Our hens are 7 years old & they are not producing. Should I clean the chickens or take them to a butcher?

Question

We would like to use the chickens as roasters.

Answer 1

Yea that's all there good for, and not even that, come on 7 years old. That will be the toughest chicken you have ever ate. Decide for yourself, I would keep them as pets.

Answer 2

if you have a strong stomach do it yourself. it's not that difficult.

Answer 3

why would you keep them that long?

Answer 4

Make pets out of them.

Answer 5

Chickens over the age of 30 weeks area too tough to eat. They've given you this much service over the years, why not just keep them as pets?

Answer 6

They are too old, equivalent to 80 or 90 years of human age! Keep them and find out what is the natural length of their life?! (Tell us too)

Answer 7

told to eat if you ask me keep them as pets or give them to the dogs.or give them to somebody who might youse them for bugg control

Answer 8

Kill them and clean them yourself. It's not that hard and will be good experience for you. Old hens make good roasters, if you find that they are a little too tough, drop the chicken whole in a pot and boil it awhile then roast it.

Answer 9

no...   they r too old and tough to eat.. u might boil them (gutted) and feed them to the dogs or cats..but dont give them to the pets raw-- they will go to killing every chicken you have then you will have to kill the pets.  I just toss them into the shredder and mix them with the rest of my garden compost in the CompostTumbler.  You can get good, cheep replacements from MurrayMcMurray Hatcheries..

Answer 10

Seven year old hens are great in a gumbo.  If you would like a recipe email me.

Answer 11

At 7 years old they are to tough for anything but the soup pot!

Answer 12

7 years you must be damb good at looking after them.not many chooks of that age will lay during the winter they may well lay a bit in the spring . I have heard of chooks laying in there eighth year but most people lose them long before then.you could feed them a high protein diet in say late august and they would probably lay 2 or 3 eggs per week for a few months until maybe christmas ish.I doubt that many butcher would kill or want small numbers of hens of that age.

if you put them in a pressure cooker you could eat them but then you could probably eat granite cooked in a pressure cooker.try the below



old bird stew

place dressed 7 year old chook

3 onions , 2 carrots , salt to taste

2 potaoes , round granite stone(1 lb)

and water to cover in a pot

bring to boil

simmer for 6 months

throw away chook and serve stone with stew

Answer 13

You can clean them yourself, it will be faster, cheaper, and probably less stressful on your hens.  Honestly, I'd keep ones that old as pets since they are senior citizens, but it's up to you.

They would be great as soup chickens, stewed a long time.  Or for stock.  At that age they will be tough but have great flavor, so if you decide to butcher then toss them in a stock pot for some awesome broth.

I don't think they'd make good roasters, mostly because of the being so old.  Roasters are typically younger birds, so they don't have a lot of hard tough muscle.