Some Tough Livestock Decisions to Make. What Would You Do?

I have some tough decisions to make on the livestock front. It's along the lines of ethics and moral versus practical.

When I first decided to start breeding chickens, it wasn't to just have them as pets, they were to be productive as well. I researched small scale chicken keeping from Harvey Ussery and Justin Rhodes. The idea is that you only keep laying hens for two years and then cull them for food. While we manage fine with prepping the roosters we've hatched, once they start crowing, it's not so easy with hens you've grown attached to and who've provided you so faithfully with eggs.

Willow has, admittedly, never been the most faithful egg provider! She gets away with it via her cuteness.

We are urban, so we don't really have room to keep retired hens as well as the laying hens. Now, I'm fond of chickens and know they can make great pets. I know quite a few people who keep them as pets and they will spend a lot out on keeping them healthy. In fact, knowing the care they give their chickens, I feel awful even considering not keeping a chicken until its natural end of life. I have a hybrid who has developed laying problems and I'm told that she can get an implant to stop her laying at the cost of over $100 and a long journey to a vet that will do this for me. I know that there are people who would consider me awful for not choosing to do this. "If you can't afford vet bills you shouldn't keep an animal" is something I hear a lot.

Beautiful Annie has spent most of her second year being broody and I'm not entirely sure I need another mother hen.

My decision is to have chickens for eggs which aren't caged or overcrowded and I stand by this. Selling excess eggs won't cover their feed costs so I breed as well. However, I'm not going to be a backyard breeder who overcrowds in unsanitary conditions. You can't make a living doing this no matter how many you cram in anyway. So I'm not going to go above a threshold where they are no longer in happy, healthy conditions. It is a source of pride when buyers comment on how healthy and good natured our chickens are.

Lavender, our splash australorp, is beautiful, but not a big layer.

The question is, can I part with some of my hens who aren't big layers? There are some who we could never part with, but there is an option of retirement for those we might be able to part with. Some people with more land are happy to rehome older hens. I can replace with my own Easter Egger youngsters or look into a rarer large breed. Or do I go down to one flock and get some muscovies in? If I did that I'd need to get rid of a rooster and I'm not sure I want to do that after all the training I've put into keeping them quiet. Plus, I don't think I could ever part with my big boy Roast.

Perhaps for the time being I'll keep breeding the Easter Eggers, enjoy some multicoloured eggs and make new decisions further down the line. For those who keep chickens as pets, I'm pretty sure I already know what they would say, but what do the homesteaders say?