What Happens to Chickens when they get Old?
Generally, chickens stop productively laying eggs after they turn 90 weeks of age (roughly 18 months), for a for-profit business. Some of the timing can vary depending on the (a) market value of the eggs and profit margin, and (b) type of operation.
Most egg producers practice an "all in, all out" method with their birds, which means that a single batch of chickens of the same age are purchased, they lay eggs for a set amount of time, and then they get completely replaced by a new batch of hens, and the cycle continues.....
The reason(s) why "all in, all out" is used is because it limits disease potential, maximizes efficiency, and provides a consistent supply of eggs.
How "old" is old?
Chickens can live for a fairly long time, with some reports having chickens living up to 10 years or so. However, chickens are considered old once they quit laying eggs regularly, which is about 2 years old. After 2 years, production versus feed intake are quite imbalanced, meaning that it no longer becomes practical for a business to have old birds around. In the case of my farm, we have chickens from ages of 1-5 years old. The reason why there are chickens of different ages is because I didn't get chickens with the original intention of becoming a business! Consequently, the demand for eggs grew each year, and it has taken a while to figure out what the current demand would be, as well as the expected growth in yearly demand would be. This made it hard to do an all-in, all-out with the chickens because the time interval for greater availability would have been too great, which would have meant less eggs for everyone!
This leaves the question: what happens to the old chickens?
Commercial egg producers typically will send their "spent hens" to a processing facility where they get turned into pet foods. For example, dog and cat food that is chicken flavored does have real chicken in it, but they don't use the big rotisserie chickens in the store to make that pet food; instead, its the old hens. In my opinion, this is probably the 2nd best use of the old hen, because most people aren't interested in a 2 lb, scrawny chicken that's as tough as leather. However, what if the hens can't get turned into pet food?
There are a few other options that I know of where old hens can be used. One of those is compost. If no pet food manufacturers are available (for example, Idaho), then the hens can be composted and used as fertilizer. This is a great alternative to the pet food option, because it turns an (almost) inedible product into something that can produce an edible product (veggies, grain, ect...). And, if you think about it from the standpoint of "regenerative agriculture," the dependency on artificial fertilizers is diminished because the farm can generate its own fertilizer. I personally have been composting dead, sick, or old birds for about a year, and if done correctly, there is no "dead-animal" smell, so its a safe, effective way to deal with a problem.
The last option is to sell off birds to people who don't want to deal with raising chicks, and who may just want chickens for pets, or a few for family use. This kind of depends on how many people in the area surrounding the farm want old hens, but it is a good option to have nonetheless.
There are many different ways to use and treat old chickens, and out of the three I discussed above, I have no problem with any of them, because as long as the animal is killed humanely, there shouldn't be any argument about what they are used for after they're dead.
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