10. Prepare for Eating the Meat
Chickens have a life span of 5 to 10 years if you let them live out their natural life. If you plan to eat your chickens at some point, you need to do a lot of research in order to properly kill and prepare your animals. It’s always possible for you to hand off your chickens to a local butcher and pay him to do the work for you. However, if you’re trying to stay on your own property and be self-reliant, this means that you’re going to have to deal with the consequences of preparing meat. For a lot of people, this can be a traumatizing experience. This is especially true for children.
Of course, there’s always the option to let your chickens live out their natural life expectancy. Some farmers feel as though they don’t want to spend the money to take care of these chickens long-term if they no longer lay eggs or become unproductive in some other way. If that’s the case, look for an animal rescue in your local area. There are places out there where they will allow your chicken to live out the rest of their elderly life without resorting to killing them.