Time to cull a hen?

Eggiweg

In the Brooder
Oct 4, 2021
4
17
24
St Paul, Minnesota
Hello, first time poster here!
We have a small backyard flock of four hens, all about 1 year old. We keep them for eggs (and entertainment).
We have recently been thinking of culling one of our girls who seems to be struggling, just wanted some input from all you more experienced folks. Here’s some background - Ginger was sold to us as a Rhode Island Red, but as she grew and developed it has become apparent she is actually more likely a red colored meat bird of some type. Her body shape is completely different from the other three (a Marans, a California White, and an Easter egger). She is wide, with much thicker legs. She easily weighs twice as much as any of the other three. She is clumsy, and seems to have trouble jumping on and off things (she does manage to get onto the roost every night though). She does lay (started about six months ago) but has frequent soft shell eggs, often on the poop board, like they fell out of her during the night or something.
They eat organic layer pellets from a local mill, have free access to oyster shell, and I have even been giving her a “special breakfast” of a tiny piece of bread with calcium citrate powder on it. She is the only one who has ever laid a soft shelled egg.
On top of all this, she is lowest in the pecking order. Poor Ginger.

I guess I’d just like to hear your thoughts - any advise/suggestions? What would you do?
I know she wouldn’t have lived this long if she had been sold as a meat bird and raised for that purpose. We have given her as good a life as she could have hoped for, but I don’t want to keep her alive if her body isn’t up to it. Also, the frequent soft shelled eggs make me nervous. We aren’t squeamish about culling her, but it will of course be sad.
 

Eggiweg

In the Brooder
Oct 4, 2021
4
17
24
St Paul, Minnesota
Hello, first time poster here!
We have a small backyard flock of four hens, all about 1 year old. We keep them for eggs (and entertainment).
We have recently been thinking of culling one of our girls who seems to be struggling, just wanted some input from all you more experienced folks. Here’s some background - Ginger was sold to us as a Rhode Island Red, but as she grew and developed it has become apparent she is actually more likely a red colored meat bird of some type. Her body shape is completely different from the other three (a Marans, a California White, and an Easter egger). She is wide, with much thicker legs. She easily weighs twice as much as any of the other three. She is clumsy, and seems to have trouble jumping on and off things (she does manage to get onto the roost every night though). She does lay (started about six months ago) but has frequent soft shell eggs, often on the poop board, like they fell out of her during the night or something.
They eat organic layer pellets from a local mill, have free access to oyster shell, and I have even been giving her a “special breakfast” of a tiny piece of bread with calcium citrate powder on it. She is the only one who has ever laid a soft shelled egg.
On top of all this, she is lowest in the pecking order. Poor Ginger.

I guess I’d just like to hear your thoughts - any advise/suggestions? What would you do?
I know she wouldn’t have lived this long if she had been sold as a meat bird and raised for that purpose. We have given her as good a life as she could have hoped for, but I don’t want to keep her alive if her body isn’t up to it. Also, the frequent soft shelled eggs make me nervous. We aren’t squeamish about culling her, but it will of course be sad.
Here are some recent photos
 

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3KillerBs

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Jul 10, 2009
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Are you able to take some pictures of her and post them here?

Personally, I would cull her.

Maybe @3KillerBs @aart or @NatJ can give you more advice. Pictures of the bird would help though.

I have no specific knowledge about health problems or meat birds.

It seems likely that as you progress into the heat of summer a meat-type bird is likely to suffer more and more unless you take a lot of special measures to sustain her. :(
 

gtaus

Free Ranging
Mar 29, 2019
3,958
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Looks like a Red Ranger meat chicken to me, too. Time to butcher her by the looks of it. Meat chickens have a short life and when it's time to butcher them, well, it's time. I don't call that culling the herd, as she looks like she has fullfilled her purpose in putting on all that meat for the table. To me, culling is ending the life of an inferior or sick animal. Your Red Ranger looks healthy to me, but it's time to harvest her.

Years ago, I raised meat chickens. I'm OK with butchering 10 week old chickens to put meat on the table, but I much prefer raising laying hens, harvesting their eggs, and enjoying them for years.

IMHO, it would be cruel to not butcher a meat chicken because they will have a terrible life past their growing period. They are bred for a specific use, meat.
 

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