Monday, November 17, 2008

Goodbye, Birdie




Since about September our chickens have been laying less and less eggs, until since October we've gotten only 1 egg a day, one weak shelled egg, if at all.

Chickens are very expensive to feed. And if they aren't giving eggs, it's even worse....(I can't think of a better way to phrase that...it's not meant to sound harsh)...plus, they have a depressing life in winter. They sit in their little house, in the cold, for practically months because of the extreme snow and ice at our house. And it's hard to take care of them as well.

All these factors caused us to make a decision. This may make some of you bloggers out there who absolutely love your chickens to hate us. But I'm being honest. We decided we had to have someone slaughter them. After contacting a person who ended up not taking them, we found a family a few towns away that has had chickens, and has slaughtered roosters and chickens before, and would be willing to do it for us.

So yesterday our chickens left. He seemed like a nice man, and he said he did the deed quickly.

We will not be eating them. We gave them to the man, and we expect to not ever see them again. I couldn't stand eating them.

One chicken actually escaped the box the chickens were being transported in. It got into the woods. Unfortunately, it did not return home. We do not know which one it was.

The chickens are staying with the man to be fattened up more, and then they will be slaughtered.

Today we are 10 animals less in our family. Only 5 now. We will miss our chickens, but this is life. We got eggs from them for a full year, and next spring we hope to get chicks again.

Hope you don't hate us.

The pictures were taken yesterday, as they enjoyed their last supper...although, that is technically their second last supper...the first last supper was red cabbage from the restaurant ;-).

Good bye, birdies.

10 comments:

Abigail said...

Oh, that's sad. :( But I agree that it was probably the best thing to do according to your situation. :(

AO

Anonymous said...

I don't think it is harsh to have them killed, but that is my in put on that. But, I would tell you that if you get more chickens get WHILE LEGHORN chickens. They lay white eggs and they lay LOTS of eggs! :) I LOVE white leghorns. :) We use to have a ton of white leghorns, but now we have mixed breed chickens. Bye!

allhorsestuff said...

Well, ya gotta do =what ya gotta do!

Jordyn Daniels said...

So so sad:(! But my parents would probably do that too....... But look at the bright side yoou don't have to clean the cage of feed them:)!

~Southern Commander~

Anika said...

AWWWWW omg omg omg!!! that is soo omg sad. AWWW. atleast you're not eating them, I would have found it worse it you ate them. AWW =[[ thats so sad! and i cant believe one escaped! but i bet that one is either dead already or gonna die soon. =[[
are you getting more next year? that'd be cool =] awww thats so sad. lol, i cant get over it. =[[

Anika said...

haha i just realized that at the top of your page it says thats its home to ten chickens, yada yada yada...

Bella said...

yeah, well, you have to put yourself before your chickens!

Laughing Orca Ranch said...

Nope. I don't hate you. Chickens are basically livestock to be used as food.
Yes, they can be pets, but every person owns chickens for their own reasons.

We own them first for eggs, second as pets.
So I don't see us ever eating them, unless we ever buy broilers just for eating that we never end up naming.

Our chickens have slowed down a little in egg making, but we keep a light on all year, in their house, to induce more light to encourage all-year laying.
Some people give their chickens a break in the winter, but we don't because then we have to feed, water and care for animals that aren't paying their way.

I sell their eggs each week and have waiting lists for eggs, plus our family lives on the eggs for food each week, too.
So, our chickens are contributing members of our ranch. If that changes, then we might have to make some changes, too.

So, I can't wait to see your new chicks come Spring!

~Lisa
New Mexico
(with 17 chickens)

Anonymous said...

I totally understand the decision but having known the chickens it makes me a little sad. ):

RIP chickens.

Danni said...

I can't believe your hens pretty much all stopped laying after just one year. I thought they had at least a couple years of good laying potential. I agree with laughing orca ranch that everyone has chickens for their own reasons. I, first and foremost, got chickens for the experience of raising chickens. Since I have loved them all since they were a day old, they are now my pets. The fact that they give me eggs, lots of them, is a really cool side note. Obviously, I'm not a really authentic farmer person, right? Or I'd be axing those guys the second they weren't paying their way anymore. lol
No one is going to hate you for your choice, Mellimaus! It is what it is! :-)

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