Comments on: Little Pond Farm Retirement Home for Old Hens

By: Joni

Joni — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 20:25:06 +0000

How wonderful! Thank-you! We won’t be reading until May. I bought six copies so that the children can enjoy it in guided reading groups. It will be fun to see the sign that day. I will let you know when. Thanks Terry! Joni

By: Terry Golson

Terry Golson — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 20:03:17 +0000

I have a hen named Maizie! A very pretty wyandotte. But I don’t have a pony :(
Let me know when you are going to read Tillie to your class. I’ll put up a “hello” sign on the hencam homepage.

By: Joni

Joni — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 19:13:47 +0000

I’m a Kindergarten teacher and chicken/goat/pony keeper and just found your book in the Scholastic book orders. This site will be perfect for my spring egg incubation at school. My love of chickens started 18 years ago when I hatched eggs for the first time at school and adopted Maizie as my first hen. Maizie was 15 years 5 months old when she passed away. She spent 12 years going to school and teaching children to love chickens. Your hens can have a long and happy life because you love them and are always vigilant about their care.

By: Sharon

Sharon — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 15:42:11 +0000

Thanks Terry, that was useful info. regarding the quality of meat for layers after their prime. Also your perspective on the work involved with “undressing” them is helpful too. :)

By: Paula Snyder

Paula Snyder — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 01:56:32 +0000

I agree with Terry and I’ like to add a comment. Some broiler hens are breed to have so much meat that they die of fluid around their liver and heart if they live beyond the time that they should be “havested.” That happened to a couple of my buffs. They had so much meat on their breasts that they couldn’t fly.

And in terms of fat. Fat is what gives a meat chicken taste. Tough chickens are ones that were not fed enough before they went to the butcher.

By: Ângela Mesquita

Ângela Mesquita — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 22:50:24 +0000

I was touched by this story.

By: Veronica

Veronica — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 21:28:54 +0000

Terry,
Your hens are so beautiful, every single one of them. I have a few old hens too. If any of my birds get sick they go to the vet and I nurse them just like you do. They mean alot to me. I have a few ducks too and they act like clowns – they can always make me smile no matter what.

By: goatgirl

goatgirl — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 22:51:28 +0000

I have no problem with people culling their unproductive hens but I won’t do it. They are my friends. Although when the economy started to go bad we joked about having to eat our animals. We decided that the first ones to be eaten would be the chickens and then we’d work our way up to the pot-bellied pigs and goats. Luckily we still have jobs and don’t need to do that.
Nothing at my place would ever be considered productive. I mean really, you could buy an awful lot of eggs for what it costs to feed and house those chickens especially considering we just went through winter and didn’t get an egg for months.

By: Terry Golson

Terry Golson — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 22:08:20 +0000

Thank you all for chiming in on this topic. I do believe that what we do with our less-productive domestic farm animals is a continuum of choices. Although I like to have veggies from my garden and eggs from my hens, I don’t aspire to raising all of my own food, and I don’t have to get every last bit of financial value out of my hens. Besides, Donna is right, laying hens are not designed for eating. Actually, instead of being too fatty, there’s not much meat on them after a few years, and what’s there is only fit for stewing. (Broilers are less than 10 weeks old when slaughtered.) It’s a lot of work and mess to kill, dress (i.e. remove the feathers, perhaps it should be called undressing?) and prepare the birds to be eaten. I’m glad it’s not something that I have to deal with.
That said, if you choose to raise and eat your animals, and if they have a good life from beginning to end, then I respect that, too. Farm animals must be used, or they will disappear. Take a look at the Rare Breed Conservancy’s (http://www.albc-usa.org/) list of endangered animals to see what happens when animals aren’t used for agricultural purposes anymore. I do my part – the only pork I eat is from pastured, traditional breeds. But my own hens? I’ll keep them around :)

By: Donna

Donna — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 21:52:00 +0000

I am with you Terry..My girls stay with me until they die of old age..I just put them in the “Old Folks Home” and get some new ones to lay eggs, and then they just die happy….I like getting my dinner from the Farmer’s Market and all that “prep” to cull them….well..let’s just say I might not make a very good farmer unless I was REALLY hungry…BTW…I thought BROILER HENS are raised for meat and LAYING HENS are egg layers and too FATTY for meat? Please correct me if i am wrong?