He was the wider of the 2 but shorter. He was showing lots of raging hormone behavior so maybe that was what most of the food he ate was fueling. The younger one would probably have filled out more if he had another 4 weeks to grow. I had 3 cockerels and opted to keep only 1. It was a hard decision to make. The one I ended up keeping is younger and as tall as the tall one that we processed. He is milder in temperament which is a big reason why I kept him over the oldest cockerel. I almost kept both of them but just watching the behavior of the 24 week old changed my mind. I have been trying to only keep mild mannered ones. My original cock was nasty and 1 of his sons was even nastier. With all things being equal, nice cockerels win over mean ones. I still have 2 or 3 young ones here in town. I keep going back and forth on whether to breed them again or sell all of them. The farmers who own the property where my breeding flocks are housed do not like the Bresse. They are flighty and excel at escaping their pens the boys have not been the friendliest birds, and my friends don't like how they taste. We each took 1 of the processed cockerels and I made sure they got the youngest boy. I am hoping that he is more tender than the ones we processed last time. I love the chicks and the pullets/hens. If I end up with a respectful cockerel, I really want to keep breeding them.
