BREEDING FOR PRODUCTION...EGGS AND OR MEAT.

[Fire Ant Farm]

Culling is from the beginning and until the end. Literally. The start is not setting undersized and off shaped eggs in the incubator. Then runts and unthrifty chicks etc.

No breeder grows all of their birds, all of the way, all of the time. That would make no sense at all. If there is reason to cull them early, then there is reason to cull them early. If there is no reason, then they are culled late.

We cannot fully evaluate the type or color until they are fully developed. That is not to say that there is not a lot that can be evaluated before. Especially, once we know our birds. Once you know them especially well, you can spot many things, very early. At the same time, the more uniform the stock is, the longer it takes to tell for the majority.

When selecting breeders, be very careful not to cull your best birds. Some will surprise you late in their development. There should always be a percentage retained for the final evaluation.

You cull for many things at different times. The final selection is made once the prospective breeders are finished and fully developed. There is a point where different strains obtain their "finish". It is up to you to find when that is.

Helpful. I have a lot to learn so part of me is unsure that I will recognize those that should be culled vs kept. But I will learn - and keep asking questions here!

- Ant Farm

 

[NanaKat]

While it seems hard to some, it is better to cull at hatch than to feed out the birds you are going to cull anyway.
Wyandotte have a rose comb and every once in a while, a single comb chick will hatch. These I cull immediately.
Any that can't hatch on their own are culled as well. I don't assist. I find they don't offer vitality to my breeders. Any that are not bouncy examples of health and vigor are culled.

Once chicks are feathered, any extremes in color are culled with a few exceptions. Four week old birds can be skinned, gutted, washed and pressure cooked. They can then be fed to the dogs or as protein for the breeders.

I bred a white cock to my Columbian hens to get good size, better combs and lovely yellow legs. Some of the F1 chicks were almost white pullets to breed to the CW cocks and there were a number of barred cockerels that I allowed to grow out for the freezer because of their nice size. Surprised to get a couple of nice large barred pullets that I added to the layer flock.

As others have stated, I don't give birds away unless it is a pair for a 4H student or for our family.
I supply eggs to my family...MIL is 92. She helped raise her family on her egg money back in the 1950s. So she appreciates the eggs and occasional home processed bird.

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

While it seems hard to some, it is better to cull at hatch than to feed out the birds you are going to cull anyway.
Wyandotte have a rose comb and every once in a while, a single comb chick will hatch. These I cull immediately.
Any that can't hatch on their own are culled as well. I don't assist. I find they don't offer vitality to my breeders. Any that are not bouncy examples of health and vigor are culled.

Once chicks are feathered, any extremes in color are culled with a few exceptions. Four week old birds can be skinned, gutted, washed and pressure cooked. They can then be fed to the dogs or as protein for the breeders.

I bred a white cock to my Columbian hens to get good size, better combs and lovely yellow legs. Some of the F1 chicks were almost white pullets to breed to the CW cocks and there were a number of barred cockerels that I allowed to grow out for the freezer because of their nice size. Surprised to get a couple of nice large barred pullets that I added to the layer flock.

As others have stated, I don't give birds away unless it is a pair for a 4H student or for our family.
I supply eggs to my family...MIL is 92. She helped raise her family on her egg money back in the 1950s. So she appreciates the eggs and occasional home processed bird.

May I ask what method you use to cull chicks? I was going to use sturdy scissors, but would like to hear if there are other methods...

- Ant Farm

 

[NanaKat]

Knife or sharp scissors on the chicks. Eggs that have pipped, zipped and not hatched are placed in a bucket of water.

 

[NanaKat]

I moved the three week old Seramas out to the big brooder pen...it holds 25 lf fowl chicks at 4 weeks, but these youngsters will be able to stay in there for several months with a light on a timer to simulate day and night.
This year, I hatched thru the month of November.
The last hatch of the Wyandotte chicks were moved to the 12 X 11 foot brooder room in the barn. At 4 weeks, they will be in big wall cages until 6 weeks old and will then be placed on the floor..concrete covered with wood shavings. (Yes already culled some). The door between the hen house and the brooder room is open for the juveniles to have access. Many are already sleeping on the roosts with the old hens who are great with them.
Next week, I'll be pulling the three and four month old cockerels and putting them in their own pen. The pullets will stay where they are thru the first months of spring as I keep a close eye on their development.

 

[ronott1]

While it seems hard to some, it is better to cull at hatch than to feed out the birds you are going to cull anyway.
Wyandotte have a rose comb and every once in a while, a single comb chick will hatch. These I cull immediately.
Any that can't hatch on their own are culled as well. I don't assist. I find they don't offer vitality to my breeders. Any that are not bouncy examples of health and vigor are culled.

Once chicks are feathered, any extremes in color are culled with a few exceptions. Four week old birds can be skinned, gutted, washed and pressure cooked. They can then be fed to the dogs or as protein for the breeders.

I bred a white cock to my Columbian hens to get good size, better combs and lovely yellow legs. Some of the F1 chicks were almost white pullets to breed to the CW cocks and there were a number of barred cockerels that I allowed to grow out for the freezer because of their nice size. Surprised to get a couple of nice large barred pullets that I added to the layer flock.

As others have stated, I don't give birds away unless it is a pair for a 4H student or for our family.
I supply eggs to my family...MIL is 92. She helped raise her family on her egg money back in the 1950s. So she appreciates the eggs and occasional home processed bird.

I culled a runt yesterday--It was half the size of the others at a week old.

 

[CanadianBuckeye]

I love following this group. I seem to learn something new every time I read the posts. Sometimes I do get confused though when people use acronyms. I really do want to know what your BRXTYZ is. It certainly saves on time to use the acronym, but unless the names are written out at least once I am just FUBARed. (10 points to anyone who knows what that means but please don't write it out here.

There may be children spying on us.) So thanks in advance to anyone who will spell out their breed names at least once in their posting/conversation.

PS BRXTYX is a made up acronym referring to no actual breed of chicken.

PPS No actual chickens were harmed in the writing of this post.

At least there are no acronyms for Buckeyes
10 points for me, I know what FUBAR stands for. If you want a laugh, the program that the IRS requires all American Ex-pats to file their foreign bank account information (Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts) is called FBAR and believe me they have that acronym right.
It cost us over $1000 in accountant's fees in 2012 to find out we owed Uncle Sam exactly ONE DOLLAR. We have to pay an accountant each year to do this for us or Uncle gets Ugly.

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

Quick question: As I think ahead about hatching from my Cream Legbars this spring, I was wondering - they are on layer feed right now (which they actually love and are doing well on). I'll want to switch them to their breeder ration soon. What do you guys use - game bird feed? Ideally it would be something I can get hold of easily, at Tractor Supply or similar...

Forgive me if this has been answered before, I couldn't recall.

- Ant Farm

Edit to add: the NNs are on Flock Raiser, so I always have that around, but wasn't sure if that's sufficient.

 

[lpatelski]

I'm trying to limit the number of hatches so I don't have a ton of mixed age chicks. How does everyone manage so many chickens that all hatch at different times? I only had 2 batches last year, and it took more than 6 months before everyone got along and I could integrate the flocks. Does everyone have a million pens???????? How are you keeping all those ages /hatches separate????

My hatch batches are six days apart. I start my chicks in a 55 gallon aquarium. As the new chicks are hatched I rotate the older behemoths out to the above ground pen. This way I only have groups of chicks that are 6 days apart. The same goes for the chicks in the above ground pen. As I add the three week old chicks to that pen, the oldest chicks are put on the ground. By that time they are about 4 to 5 weeks old and fully fledged. My only problem happens when there is a week or two between the hatches. This happened when my incubator quit. I lost 30 eggs and three weeks between the chicks. So I had to empty the above ground pen and start over. I only had three hens laying and I produced 83 chicks from 8/2/15 to 11/5/15. If I had not lost 30 eggs, I would of had over 100. I process my chicks mainly to make game hens, around 6 weeks and three pounds. I have three areas. A trampoline converted into a chicken coop, inside the coop there is an above ground pen and a rectangle pen with by rooster and three hens.

 

[AnthNDacula]

My hatch batches are six days apart. I start my chicks in a 55 gallon aquarium. As the new chicks are hatched I rotate the older behemoths out to the above ground pen. This way I only have groups of chicks that are 6 days apart. The same goes for the chicks in the above ground pen. As I add the three week old chicks to that pen, the oldest chicks are put on the ground. By that time they are about 4 to 5 weeks old and fully fledged. My only problem happens when there is a week or two between the hatches. This happened when my incubator quit. I lost 30 eggs and three weeks between the chicks. So I had to empty the above ground pen and start over. I only had three hens laying and I produced 83 chicks from 8/2/15 to 11/5/15. If I had not lost 30 eggs, I would of had over 100. I process my chicks mainly to make game hens, around 6 weeks and three pounds. I have three areas. A trampoline converted into a chicken coop, inside the coop there is an above ground pen and a rectangle pen with by rooster and three hens.

I'm loving that trampoline pen. It looks like a yurt for chickens.