uuardlauu

Assuming one has decided that keeping egg-laying hens, as opposed to meat birds, is the extent of the chicken program, taking care of them and harvesting the eggs is usually not difficult. But, before buying your first chicks, think about the final part of the program, in which it is time to give up your girls. What are you going to do?

Perhaps you'll decide they no longer lay enough eggs to justify the cost and trouble. Is there someone who will take them off your hands and slaughter them humanely? Perhaps you'll continue to treat them as pets, which is OK. Eventually, though, you'll need to put each of them down.

You reared the cute little girls. You put them out in their new chicken house and tried to keep them warm and dry every winter. You gave them treats from the dinner table and watched them scramble for it joyously. It is not easy to contemplate killing them ourselves. We want someone else to do it for us.

One thing to understand is that even laying hens have meat value, depending on local markets. When I found a craigslist ad for someone to buy my girls, the man said that both hens and roosters are valued in certain ethnic cultures about an hour's drive from here. He was willing to pay me a few bucks for my girls, and he said they would be treated humanely and enjoyed for dinner by some happy family.

I watched as he tossed each of my five girls into cages on the back of his truck. They were terrified! This was a complete and utter shock to them, after a life of constant comfort and care. And I felt terrible. The man seemed nice enough, but I could only pray that the girls did not suffer long.

There are people who specialize in humane slaughtering, in which a chicken experiences no terror prior to death and is actually given comfort as it quickly bleeds out. Here's an example. If you can find such a practitioner, you will be fortunate.