Best Guide to Downsizing Your Flock: Reducing Chicken Numbers

If you have found that the size of your flock is causing problems, that you have one or two chickens demonstrating bad behaviour, or in general have decided that you can no longer raise chickens, then you are in the same situation as we currently are. So let’s figure this out together for what options there might be to help downsize your flock.

Reasons to Downsize a Chicken Flock

There might be several reasons that a person would want to downsize their chicken flock and most of these would be a personal decision while others could be because of an external force such as a neighbour complaint or a local council order. In any case, we can have a brief look at why people would want to reduce their responsibilities which in itself is not such a selfish thing to do. The downsizing of a flock can come at a significant benefit not just to the owner, but also to the remaining chickens.

Moving House or Travelling

We will start with this as this is our primary reason for downsizing too. The decision to move house or to do some extensive travelling is often what compels many people to downsize their chicken flocks. In the event you are going somewhere that cannot have chickens, or that you will be on the road for a long portion of the year means simply that while you may love your chicken friends, they simply have to go. To try and cram chickens into an un-ideal location such as a house with a tiny back yard, a Caravan or RV or worse yet, a city apartment would simply be cruel to both the chickens and you own sanity, so its time to move on.

Thinning the Numbers

Chickens all have personalities and if you have ever watched the reality shows like Big Brother where multiple personalities are locked together, then you know that this can often result in drama. If you have been watching your flock interact closely, you may have noticed that one or two of the chickens has over-stepped in the pecking order and are simply making the rest miserable. The other factor here would be if the living conditions that you have become over-crowded, as this can lead to infestation breakouts of mites or other diseases which come from animals basically living on top of each other. You may have found you over-committed on the chicken flock and now need to do the responsible thing and reduce their numbers.

Ordered to “Get Out”

This is the external one now, where a local government body has demanded you remove your flock, or a neighbour has approached you for the third time complaining about the clucking and crowing at all hours of the night. I think it is safe to say that if this happens, it is an unfortunate part of living around other human beings that we do not all value animals equally, but there may also be a good reason for it such as zoning rules that you were not aware of. Either way, you often don’t get much choice in the matter and it is time to say goodbye.

Downsizing Options

Now that we know some of the reasons for downsizing, it is time to look at our options. While this list is endless, we really want to cover some of the basics so that you have a good idea of what is available to you. Obviously, the willingness of some people to take on another persons flock will vary depending on the condition of the birds, how old they are, if they are still laying etc.

Sharing is Caring: Passing your Flock to someone else

Re-homing your chicken flock seems to be the most common way that people downsize their feathered friends. This allows another keen person to take on the privellege of looking after the flock and safe guarding them. You can reach out on social media or even just within your own network to find someone who would be happy to take on your chickens and give them a good home. You do need to be clear about how old they are and any issues such as mites as these factors might be an issue for your new friend who could be bringing problems into their own flock. To transfer, the chickens will pack readily into a transport cage or even just a large cardboard box with the lid sealed. Make sure you seal the lid (not airtight obviously) as we once had a chicken come loose in our vehicle while barreling down the highway which was an interesting sight for passing motorists.

Making some Money: Selling Your Chicken Flock

If you have relatively young birds (under 2 years old), then you may be able to sell the flock to help recoup some of the costs. This again is only for chickens who are still within their laying years and will produce well for someone else. There are a heap of websites around which will allow you to post livestock on them and see if you can find another back yard farmer to take them off your hands. Pricing wise, you would need to look at your local area’s standard costs, but we have seen birds sold individually for around $5-$20 again depending on their condition.

Straight to the Table: Sending your Chickens to the Butcher

This is probably where some people are divided as often these chickens are out pets but we would feel like we missed something if it wasn’t spoken about. The other option you have is to have your birds professionally butchered (although you can decide to do it yourself if you are a homesteader). This decision should really only be for young chickens up to about 12-14 months as any old and the meat becomes very dry. You can have older birds butchered, but then this is reserved for cooking only in slow cookers and with plenty of fat added back into the recipe to counter the older meat. Understandably, this option is not for everyone, but it is an option to see your animal through the full life cycle from paddock to plate.

The Long Goodnight: When to put your chickens down

So with all of the other options considered, and you can’t re-home or sell them, you may be left with the hard decision to have your chickens put down. This is always a tough call, but again, it can sometimes be the right one. If you are protecting the rest of your flock from a diseased chicken etc. then it becomes the old cruel to be kind mantra. If you do go through this method, then you can sometimes get an experienced friend to help you out. Methods such as the old hatchet on the neck or the wringing of the neck can be quick and humane, so make sure you know what you are doing to ensure as little distress to the chicken as possible.

Now that your Chickens are gone

What ever method you decide to do, it is now important to rectify the areas that they inhabited. Even if you have remaining chickens, it would be a great idea now to muck out their coop to remove any of the issues from before, and if the whole lot are gone, then its time to clean up. This can be a dirty job, but will ensure that you don’t end up with rats, mice or any other issues from the remaining poop, dust and feathers available. Its also time to close this chapter of your chicken raising and reflecting on the lessons you learned through the experience. If you are considering doing it again, then at least you know now what the full cycle of raising chickens looks like and can come in prepared with that knowledge for your next flock as we are pretty sure that once you own chickens, they will be a part of your backyard features for as long as you can.