Ha. We got our first egg of the new year on Sunday. This is a big deal because those chickens are now past their laying prime. And they quit laying during the winter anyway. Something about more darkness than daylight. The chickens have gotten used to being free range chickens too. I finally gave up in January with retwisting the chicken wire for every hole they kept making. It's just going to take some new chicken wire altogether. They have been freely roaming my yard for over a month now. My kids tell me it's quite a minefield back there. Maybe that will translate into a super green lawn in a few weeks' time.
I really would like to get new chicks this spring that will lay well (love, love, love getting my own eggs), but I have difficulty with the traditional methods for out-with-the-old-in-with-the-new chicken farming. I wish there was some kind of Old Chicken Farm for Retired Hens they could go to. There's also the issue of emotional attachment. I know that's also not allowed in traditional chicken farming. I've asked the kids how they would feel if we took them down to their more-traditional-farming-methods uncle to ... kill. They say they're not too attached, but I don't know. I personally don't feel too emotional about these birds, but it just seems a little wasteful to "off" them so I can get new ones. They wouldn't get eaten because they're much too old now and any meat from them would be too tough to be remotely edible. 'Tis a puzzlement.
1 comment:
Yes, 'out with the old and in with the new' is a puzzlement, but you could retire them down here if you'll come visit.
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