I don't send any roosters to the freezer until somewhere between 16-20 weeks, depending on how fast they grow. I never cull a bird until I see pointy saddle and hackle feathers, or the rooster has crowed. I hear you though. I had Heritage RIRs and they matured so slowly. The pullets had really thick legs. It was tricky with them for a long time. These breeds I just hatched are really nice, so I may sell extra roosters instead of eating them. We'll see.
The very first time I hatched eggs, I got 100% pullets. It was very confusing for months, because it was my first set of chicks, and I kept looking and looking for signs of roosters. I couldn't compare between chicks because they were all female! And every one kept telling me...you've gotta at least have one fella in there. After that, I kind of had it in my head that most of the chicks I hatched would be female, but it turned out to be the opposite. Roosters, roosters, and more roosters. I made a careful chart yesterday of my chicks. So far I have 3 definite roosters, 3 probably pullets, and 4 complete ? So statistically speaking, this hatch is right on. I sold several chicks already. With my luck it was probably mostly pullets. One good thing though, each of the 3 definite roosters is a different breed, which is what I want, one rooster in each breed.
