4mo Brahma Cockreel holding tail to the left

With slow-maturing breeds like Brahmas and English Orpingtons unless there's a serious defect visible at an early age, don't make any decisions at all until six months. Most serious breeders I know hold onto cockerels until they are nine and twelve months before making any "serious" decisions although they may have sorted them into potential cull and keep groups before that age.

Thanks for this. I managed to get in touch with his breeder and they said exactly this. He is way too young to tell due to the slow maturing of the breed. He advised that with Brahma's the boys are even slower than the girls. I need to wait a bit longer. I think I'm just being over cautious and because he is our only Cockerel so I'm second guessing everything about him. It's hard to tell if it's just that he as a few feathers on his left side and not filled out on his right or if he actually has a wry tail. He hasn't come into his full feathering yet. My fingers are crossed.
 
Hrm, I may need to do some research on this forum and/or start a new thread. I plan on hatching out a bunch of chicks again this year for the freezer and as replacements and planned on putting away the culls at five months. It looks like there might be a toss-up between young enough to fry or old enough to know who should be kept.
What breed are you hatching?
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom