to get rid of one of my roosters and I found him a home in one day. And I got 2-3 other calls as well. The home he went to was with other hens. He wasn't going to be food.

C'mon! Are you all vegetarians? (even most modern vegetarians are not true vegetarians but rather pseudo-lacto-zygo-vegetarians because they will drink milk and eat eggs) Do you really believe there is a Mr. Rogers or Capt. Kangaroo out there to take all your unwanted roosters to live with them and pet them and kiss them and feed them for the rest of their lives for nothing in return just from the goodness of their hearts?

Most of the people you can give or sell a rooster to are going to butcher it, unless the rooster is for breeding purposes. That's why they want the bird in the first place. A lot of suburban people might think that having a rooster is fun, but when they find out that roosters poop and you have to clean up after them, the romance is gone and cruelty begins. Make no mistake at this point in my post.... this is serious... there are way too many ignorant people who will take on an animal out of ignorance or when it is a cute baby only to abuse the animal when it grows up or when reality sets in and they realize that they have CHORES to do now .... Just like puppies at Christmas and bunnies at Easter or all the baby alligators from the repitle stores that get flushed down the toilet in Miami, Florida... they grow up and require work to support them.

You are not doing any favors to the roosters by giving them to people who don't have a lot of experience with chickens.... and those that do, will likely eat them. If you give one of YOUR UNWANTED roosters to someone who doesn't have a lot of experience with poultry, you are committing a sin against the animal world. You might sleep well and tell yourself that the bird is well taken care of, but that is not likely.

I have taken in rare roosters and still have them, but, we hatch hundreds of birds a year in our breeding efforts and simply can't keep all the males. We keep less than 1% of the males we hatch. We give them away, but we are not looking through rose-colored glasses ... we know that the people who pick up our cockerels are going to butcher them .... I'm just glad that I don't have to do it.

I apologize for being so emphatic, but this is an important issue to me. Even though we butcher cockerels, they are well treated and have a good life. There is simply no excuse for not treating animals with the highest degree of respect. I have no patience at all for "la-de-da suburbanites" with no experience with animals who think that animals are little humans (like Mickey Mouse) that can grow up and can use the toilet and never make a mess or need work to maintain them. These are the people who abuse animals the most.

Please remember that we ALL live by eating something else that was living! It is the pattern of life. Whether plant or animal, it was alive once. Abuse is not meant to be a part of this package, and I do like the Native American way of prayer of thanks for those animals and plants, that give their lives for us. Our grace before meals is not quite the same, but can be. CJR

Anonymous,
I live in an area where many people have livestock. As I was hanging up my free rooster sign, someone saw it and claimed the rooster right away. This was a person who raised chickens himself. I can understand what you're saying such as in an urban area where someone might stupidly adopt livestock (or other animals)as a pet and not realize what's involved. But in my situation, that wasn't the case.

For all of you with a few chicken, who need homes. If they are fine pets, check in your area for chidren petting zoo, they might like a donation. Also horse barns usually keep a few around to keep the horses company and for flie control. I was on the net and seen gardening with guineas, chickens like bugs
and scratch good,also.

I have recently been presented with this very problem that you have discused. I posted my unwanted cockerels
(two) at my feedstore. I am new to raising chickens but not new to raising food, That is what we are doing. What do you think eggs are?If fertilized we are really eating embroyos and I really don't want to get any futher into that.Why I came to this message board it to ask for help, from those of you who are really in the know, how to most humanely disbatch a chicken and how to clean it safely. I do not want to cause any uneccessary pain or stress. I realize that by stressing out the chicken more you make the meat tougher. I do know to refergerate the chicken for 24 hrs. to make it more tender before cooking. I truely do not mean to offend any of you with this topic and am sincerely requesting this information because I do respect all animals. Thank you.

Heather, First of all--there is NO DIFFERENCE in a fresh egg, whether fertilized or not!!! You cannot see or tell in ANY WAY that an egg is or is not fertilized. This can only be done by incubation and subsequent growth of the microscopic embryonic (I will call it "speck") which is completely dormant until incubated. If not incubated by 3 or 4 weeks,or kept at cold temperature, it is no longer viable. And still cannot be detected, either visually or by flavor or use of the egg.So you can put that worry aside.

As for butchering, the chopping block, a sharp ax and a quick action is possibly the best way to dispatch a bird for consumption. For the rest of the process, there are some websites, someone may have them at hand, to explain the rest. Old people like myself, have been on hand for many 100s of such processing, never liked it that well, but there is nothing like home grown and processed chicken for best food available! And while I never liked to do more than 10 at a time, my sisters-in-law used to do 50 or more a day, each and were experts!!! Notice, it is the women who got this job! CJR

Thanks CJR for your response. I have been checking for websites but have been unable to find any that really tell you the specifics. I found out one method in one of my farm books but have been unable to relocate that book now that I have the need. I look forward to any and all help. I, like you, don't look forward to the job but do look forward to home grown chicken. Yes, I did notice that its women who seem to get this job. HB

Hi, I have been reading the post for some time now, and would like advise on pen size and types of nest boxes. I have ordered 13 Welsommers and 5 silkes from Sandhill Preservation. I would like to keep them seperate from my main flock to increase their no.I have a 6ftx15ft pen I'm thinking of dividing into 3 pens, sq. footage would be about 30 sq. I hope to end up with at least 6 hen & 1 roo. of welsommer and a trio of silkies, is 30 sq large enough for this amount of welsommer's. I feel I need the third for rooster cull's. Next question nest's, I'd like to use rubber maid storage box's put in divider cut holes for hens to enter maybe air holes in sides for air flow. I think this would be easyer to clean and for the size of pens a good way to go instead of permant one's. I know some use cardboard for small pens but they get so messy. And this way I could hose them down so they stay clean. This is all in the planning stage as the chicks aren't dew until March but I'd like to get this figured out to cut down on "I wish I had done that different" :) Any info would be helpfull. Thank You
Nikki

I lived in Australia until mid 2000 and by then even my first chickens weren't more than 2 yrs old so I never experienced the culling problem but i am now in England and just about to buy day old chicks to start a new flock. I have several problems:

1. How many day-olds should I get to ensure 3 hens

2. Without culling cockerels myself, what is the best/most humane way of disposing of them

3. What breed of chicken lays for longer ie. I would be able to keep longer

4. Is culling really necessary in a flock of 3-5

Advice would be greatly appreciated :).

MT

1. Since eggs hatch at a rate of about half female and half male, statistically you would need six, but the 50-50 ratio will be closer with larger numbers. If you are purchasing from a hatchery, can you order just pullets?
2. You might try placing an ad and screening the callers to make sure they have good facilities for chickens and experience raising them. For example, placing odd roosters as pets with a child who has never had chickens before is not a good idea. I often ask prospective buyers what kind of facilities they have.
3. Don't know for sure, but if well cared for, chickens can live for many years. I think someone on this board once said they had birds who were over 20 years old.
4. Culling is done to eliminate sick, problem, or unproductive birds. It all depends on what your situation is and what your goals are.
Best of luck!

Hi you all, I am glad to see I am not the only one worried about what to do with an aging flock. I have 6 young pullets and as long as they each give a few eggs a week, even just 2 or 3, they are worth keeping but as they are intended for yard eggs and not exactly pets, (more like well treated livestock) I can't feed a bunch of nonlayers either. I buy pullets so I don't get roosters. Now I have one sweet little tame chickie named Mena who is now officially my pet and I will never get rid of her, ever, but the rest...We will be moving out of this rural suburb onto 9 acres in a few years. Wonder if I could just let the old non layers go live outside and fend for themselves, and keep my newer one in the run and coop, or would that be cruel? If they were free to roost in trees I think they'd be reasonably safe from predators, not like a chicken trapped in a non predator secure pen. Please continue to discuss this as it is something I didn't thinkabout beforehand and now it makes me uneasy.
Robint

If left to fend for themselves, they will soon be a predator dinner, even if they roost in the trees. Owls, cats, raccoons, and other creatures will get them at night. The best thing to do is to humanely put them in the freezer for stewing and soup. The old saying is "we take good care of them, and then they take good care of us."

Last Thursday we had a couple of strange eggs in the coop. One measured 3.5 inches long and 8 inches around. The other is tiny, about 1.5 inches long. The extra large egg almost looks like 2 halves were molded together. The small egg is normal in appearence except for the size. We have approx. 75 hens. The majority are Light Bramhas and Australorps. I suspect the weird eggs came from 1 of 2 Comets that are probably 3 years old. Has any one ever seen or heard of eggs this size. All the chickens are still alive and looking at the size of the large egg, it's hard to believe. Thanks in advance for your help

Older hens can put out some pretty strange eggs as they finish or begin a cycle. We keep the tiny ones as collector items, and use the big ones ourselves. When we see these, the reaction is always the same: Ouch!!

I have 4 barred rock hens (and 3 roosters my kids won't let me butcher). We converted a horse stall into a chicken coop, and they seem happy there - we let them outside during the day and pen them at night. Lately, I have noticed about 2-3 eggs per day showing up in the horse-feed trough (even though we have built a place for the hens to nest). My question #1 is, is it possible that more than one hen is laying in the same place? Question #2, is why do I never see a hen, except very occasionally, sitting on the eggs? Is our heat down here in Texas warm enough that the eggs don't require constant mother's warmth?

Never mind on Question #1 - searching websites, I found the answer that a hen won't sit until her clutch is complete - then she will sit to hatch them all in around the same timeframe. Still wondering about whether or not she is actually laying that many eggs per day, or if the other hens are contributing. Thanks

I have 7 hens and 3 roo's. I get about 4-6 eggs a day. Each hen will take approximately 24 hours to lay ONE egg. You are getting the average eggs per hen... My hens all try to lay in the same bucket every day... no matter who is in there. I would suggest you collect eggs every day and put them in an egg carton set on its long end. Turn that carton a couple of times a day and when your hen is broody you can slip the freshest eggs under her to hatch... That way you know all the eggs will hatch on the same day and she won't abandon any that would hatch days later. Also you take the oldest eggs from the carton and replace them with fresh ones eating the older ones. Don't refrigerate the eggs. They won't hurt you any if you are not storing any cracked eggs. Keep them in a cool dark place(40-50*f).

I live in Florida so I don't have a basement but my pantry is dark and cool enough. I even have left them on the counter in the carton and set 2dozen of them in an incubator... only 1 didn't hatch, so as long as you keep turning them and don't expose them to high temps you should be ok.