What to do With MALES INCLUDED FOR WARMTH

[TXFarmFun]

at what age??

 

[silkiechicken]

I've raised quite a few leghonrs and I think they are the quickest bloomers in terms of males. In about 4 weeks you will be able to tell who is a boy because they will be the only ones who have combs starting to turn pink. The girls will have small combs until about 4.5 months old, just before lay. But the roos by that time will have huge combs. Here is a pic of my roo at almost 4 weeks and again at about 3 months. He was part of a batch of 18 chicks, 9 females 9 males.

http://students.washington.edu/dianage/chicken/keeper.JPG

http://students.washington.edu/dianage/leghorn/comb2 small.jpg

Edit:

My one leghorn male that I kept is now about 8 months old.. and he only weighs just over 4 lbs live... cornish cross hens weigh more than that at 8 weeks!

They don't make for good meat and I've only been able to get about $2 for each male at 3 months of age of this breed, while heavier breeds I can sell for 8-10 each.

You can make personal sized soup out of them at about 3 months old and they will be tender still, just not very meaty.

 

[briana1975]

I will have this same problem when my chicks come. We already decided to keep the nicest roo and butcher the rest. At what age do you butcher them, and should I seperate the roos that we will butcher from the rest of the chickens after a few weeks? Also should I feed them differently then the rest when they are bigger? I ordered laying pullets so the extra roos would be that kind of chicken too? Sorry for all the questions I am new to all this.

 

[silkiechicken]

You can check out the meat bird section for suggestions on what to do with "dual purpose" males.

16-20 weeks and if you're keeping the "favorite" just feed with the rest. They won't be anything like what you buy at the store t hough as they will be much thinner due to not being at the end of 60 years of selection.

Extras can be anything.