Hi,
If you are selling "started birds" only, how old is that? I don't want to sell chicks or eggs.
But last season I think I kept them too long, selling at 4 months. I fed a lot of birds I didn't keep
and it was really costly. What is the earliest age I should be able to see all the features I need
to evaluate for culling?
Happy New Year!
Karen
Well, that depends on what breed you're selling, and how you define "started birds."
There are some breeds that mature fairly quickly, and others that mature painfully slow. In the slow maturing breeds, many of those birds can be culled early for obvious flaws. In my Red Dorkings, I evaluate at hatch, then again every two months to further narrow down my potential breeding quality birds as time goes on.
If you're selling breeding quality trios, pairs, or individuals, then you have to give them enough time to mature, or at least show important features. That is often 8-12 months or longer, especially in the larger dual purpose breeds. I had an experienced breeder once tell me to wait to breed hens until they were in their second year. I assumed that it was because the pullet eggs are smaller and the chicks from them would be more fragile. I laterI found out that he meant that a pullet is not yet fully developed, so why waste resources on the offspring of a bird that can't yet be fully evaluated. A second year hen has nothing to hide. Certainly many people disagree with this, but if you want to see ALL features, it can take a while.
If you're selling layer-quality hens, then as soon as you can be 100% sure of gender you can sell your obvious culls as "started" pullets, as long as they're feathered out and don't have to be brooded inside anymore, assuming the outside temps are high enough. Many people sell started pullets at 6-12 weeks. Other people sell them as "point of lay" pullets at 15-20 weeks for a higher price. That can be done with your later culls.
Cockerels are more difficult to sell at any age, much less make up your feeding costs. It is important to either move them out as early as possible, or to be able to sell them at point of slaughter for at least feed costs, or ideally more if the market is available. There are many things that can increase the price of a cockerel -- "free range," "non-GMO organic," "heritage breed," "humanely raised," "old-fashioned taste," etc are all labels that can increase their price. I free range my birds and give them very flavorful, free "produce waste" from the local grocery store to really bring out their flavor. I have a small enough breeding program to be able to grow out and process all my cull cockerels for personal use, but larger breeders wouldn't have that option.
Many breeders recommend hatching out every egg available, and getting rid of every cull the moment it is determined to not be of breeding quality to make room for more chicks. That means either having a large enough market for utility chicks of any age, or killing a lot of chicks before they reach market or consumable age. While I agree that a breeder will progress much faster with less infrastructure and expense that way, it is not in my temperament to do that. Once I hatch out a chick, I take care of every cull until it has reached an age where it can be slaughtered for use. Otherwise, I feel that I have killed without adequate reason. I am only comfortable killing birds for either consumption or humane euthanasia, not simply for the convenience of depopulation. But that's just me. I don't judge those who approach it differently, as long as everything is done humanely.
