Culling Chicks Opinion Changed =/

[hokankai]

If it's your opinion that chickens are nothing more than a food source or trophy, and killing a healthy animal that can be rehomed (or eaten, used in some way at least) with no harm to you is okay with you...then fine. It's no skin off my nose. I just can't see how killing for the sake of killing (and that's really what it is, if you're ignoring other options and you're not going to use the bird) is okay. But then again I value animals very highly, no matter how simple or insignificant they may be.

hokankai; it looks as though you have a very definitive opinion about your birds. And you are allowed that OPINION. That being said CluckyCharms is also entitled to an opinion about the same subject. "Hoping" someone will alter their opinion on something is just plain "Hitleresque" if you don't mind me saying. My two cents on the subject.

(I guess I should duck for cover now)

Sure CluckyCharms is entitled to his/her opinion, but I'm also entitled to try and get them to see things from another perspective, or at last offer alternative solutions. Of course I hope they change their opinion, because I'd prefer these birds get the chance to live where they'll be used and/or appreciated rather than just having their heads lopped off. How is that "Hitleresque"?

 

[hollys chooks]

"I believe....."
"I don't believe....."
Listen to the sound of those minds slamming shut.
Belief relieves you of any need to question things, seek knowledge, or have new ideas.
Doubting yourself is ok if you use it to drive yourself to do better, in this case care for your chickens better.

Good on you Clucky for starting this thread, making people think is never a bad thing.

 

[ChickensRDinos]

I think that you can value life and choose to cull or value life and choose not to cull. One does not negate the other.

 

[Mtn Laurel]

I've only had to cull once and that was because the hen took ill and recovery didn't seem possible. I wasn't crazy about it but I felt it the best thing for the hen. Much like putting down a sick dog. Had I thought she would have recovered with no recurrence of the illness, I would have taken basic steps to save her but that didn't seem to be the case. I don't see myself keeping a chicken that would have a recurring problem or illness or an injury that would require extraordinary effort on my part to rehabilitate her. In such a situation, I would cull.

As far as culling for breeding, I can see needing to do that if you're selling a specific breed, especially if you're advertising show quality. Would think you would need to eliminate those genetics that are inferior to retain a show quality flock and breeding stock. My hens are for eggs only and - when the day comes that they no longer lay - I'll have to make the decision to cull or retain them. I'd feel much better culling if I could put them in the stew pot. Seems to me that's a noble end for a chicken.

I think our opinions on culling change when our mindsets change. Some consider chickens pets and it's really hard to cull a pet. If you consider chickens livestock, it's much easier to consider culling as the purpose of the chicken changes and the financial bottom line must be considered. Any livestock that consumes resources - time and food and/or money spent on illness or injury - but is unable to provide you with the item for which it is being raised - be it eggs, meat, or breeding traits - becomes a liability. You remove the liability to reduce your expenses and insure your future success.

Farmers have been raising livestock in such a fashion for centuries. While it may not be the route that someone raising chickens as pets would take, that doesn't make it wrong. It's just a fact of farming life.

 

[Sally8]

​

CluckyCharms, you've made a decision and feel good about it. Chickens are not children and most are not "pets". The decisions we have to make are not always easy. Neither are taking care of deformed animals. If you were to post that chick as a pet you were unable to care for, most likely no one would step up to offer to care for it themselves. After all they are chickens. Most of the time a source of food. Everyone has an opinion and are entitled to them. My friends and I, when we get to a point that we cannot even see the others views, we agree to disagree. No reason to point that finger to say you are wrong and I am right. Push this behind you and move on. No judgement here.

 

[Frost Homestead]

I cull chicks for deformities. I simply don't have the time or energy to care for a handicapped chick and the idea of allowing it to grow and potentially breed disturbs me. I would never want to contribute to the health problem being passed on if it's genetic. That being said I don't cull *chicks* for aesthetics reasons but others have a right to do as they wish with their flocks and can understand and respect the desire to keep the breed true to the SOP. I would hate for someone to keep a bird with serious faults in their flock just because it was healthy, and I would certainly hate to be one of the people who buys eggs or chicks from someone who keeps birds with faults just because they don't want to kill any of them. IMO if you're a responsible breeder you cull for faults, whether that be as chicks or young birds or whatever is really of no consequence. To all those who think it's mean I'd say -if you can't stomach occasionally culling maybe breeding isn't for you?

Personally, I find it hard to judge whether a chick has serious faults appearance-wise so I usually grow them out and the ones that do not fit into my breeding programs due to faults get culled (eaten). If I can trace where the fault is stemming from I will also cull the bird that's passing on the issue. For instance I had a lot of clean looking blue wheaten ameraucanas and my wheaten roo was throwing wheaten chicks that had black leakage in their hackles. It was obvious the roo was the culprit so I culled him. Now I've got a bunch of wheaten pullets with black spots where they shouldn't, so in hindsight if I would have known I probably wouldn't have culled him as a chick, I would have grown him out in a pen where he didn't have access to my hens and I would've processed him, I'd hate to let a potential meal go to waste. To each their own!

 

[Egghead_Jr]

New Hampshires are just New Hampshires, no red. Perhaps due to confusion of the hatchery production reds that are sold as New Hampshire or Rhode Island Red with no real difference between them people get confused and add the Red to New Hampshire. Hatcheries breed for production and have cross bred to achieve this. This is why most will call the hatchery RIR or New Hampshire a production red; they are far from the original breeds.

I just realized this is 5 pages long, sure you already got that answer.

 

[Amanda15]

I agree completely with hokankai

 

[1muttsfan]

I am not sure what the difference is in culling a chick that you know you do not have the space, time, or use for, and culling the same chick after feeding him up for 20 weeks to eating size. Most roosters are culled at some point, as there is simply not enough room for all those roosters. And anyone who has bought sexed pullet chicks is basically culling, as the extra male chicks - basically a by-product - are killed immediately at the hatchery. Re-homing simply means for most roosters that they will be eaten, just not by you - and that you have no control over how they are treated once they leave your ownership.

If you have the time and resources to take care of chicks with debilitating abnormalities, good for you. If not, kinder to kill them immediately rather than letting them linger.

 

[fancyfowl4ever]

I just had to cull a chick out of a batch of 8 because at 3 weeks old its still the size it was when it hatched while its siblings are a good 5 times larger and almost fully feathered. The chick also always cried constantly, ate and drank just fine but wasnt active you could tell something was very off. I have tried saving these runt chicks in the past, they do make it for a few months(altho they do not grow at all and just look miserable the whole way), then you breathe on them wrong and they keel over. Would never be an edible size bird, so I cull them as soon as I am sure they are those stunted runts and not just a slower developing chick.

I do cull for standard too, but there I let the birds grow out(since from chick to adult they can change so much) and then anyone flawed heads to freezer camp or a pet home.