American serama thread!

[4cats3kids1hubby2many]

I got another question. This one is not as nice. But I am serious.

I like to raise orpingtons, because I can eat the culls. What do you do with your culls?

From the washintonian site there are some who can cull when they are tiny babies...I can't do this...I would if I had to for health reasons.

But you have raised the bird up and realize that it is not what you are wanting. Options? Give/sell to someone for a pet or fitting and showing for a kid. You have given/sold every pet you could. You have culls left..now what?

 

[pongo]

lol lets see its my hersheys chocolate hen skitzo (she is flipping nuts) and my dark chocolate roo chocobo.....the eggs are itty bitty quail sized so will be interesting to see how big lol..... also only one of the quail eggs hatched gumbii..... sunday is day 21 but im not holding my breathe..... its gonna be such a loner bird LOL..... and its white how the heck am i gonna sex it to see if i need hens or roos for it LOL.....omg this bird math is kicking my butt

 

[gumbii]

Quote:
this is a great question...

i believe in culling hard and early... i actually breed OEGB... i just got into the serama... but everyone waits until their seramas are full grown to see if they are culls or not... i don't like that... when they are a lot older, they know that i give them water and care for them... but i hate how everyone sells/gives away their serama culls... so i'm not going to do the same thing...

 

[4cats3kids1hubby2many]

Quote:
this is a great question...

i believe in culling hard and early... i actually breed OEGB... i just got into the serama... but everyone waits until their seramas are full grown to see if they are culls or not... i don't like that... when they are a lot older, they know that i give them water and care for them... but i hate how everyone sells/gives away their serama culls... so i'm not going to do the same thing...

Thank you. I would love to see what the "masses" say. I look forward to more responding.

OEGB -sorry still learning...Old English Game right? b for bantam? or standard? sorry. Do you butcher these extras?

My husband is awful in helping me to butcher. I was raised a farm girl so I now how it all works and what you have to do. I tell him and the kids...we give our birds the best life possible, until it is time for them to go to our freezer. Husband likes to give them treats and hates it when I butcher them. So, next year all my questionable birds or culls are going to be kept in a separate place where he can not "bond" with them. So he will not feel bad when we do what we have to do.

 

[SunnyCalifornia]

Wow so much to reply to!!

Winter time.... well, I"m in So Cal, so 28 F is my most likely low temp. I plan to keep them in an enclosed "motel" for the nights, in pairs or trios for cuddling. I ordered a few show cages which are small, but perfect for overnighters, in my motel.

Culls.... well that poses a problem for me.. I don't think I could possibly cut a life short for "imperfections".Some of my most favorite birds are my "imperfect" ones. Who really has a perfect Serama? Or perfect Buff Orpington, Delaware, etc. ...My choice is to select carefully, and hatch responsibly.

 

[gumbii]

Quote:
this is a great question...

i believe in culling hard and early... i actually breed OEGB... i just got into the serama... but everyone waits until their seramas are full grown to see if they are culls or not... i don't like that... when they are a lot older, they know that i give them water and care for them... but i hate how everyone sells/gives away their serama culls... so i'm not going to do the same thing...

Thank you. I would love to see what the "masses" say. I look forward to more responding.

OEGB -sorry still learning...Old English Game right? b for bantam? or standard? sorry. Do you butcher these extras?

My husband is awful in helping me to butcher. I was raised a farm girl so I now how it all works and what you have to do. I tell him and the kids...we give our birds the best life possible, until it is time for them to go to our freezer. Husband likes to give them treats and hates it when I butcher them. So, next year all my questionable birds or culls are going to be kept in a separate place where he can not "bond" with them. So he will not feel bad when we do what we have to do.

i don't have that problem... since i'm the only one in my family right now with the chickens... well, my kids ♥ their chickens, but they're too young to know when there's a roo missing... and they don't know how many chicks i incubated or hatched... i just try to cull the night/day before the trash pick up comes...

along with responsible hatching, you should be a responsible breeder... but some serama folk aren't in it to breed... they just want a gorgeous pair or trio and are happy with it... don't have to, and don't want to hatch... that's pretty cool IMO...

 

[pongo]

gabby egg pipping LOL...im all excited

 

[pongo]

night behave everyone

 

[faerielady]

Quote:
The only way I'd consider breeding seramas is if I had a SQ pair or trio. I eat my pet quality eggs. When I was involved in the MFC project, I sent the eggs from my SQ trio back to the breeder to incubate because I didn't have the time/energy to hatch & raise babies and they deserved to breed because of their quality.

I'm going to be working on the paint project next year and I still haven't yet decided how I'm going to do the culling. I asked a few breeders how they do it, but haven't gotten responses back. I'm pretty sure that none of them want to admit to actually putting down the less than desirable chicks. However, there aren't many options for chickens. If my dog isn't SQ, I can just have her spayed, you know? Which I did because she's not, even though she's a gorgeous dog.

 

[gumbii]

Quote:
The only way I'd consider breeding seramas is if I had a SQ pair or trio. I eat my pet quality eggs. When I was involved in the MFC project, I sent the eggs from my SQ trio back to the breeder to incubate because I didn't have the time/energy to hatch & raise babies and they deserved to breed because of their quality.

I'm going to be working on the paint project next year and I still haven't yet decided how I'm going to do the culling. I asked a few breeders how they do it, but haven't gotten responses back. I'm pretty sure that none of them want to admit to actually putting down the less than desirable chicks. However, there aren't many options for chickens. If my dog isn't SQ, I can just have her spayed, you know? Which I did because she's not, even though she's a gorgeous dog.

i say this a million times...


a pair of titanium 3M scissors is the best tool a breeder needs... well for me anyways.... scissors over a trash can with a bag, quick and effortlessly... no mess, no noise, no suffering, no pain... better than letting them taint that species blood or worst, be given away to someone that isn't going to give them a good home... or starve in a brooder full of chicks bigger than them... amirite...?

if i sound cruel, i'm sorry... but i'm just looking at the BIGGER picture here... trying to preserve the breed and make quality chickens...