Posts Tagged what to do with old hens

I’ve been cleaning the coop today, spraying the roosts and cement floor with bleach to disinfect. We’ve never had a problem with mites and I’d like to prevent it, if possible.

I found a home for our last two hens and tomorrow some young pullets are arriving. I bought them from a family who got them as chicks about 3 months ago. They suddenly had to move due to a job change. This will be my third flock of hens. Fifteen years ago I bought six day-old chicks. I had to get rid of one because she terrorized the other hens. These original hens you can see on https://www.backyardhencam.com/six-hens/. After those had all passed away, I took two hens from a neighbor. When they passed away, I bought four hens as young layers.
I recently found a home for Zelda and Roxanne, my last two, so that I could begin with a new flock of chicks.

My favorites were the six I raised from chicks. So tame and sweet. One lived to be eight years old. I’ve really looked forward to starting over with chicks. I’ll post a picture when they arrive and you can always look in on them on my webcam.

Pretty Poppy a Silver-laced Wyandotte Hen

Poppy, our pretty silver-laced Wyandotte died today. I’m not terribly distraught because she died of what I believe is old age. I found her under the roost. She was paralyzed on one side of her body. No blood. No broken bones. Just laying with her wings spread out. I put her in a cage in the garden shed with food and water. She ate a little. But in the morning she was gone.

The hens are approaching  5 years of age. Their toes are twisted and they look to have arthritis. They no longer lay eggs but I don’t have the heart to get rid of them. I’m down to two hens now, Daisy and Sweetpea. Both have been through much more than Poppy. Daisy has been sick twice and Sweetpea was attacked by a dog. They both survived their mishaps and are still strutting through the garden, taking dust baths, and running to me when I have a treat in my hand or call “chick, chick, chick”.

What to do with old hens is a dilemma that we, who have pet chickens, find ourselves in.  We can’t keep building on to our coops to house new “young chicks” who only lay a few years, then retire. Most of us don’t have room in our backyards.

Perhaps we need to lobby for a breed that will lay and live longer. Is it possible? They certainly have developed chickens that lay more eggs than ever thought possible.

I will miss Poppy. She was a level-headed survivor. When a hawk would fly over, Poppy was the first to sound the alarm and run for cover. She loved to free-range, scratching deep under the artichoke leaves. She was not as tame as Daisy and Sweetpea and did not appreciate me picking her up. She was a bit of a “wild thing” but oh so beautiful. I don’t think I’ll get another Wyandotte. I had trouble with both of my Wyandotte girls. The golden Wyandotte was “mean girl” (story here) and I had to rehome her, and Poppy was a “wild child” (see story) and I had to separate her when she was young. But, none-the-less. Poppy was one of the original six and her passing marks time in my own life.