Chickens for bug control and food recycling.

Poor old girl! That's the nastiest thing I've ever seen in a chicken. I had an egg-bound hen once. That wasn't pretty either.

They don't keep those commercial layers very long. Once they've passed their peak of egg production, they're done. Feed conversion ratios have to pay out. Such terrible conditions they live under. Even the "cage-free" are crammed together in a building and not out enjoying life on pasture. It's the thought of mechanical processing that gags me. Fecal matter splattered everywhere. It's not like you have such worries of salmonella when you cleanly and carefully butcher them at home.

I don't keep my hens more than 2-3 years, so long as they're laying well enough to justify feeding them.

My neighbor kids gave me two young point-of-lay rhode island red pullets yesterday. Her dog killed one of the others and they needed a new home. Good looking birds. They've already laid an egg a piece.
 
quiz me this we gave my girls cut up pumpkin last night
about 4 hours before dark went in to close them in they only ate
the seeds no meat?
 
PennyJo said:
quiz me this we gave my girls cut up pumpkin last night
about 4 hours before dark went in to close them in they only ate
the seeds no meat?
Click to expand...

They prefer it better once it has fermented, which softens, sweetens it and thins out the skin. Just store your pumpkins awhile, letting them freeze and thaw if you like...they will grow faint mold on the outside and maybe even inside by the time it's all said and done, but if you feed them pumpkins like that you won't find anything left except the tiny bit of pumpkin attached to the blossom navel.

When fed like that it's like watching sharks at a feeding frenzy...my sheep, the dogs, chickens, etc. all went crazy over rotten/fermented pumpkins but would barely touch them when given fresh.
 
Penny Jo, I don't see that as a surprise at all. Sometimes I'll toss in cabbage, tomatoes, corn, squash, cucumbers, apples, whatever. A lot of the time they are on it like flies on stink. Swarm all over it, play keepaway, hog it down until every scrap is gone. Other times they will ignore it, not even going over to see what it is. But later it is normally gone. Normally, not always. I just don't worry about it. If they want to eat it, they will eat it, then or later. If they don't want to eat it, it will compost in place. I just toss it in the run, don't try to feed it to them in any special way.
 
Bee, you bring out very good points in chicken keeping and being a responsible chicken owner. More people should get a dose of reality. I keep mine until their 2nd molt. Egg production drops dramatically after that, so to the stew pot they go. But I must confess.....I have 2 "pets" that are special to me. Robin is a black sex link with a red breast, hence the name Robin, she will be 6 years old in March 2017. The other is Dottie, a SLW and she is a year behind Robin. Both still lay, not well, but they lay. I really don't care. But I want them to be healthy and happy. When they are not......reality strikes and I will do what has to be done.
 
Killed three more of the birds in that gift flock and all have shown healthy carcasses and viscera, so I'm hoping that sick bird was just a one off.

Aliza(2 yr old grandgirl)helped me and we had a good chatter about it all...she's fascinated by everything Gran does and this is no different. The running commentary from Aliza was hilarious! :D

We made homemade bread and banana nut bread the night before and she loved helping with that(we have matching aprons!)and she loved helping me kill chickens too. That girl is like medicine to the soul, she's so funny and sweet! :love
 
Oh I know cripes I even through weeds in to them they love it all
hot weather I was freezing lots to give them... they are pretty spoiled
food wise watermelons all the tree limbs with choke cherries they have a blast
 
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