Anecdote | Perspective
My Pet Chicken Has a Birth Control Implant
It’s a Nexplanon for hens!
The cutest eggs I’ve ever seen came from my bantam Sebright chicken, Ren. She’s a miniature chicken, which means her eggs are miniature too! At 7 months old, I had her injected with a birth control implant to stop her from producing eggs.
The implant releases a chemical called “deslorelin” which suppresses the hormones that facilitate egg production. In the United States, the deslorelin implant is only FDA approved in ferrets, but can be used off-label in dogs, cats, chickens, and other animals. In egg-laying hens, it stops egg production for 3–6 months, on average.
It’s kind of like the contraceptive implant for humans called Nexplanon — a 1.6-inch rod injected in the upper arm, under the skin. The deslorelin implant is about the size of a rice grain, and is also injected subcutaneously in egg-laying hens.
Ren is due for a new implant in the spring of 2021. As much as I would love for her to set up an egg hunt around our apartment for Easter, here are 3 reasons why I prefer to have her implanted.
