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Author Topic: Life of a Chicken  (Read 4394 times)

wilf

  • Joined Nov 2008
Life of a Chicken
« on: November 29, 2008, 09:23:16 am »
Hi

How long do chickens lay eggs for ? Years Months?

If they have to be despacted whats the best method and at what age is best for them to be done?

As a townie not keen on killing a chicken but may have to?

Help

Wilf :dog:

doganjo

  • Joined Aug 2012
  • Clackmannanshire
  • Qui? Moi?
    • ABERDON GUNDOGS for work and show
    • Facebook
Re: Life of a Chicken
« Reply #1 on: November 29, 2008, 12:45:45 pm »
How long they lay for depends on a lot of things - Rosemary can probably be more specific, but in my experience it's influenced by the age they started to lay, the breed, the conditions they live in, amount of light, feeding etc.  Sorry but you asked the length of a piece of string. ;D 
I don't kill mine - I leave them to enjoy life to the end (unless they look really poorly, but even then I'm reluctant as I've seen them recover when apparently on their last wings)- chickens can be fine one day and dead when you go into the shed the next.
Also, they can lay sporadically - depends what you want to do - keep a chicken only as long as it lays every day - then kill it if you want food.  Mine all have personalities so basically they are my pets as well as my food source (eggs and manure for the veg only though).  I have said before I'll eat anything except my own animals ;)
Not much help to you but I'm sure others will give you better replies
Annie
Always have been, always will be, a WYSIWYG - black is black, white is white - no grey in my life! But I'm mellowing in my old age

Hilbillie

  • Joined Feb 2008
  • St. Mayeux, Brittany
Re: Life of a Chicken
« Reply #2 on: November 29, 2008, 01:02:42 pm »
Hi Wilf, I found the following website really helpful - www.freewebs.com/professorchicken . I'm pretty sure I got it off this forum in the first place.  It has a section called Timeline of a Chicken's Life which I found answers quite a lot of questions.  I also find the following forum really helpful - www.thepoultrykeeper.co.uk .  We despatched our first two chickens yesterday morning using the broomstick method, it was over very quickly and wasnt half as traumatic as I thought it was going to be.  I think we will just chop their heads off in future though.  What took the time was the plucking!  We're probably going to skin them next time to save plucking.  They've been hanging in a cool outhouse for the past 24 hours so hubby is going to gut and joint them this afternoon.  The 2 chickens should provide 6 meals for the two of us - 2 breast meals each, 2 leg meals each and 2 soup meals each - definitely worth doing in my opinion, just hope they taste good!
Hilary

Rosemary

  • Joined Oct 2007
  • Barry, Angus, Scotland
    • The Accidental Smallholder
Re: Life of a Chicken
« Reply #3 on: November 29, 2008, 05:14:23 pm »
Hi Wilf.

Annie's right - how long is a piece of string. Generally, pullets will start laying at about 22 weeks old, but that depends on wdhen they were born, since hens don't lay well in the winter. Hens are born with all the eggs they can ever produce already in their body; depending on the breed , they can lay a lot of eggs for a couple of years or fewer eggs for more years. The commercial hybrids tend to be the former, pure breeds the latter. They probably pay for them selves for two laying seasons then they should be culled.

Like Annie, we keep ours till they die of old age or can't escape the fox. If feed and food prices keep going up though, we might have to be a bit more businesslike.

We've had meat chickens and have despatched sick hens and spare cockerels. Our preferred method is to shoot them in the ehad with the airgun. It's instant. Plucking's the worst job.

wilf

  • Joined Nov 2008
Re: Life of a Chicken
« Reply #4 on: November 30, 2008, 02:02:40 pm »
Hi

Thanks to all the replys and information is great.

Will let you know how we are getting on.

thanks


Wilf

 

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