[karlooben]

i know my girls are for life cathangirl but if my girls stop laying then they will have to be culled and believe me i wont want that to happen but i did get hens to produce eggs for family an freinds not as for pets as such i cant afford to keep an animal that is generally regarded as livestock an get nothing from it .

but today i think they have laid 13 eggs , i got 11 an 2 were eaten as they were possibly soft shelled , its a risk i take as i cant get to them from 6 am tell after 2,30 pm mon- frid. maybe they were just having an of week  i just found it wierd that they had dropped producing so many all of a sudden .

[kitkat]

Looby, if you wanted 'livestock' for laying, then you shouldn't have had ex-batts and should think seriously before your next lot arrive, these birds aren't rescued so that they can be culled the minute they stop laying

[karlooben]

i know a lot of farmers an they have all said ex bats or normal hens are all classed as livestock they are there to produce us with food. at least with getting ex batts they would of had a good life until thier time is up , i pray none of my girls have to be culled an that they die the nataural way .

[Kate and her Ducks]

Would have to agree with Kit kat.
Perhaps it would be better to invest in some POL hybrids who would lay for you well and haven't already done the best of their laying in such sad conditions. You have such a wonderful set up sure they would do well but I think you look after you hens so well that you will have to make the decision to cull those that don't lay as otherwise they will slip into happy retirement of not laying.

[karlooben]

i would not be the one doing the deed if it ever came to it i would leave that to the ppl who know what they are doing .i.e another plot holder who used to be a chicken farmer .

but how would i know who was laying what i am not around when they lay during the day an i cant put them into seprate pens , the only way i would know is if i droped down to 5 eggs or less a day for a few weks .
an from what i can tell buying pol birds would be to expensive for me as i have seen them at quite high prices .

[wildwitchy]

i always thought that ex battery hens went to homes that were non commercial. I sell the spare eggs once my girls have fed us (as a bonus of having them) but if they stopped laying tomorrow they'd have a home untill they died naturally & I guess I'd have to go back to buying organic eggs elsewhere (till my flock reduced in size). I guessed that was the whole idea. To give them a break. 

Shame for the girls. 

As said I think POL pulletts perhaps or day olds may be a better investment rather than potential knackered but beautiful ex batts.

[too many girls]

speechless

[karlooben]

it seems to me that some are reading this wrongly ,. if all my girls stopped laying then i may consider leting them go . i cant aford to keep a load of hens that aint laying and i dont have the room to keep any more that do lay , as i have said which ppl seem to be missing is i hope it dont come to them having to be killed of at all .

u guys are lucky to be able to have enough ground to keep a load of birds for the sake of just having them but i look at my girls as there to produce food for ppl , same as a bird farmer but just on a very tiny scale .

[chooknewbie]

then you shouldnt be getting ex-bats looby. i think the ex-bat people would be most unimpressed to hear that they were removing the chickens from somewhere they were going to be culled because they were past their prime, only to be rehomed to somewhere they are likely to be culled because they are past their prime.

If you want chickens for mini farming use, then bite the bullet and get pols. you have to speculate to accumulate and all that. I have Warrens, and they have laid well for me so far. they cost me 7.50 each last year. not a fortune.

[joyfull]

I agree with a lot of the previous comments - I thought ex bats were supposed to be for life not just for the short time they may or may not lay.
For cheap pol try Grannie Annie - my amberlinks (I had 3 but 1 dissapeared - no feathers no goodbye note - nothing!!!) and they lay everyday without fail, plus they don't go broody.

[Kate and her Ducks]

I have the same problems with space but luckally don't have to rely on the eggs mine produce so I will never need to cull to make the space. The reason I am uncomfortable (and I suspect others here are too) is that Ex Batts ahve had such a miserable life and are so worn out by the time they reach people who care for them it seems short sighted to expect them to pay for themselves in terns of eggs. If they did that then the farms wouldn't have got rid of them! I think most people feel that if an ex batt is rehomed it should be for life, however long that may be and that could be years without laying! Chickens go through the menopause too (in a figure of speech). Unless you are very unlucky (or maybe that should be lucky) it is highly unlikely that all your girls will up and die of natural causes just as they stop laying.

No-one argues with the practicalities of replacing laying livestock but surely it would be better to get a good POL hybrid that has it's best laying to do or even chicks and bring them on yourself (cheaper). Yes they are more expensive inital outlay but they will lay better for longer and can then be culled and replaced.

I think what I am trying to say (in a very rambling fashion) is that it feels like rehoming hens should be a decision make by the heart, not the head or pocket. You look after your hens well and what you do with them is obviously up to you but I don't think that you will find a lot of people who agree with you and it is not because we don't understand.

[chooknewbie]

as always Kate, you manage to say what i mean in a more elloquent (spelling?) manner.

[craig1981]

im very new to all of this and dont even get my chickens till next week but ive gone into this buying pol pullets at a cost of £4.99 each . In my humble opinion and dont shoot me down for this if you cant afford to keep an animal for its full life term then you shouldnt have got them in the first place . I know my kids will get attached to the girls so they will live there life fully even when they stop laying as i wouldnt want to give the kids he message that its ok to dispatch them when theyve stopped laying .

[parson]

You should consider yourselves lucky you can get POL's that cheaply down in England. We've just paid £17.50 each for 4. It seems harder to source them up here in Scotland.

[joyfull]

Parson are they purebreeds at that price? In which case that is a standard sort of price (and for some breeds you will pay a lot more for). However my first two both hybrids one a black rock and the other a bluebelle (called rythm and blues respectively) cost me £18 each for pol last August.