What Method(s) Do You Use to Cull Chicks When Developing a Show-Quality Line?

[brucifer]

How do those of you who breed show-quality birds cull your hatched chicks? I have some nice FBCM stock that I'm trying to improve. In the past I have either sold or given away the culls, but recently I've reconsidered and am thinking about instead just decapitating the culls with kitchen shears. My rationale is that allowing genetically inferior birds (based on the SOP) to reproduce elsewhere isn't really helping the breed. I know I could add hatched females to the layer pen and harvest the males as meat birds at 12-16 weeks, but with a large number of birds, those alternatives are not practical. For those of you with experience, how do you handle culling chicks?

 

[Fanci Feathers Marans]

How early are we talking about here? Some breeders swear it takes years before you know what you have. Some cull by hatch down, but I know it's inaccurate.

Have you considered taking them to the sale barn? Most of those end up supper.

 

[brucifer]

Thanks for the reply. I'm talking about obvious defects that show up in the first few weeks. However, I suppose my question could also apply to cockerels and pullets that begin to exhibit genetically inferior traits as they approach maturity.

It would be nice if the poultry barn were closer. It's about 30 miles away in the next county. The livestock barn in my country doesn't include poultry. I wish it did because it's only a few miles from where I live.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I don't cull my chicks until they are eating age, I hatch them as replacements and to eat, male and female. And I only hatch as many as I can eat, so my goals are different from yours. For young chicks with obvious defects that affect quality of life or their ability to grow and thrive poultry shears to the neck work well. But at any age any method you can manage that causes instant death and not wounds and suffering can work. To me the harder question is how do you dispose of the bodies, especially when they are older and bigger. I live in the country and have a spot I take carcasses where wild animals can eat them, whether chickens or critters I trap like raccoons, skunks, or raccoons. Not everyone has a good disposal method.

I've seen other breeders of show quality chickens with that same rational, they don't want inferior chicks out there, especially if they are breeding champion chickens. They don't want inferior birds associated with their line.

But think about your rational a bit. Who are you giving or selling them to? Other people trying to breed champion chickens? Or is it to people that just want chickens? I'd venture to guess that the vast majority of people you are giving or selling them to don't care about the SOP and are not trying to breed to improve the breed. I imagine you are selecting for dark eggs, not all Marans breeders do that. Even your culls probably look pretty darn good.

Of course it is your choice, but I just don't see how selling or giving away your culls is hurting the breed. If one of your customers is interested in breeding to the SOP then talk to them about your quality birds if you have any you are willing to part with.

A technical point, cull does not mean kill. Some general definitions of cull include select, choose, pick, take, obtain, or glean. You are already culling your birds by selecting which ones you allow to breed and which ones you sell or give away.

With the number of chicks you are probably hatching to get enough to select quality birds I certainly see that you cannot afford to raise them all to butchering age, plus just how many chickens can you eat in a year. If you are serious about breeding a show quality flock it's a legitimate issue, what do you do with the excess.

 

[brucifer]

@Ridgerunner I appreciate your thorough and helpful reply. The working definition for "cull" that I was using is to separate from what I keep. The way I have been culling is to either give away or sell what I consider pet-grade birds. One of my Marans-breeder friends sells his culls as well. The problem we have in my part of Georgia though is that there are many folks who are now selling genetic junk as FBCM. Those people are not representing the breed well at all. Of course, I can't control what others do, but maybe I can do my small part in not contributing to the watering down of the breed. Anyway, that's what got the cogs in my head spinning. I don't want to be a hypocrite, so it is somewhat of a question of ethics.

As for carcass disposal, we live in a semi-rural area with a forested area abutting the back of our property. We've given up trying to bury any carcasses, because when we have done so in the past, some critter has always dug them up and removed them. We have a county disposal station less than a mile from where we live, so we dispose of the carcasses there.

 

[BantyChooks]

Might wish to look up cervical dislocation. It's quick, really easy on young birds, and seems to cause minimal suffering.