At what age should you buy a cockerel?

[lazy gardener]

How big is your coop? Your run? A recommended MINIMUM is 4 s.f./bird in the coop, and 10 s.f./bird in the run. That's without a roo, without adding any chicks, without having a broody hen. Add any of these issues and you need much more space IMO. While the idea of hatching your own eggs is nice, the reality, not so much: The roo drama. Roos crow a lot. Not just in the morning, but ALL. Day. Long. A typical crowing jag will have any where from 3 - 10 crows. You will never know when you get a roo if he's a noisy bugger, or a polite one. The crowing starts at 4 Am. That boy is going to be breeding hens, non stop, especially in the spring and summer. My roo is 2 years old, and in a typical morning, or afternoon, he'll be mounting a hen about every 10 minutes. He's a busy boy. I've had up to 24 girls for him to pick from, and he always has his favorites. Their feathers are worn. Depending on the feather quality of the hen, they will either look tattered, or be bare backed. If a hen does not want to be bred, that roo will chase her down until she submits. Plan on having a broody? Some hens go broody often. But, for the most part, the broodiness has been bred out of most hatchery stock. And, if you do get a broody, she'll do it on her time frame, not yours. You also might run into a broody who's enamored with the idea of sitting on eggs. Taking care of babies: not so much. Some broodies will incubate right up until the chicks start peeping inside the egg, then they get confused and abandon the nest. Plan on every hatch being about 60% cockrels. What is your plan for them?

Here's my suggestion: If you REALLY want the chick experience, and want to try it with a broody, wait. Patiently. If you have a hen go broody, you can get some fertile eggs and pop them under her. You'll need to have a place where she can brood those eggs without her flock mates sneaking into her nest and adding more eggs, or chasing her out of her nest and breaking her eggs. Also a good idea to give her space of her own with her chicks for the first few days, then supervise as she brings her brood into the flock. Have an incubator and brooder handy in case she is unsuccessful. Have an exit plan for the cockrels.

 

[rebrascora]

Males under a year (cockerels) are mostly a pain. Think teenage boys with raging hormones and no manners and it can be hard on the girls as they can be quite ruthless and relentless in pursuit of satisfying their urge to mate. An older cock bird...maybe even 2 or 3 years old would be a better bet if you are serious about breeding from your own hens. An older bird will be more gentlemanly in his behaviour to the hens and less voracious in his sexual desires, so a better option when you just have a few pullets. As others have said, his temperament will also be established.

That said, it sounds to me that you are a soft hearted person and therefore dealing with the unwanted cockerels that will result from hatching your own eggs may be a significant problem for you. I butcher and eat my excess cockerels. Can you cope with the idea of that, or someone else doing that, when you have raised them from chicks? There is no happy ever after for most male chicks that are hatched. Mine have a better and longer life (6 months minimum free ranging as opposed to 10-12 weeks for the average cellophane wrapped supermarket version) and a quick death at the hands of someone who cares for them. I do not find it easy but I believe that it is my responsibility. It is something that needs consideration before you start. A sussex rooster will at least make them a decent size for the table. Are your hens also sussex?

Despite all the above, I should also add that raising your own chicks is one of the joys of poultry keeping, especially if they are broody hen reared and I do love the eye candy of a handsome guy or two in my flock.

As others have said, fertile eggs are not an issue as far as eating is concerned. There is a tiny visual difference, which is subjective and therefore open to interpretation, if you were actually trying to establish if they were fertile or not, but to all intents and purposes they look and taste the same as infertile ones. They need to be constantly incubated by a broody hen or incubator for several days before any development starts to take place.

Good luck with your little flock whatever you decide.

Regards

Barbara

 

[albodean]

Wow, thanks again for all of the responses! I'd definitely get a bigger coop if I was to get a rooster (I probably will anyway as no doubt I'll want to get more pullets at some point). Outside space isn't an issue, they have a 200sq ft run and 3 acres of field and gardens to free range in during the day time.

I really appreciate all of the sensible advice you've all given. I think I will probably go down the route of getting sexed chicks and getting my current pullets to raise them if this is possible?

 

[lazy gardener]

Wow, thanks again for all of the responses! I'd definitely get a bigger coop if I was to get a rooster (I probably will anyway as no doubt I'll want to get more pullets at some point). Outside space isn't an issue, they have a 200sq ft run and 3 acres of field and gardens to free range in during the day time.

I really appreciate all of the sensible advice you've all given. I think I will probably go down the route of getting sexed chicks and getting my current pullets to raise them if this is possible?

Highly unlikely. You are more apt to have your pullets kill any young chicks that are in need of being brooded. It's possible to integrate chicks into an existing flock, but you need to know how to do it, have the space to do it in. Azygous is the queen of integrating chicks into an existing flock. I think she has some articles attached to her signature line.

 

[bobbi-j]

Highly unlikely. You are more apt to have your pullets kill any young chicks that are in need of being brooded. It's possible to integrate chicks into an existing flock, but you need to know how to do it, have the space to do it in. Azygous is the queen of integrating chicks into an existing flock. I think she has some articles attached to her signature line.

^^^ Agreed. If you are lucky enough to have a broody hen, you could let her set on fake eggs for about 3 weeks, then replace those eggs with day old chicks one night, but it still takes enough space to integrate a broody with chicks into the flock.

 

[albodean]

Thanks! I will have a look at the articles you've mentioned

 

[EggSighted4Life]

@rebrascora I think market chickens are done at 8 weeks.

So you don't process until 24 weeks? What breeds? And how do you prepare them?

I am planning to process later like that, but many swear not to go past 16. Can you elaborate?

Sorry it's off topic!

 

[rebrascora]

@EggSighted4Life

I think it may be a little longer than 8 weeks here in the UK.

I can't see the point in processing mine at anything less than 6 months as they are just not big enough to make it worth while....Maybe if I penned them up separately and they had nothing to do but eat, but that's not the case in my main flock where they free range although I am trying 4 in a small pen. Grower feed is only 16% protein here, 17 if you really hunt around and are prepared to pay significantly more so maybe that is another reason why it's not worth processing excess cockerels earlier. Chick crumb is 19% and I've started to mix some of that in with their pellets to form a mash but to get it without ACS(Anti Coccidia Stat) medication is also expensive (like double the price) and there is 4 weeks withdrawal on ACS. Since I have cockerels at all different stages of development it's safer to use unmedicated feed and not have to be thinking if they have had any 4 weeks prior to butchering.

My cockerels are farmyard mutts (mostly welsummer, marans and cream legbar crosses) although I deliberately introduced a light sussex hen into my flock this summer and hatched quite a few of her eggs and those cockerels have done best and I will definitely set some more of hers next year.

I have been brining them for several days and then slow cooking until the meat drops off the bone. I'm very happy with the results so far.

 

[I Love Layers]

I'm looking at getting a Light Sussex cockerel to join my flock and have a couple of questions.

1. My pullets are currently around 24 weeks old, when you get a cockerel is it better if he is around the same age, older or younger?

2. I currently have 3 hens, would it be necessary to buy more if I was to get a cockerel?

3. Would you still eat the eggs even though there is a chance of them being fertile?

The reason for getting a boy is I hope to raise chicks in the future.

1. Same age or older
2. I like at least 1C-6P ratio
3. Yes. There's no difference on fertile and unfertile egg when it comes to eating. Just make sure you collect eggs the day they're laid so you don't have the chance of getting a beak, as my grandpa says

 

[EggSighted4Life]

The only reason they can do 8 weeks is because they are using Cornish Cross which grow that fast and break legs much longer than that.

I also free range and have slower growing breeds. For my SFH, one breeder told they their feed conversion to weight changed around 30 weeks. I agree they seem small still at 16 weeks.

I wonder if they could be brined during the cool down or resting period before freezing?

I don't know how feasible it is, but I do think protein makes a difference in growth factor. Maybe you can add peas or split peas to your feed to increase protein? They do sell them in feed and feed sized bags.

If you have the time, fermenting your feed is awesome. It increases the digestibility, ups protein by 12% (that' your # times 0.12 then added back to your #). So your 16% would increase to 17.92% if my calculations are correct. It also increases probiotics. By increasing nutritional value it should decrease consumption some. Win Win. And with it being wet there seems to be less waste. Check out the link in my signature line. People who have processed their chickens for years now say it gives the chicken a nice clean flavor as well, but I am just getting there. The difference for me was in the poo of brooder chicks. It was almost solid and the smell was decreased immensely. With my free rangers, the poo isn't as consistent but since I saw a huge difference in brooder poo, that was enough proof for me.

Thanks for sharing!