What happens to organic laying hens after their laying days are over?

Question

What happens to organic laying hens after their laying days are over?

Answer 1

Exactly the same thing as their hormone-injected counterparts.  "Organic" just means that no artificial hormones or chemicals are used; it's not the same as free-range.  "Free-range" means that the animal is kept in better conditions.  Organic hens don't necessarily have cages any bigger than non-organic hens.

Answer 2

after the laying days are over, I am sure it becomes organic meat.  Chickens over a year old are pretty tough meat but are very flavor full and require long slow moist heat cooking and produce delicious broth, and meat for soup, stews, chicken salad, etc.  A good farmer never wastes anything, organic or otherwise.  When we farmed, i bought baby chicks in early spring and by fall, some would start laying eggs, erratically at first but as they got older, more regularly.  At that time, I would butcher the old hens and process as i said, either freezing for later use or cooking and freezing.  Next spring, the process started over because by the time the new chicks were of laying age, the older ones wer becoming more inefficient.  You can keep them for a couple of years but the older ones will only lay every other day, rather than daily. so inefficient use of feed.

Answer 3

I know a former organic egg farmer. She said that any hen's egg production declines dramatically at 15 months. It wouldn't be economically feasible to allow animals to "retire"; it would cost too much to feed and care for the animals. So all commercially-raised egg-laying hens (including those on organic farms) are slaughtered when their production rates decline.

More info:

http://www.goveg.com/organic_products.as...

http://www.cok.net/lit/freerange.php

Answer 4

They are flipped upside down and hung by their feet and they are run down a line and have their necks slit open with a razor sharp instrument the same way any other chicken would have it done.

Also at the hatchery where the chicks are born the boys are killed the same way as they would be for regular chicken farming.

There is no cruelty free eggs no matter what anyone says.

Answer 5

They get killed, what else would happen ?

they dont' go for human meat -they probably get mechanically processed into dog or cat food. There is not enough meat on a laying hen breed for it to be used for human food.

Its estimated that to support "retiring" hens would mean eggs would cost about $10 for 6. people will not pay that.

I know you asked about layers but let me point this out about table birds;

To grow a table bird non-organically takes 38 days to kill-weight. To rear it organically takes about 45 days. See ?? the difference is next to nothing and the hens are generally in the same conditions, there feed is different, thats all. As for organic slaughter beingdifferent.. No, its not at all, its exactly the same.

I've said this a few times on this site, so its not suprise really that i'll repeat myself :

There is no ethical way to buy eggs from a commercial source.

Whether they be free range, barn, battery or woodland, they all require a process that eliminates the hens when production drops, normally after 9-12 months depending on breed.

Besides the hens, what happens to all the cockerals ? They are all killed at about 1 week old - as soon as they can be sexed.

The only way to buy ethically sound eggs is from a hobby farm or "farm gate" where you can see the hens in thier free-range environment and KNOW that the cockerals and older hens are left to live a life of retirement somewhere. Very few of these places exist, but some do.

Answer 6

They make great chicken and dumplings!

Answer 7

They're killed.  But even organic hens kept for their eggs don't produce much meat, so they'll probably go into "organic" nuggets or pot pies.  They certainly won't become roasters, and they certainly don't go to any "retirement home" for old hens.

Answer 8

an oven roaster

fried chicken

bar-b-que grill chicken

Answer 9

They are put into organic chicken products for the consumer.

Raising a chicken takes many months of feed. Doing so with organic products is much costlier than other feeds. So, when you have a full grown hen who no longer lays she does meet the freezer. Chickens have a normal life span of a decade or more. they only lay productively one year, maybe two. After that they eat far more than they are worth.

One consolation is that for food to be labeled organic I do believe there are rules about humane slaughter. So the hen leads a life in humane conditions and is butchered humanely.

Without organic labeling the chickens suffer greatly!

Answer 10

They are sent to a retirement home so they can die humanely.

Answer 11

The closest organic chicken farm to me tries to sell as many as they can to backyard chicken folks as the hens have  many years of life left, they just are not laying as much as the commercial farm needs them to. Any hens not sold to a better life are slaughtered and made into canned chicken and canned chicken broth or sold at stewing hens (which make the best soup and chicken and dumplings).

When I raised organic layers I generally kept them until they died of natural causes (around 5 to 7 years of age). At least I did until I found out just how sublime the hens were as stewing hens, than I would cull the older hens (3 to 4 years old) annually to be turned into stewing hens for my freezer