Why are we processing chickens in the winter? Several of our laying hens were getting up there in years. They served us faithfully and provided many farm fresh eggs for our family and to share with others. Laying hens begin to decrease egg production at around 2-3 years old. To keep production up, it’s best to cull through your hens every now and again, adding fresh pullets to keep egg production strong.
We haven’t quite done that over the years, and our layers continued to get older and our flock bigger. We would add fresh faces to the brood but neglected to narrow down our older layers who continued to produce less and less.
Fresh pullets are due to arrive in early spring, so it was time to do some house cleaning!
We typically raise a brood of around 50 meat birds each spring to butcher in the summer for the fall and winter. Mid June is when we plan a day for processing chickens, and it’s always a family affair. Read all about past processing days here.
However, we have never processed chickens in the winter. This was an entirely new experience for all of us. It was definitely different, let me tell you!
If you saw the title of this video and immediately clicked away, don’t worry. It is not classified as graphic.
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See you there, friend!
