Arizona Chickens

[cavemanrich]

Do you find it hard to cull?

It always is hard decision. The reality of raising chickens, is,,,,,, 50% can possibly be cockerels, (law of averages). I don't like the ideas of culling chicks at day one. I know hatcheries have to for volume reasons.,, . As a backyard keeper, our volume is considerably lower. Raise the cockerels to decent size/weight. That may vary in time for different breeds. (before they start to fight among themselves) Then the cockerel did enjoy a good life with one short bad moment. If you don't want to eat them yourself, then offer to a needy family. There are no shortages of families needing food.
You can offer them live to be taken for food to needy peeps.

 

[AzureValleyHomestead]

It gets easier with time, IE it’s easier to detach from the process, but it’s always a sad day. If you spend any time with your flock you can become attached even though you know you’re going to have to do the deed. If I need a few new girls I’ll let a broody hatch some eggs, but I decide how many she gets to keep so I can limit how many chickens I end up with. Some people hatch sex linked breeds so they can kill cockerels at hatch and not bother feeding them. You could always try that, although I don’t think dropping baby cockerels in a bucket of water to die would be an easier than culling an older bird for some of us.

Agreed. I'm not one who throws life away needlessly, so it would be hard. The hubs gets annoyed when I save spiders...

 

[ChicksnMore]

Agreed. I'm not one who throws life away needlessly, so it would be hard. The hubs gets annoyed when I save spiders...

Here I'm the one that gets annoyed by hubby saving spiders...I swear they come back with 50 friends every time! But...part of me thinks it's adorable

 

[BlueBaby]

Here I'm the one that gets annoyed by hubby saving spiders...I swear they come back with 50 friends every time! But...part of me thinks it's adorable

I kill them too. Hubby say's to leave them alone because they eat bug's. I say that they aren't eating the bug's fast enough.

 

[igorsMistress]

It always is hard decision. The reality of raising chickens, is,,,,,, 50% can possibly be cockerels, (law of averages). I don't like the ideas of culling chicks at day one. I know hatcheries have to for volume reasons.,, . As a backyard keeper, our volume is considerably lower. Raise the cockerels to decent size/weight. That may vary in time for different breeds. (before they start to fight among themselves) Then the cockerel did enjoy a good life with one short bad moment. If you don't want to eat them yourself, then offer to a needy family. There are no shortages of families needing food.
You can offer them live to be taken for food to needy peeps.

I wish everyone had that attitude but they certainly don’t.

 

[EmmaDonovan]

It's raining! It's raining! It's raining!

It's been so long it seems like a wonderful miracle! Anyone else getting some rain?

 

[BlueBaby]

It's raining! It's raining! It's raining!

It's been so long it seems like a wonderful miracle! Anyone else getting some rain?

Yes, it rained here too. The internet on the desktop pc went down because of it, but I could still get on through on this cell phone.

 

[ChicksnMore]

It's raining! It's raining! It's raining!

It's been so long it seems like a wonderful miracle! Anyone else getting some rain?

Not a lot here, but a beautiful gentle drizzle before bed last night

 

[EmmaDonovan]

A little more rain today! Caught us unawares right at the end of our afternoon dog walk. I have no complaints!

 

[ChicksnMore]

A little more rain today! Caught us unawares right at the end of our afternoon dog walk. I have no complaints!

Part of the pleasure is just seeing the clouds! Makes for some gorgeous skies at dusk and dawn. Here's the sunrise from the other day...so much more than cloudless days get