Hard Questions For Me

[Cryss]

Culling for defects isn’t overly hard. Once you get into culling for behavior it starts to get real difficult.

This is where I am right now! My accidental rooster has been my pet since he was thought to be a she. The usual story. Super sweet and friendly, more than the rest of the flock. Then she...erm, he crowed. Already deeply in love I decided to change my decision to not have a rooster. All was well till hormones kicked in. It was a bit of a fuss but it didn't last long. I thought I had finally trained him, he didn't even acknowledge my presence, no more attacks. I was new enough to not realize winter would calm him down. Then spring arrived. My sweet boy has turned into a velociraptor! He has drawn blood on both me and my husband. The last time was about a week ago. I haven't been able to visit the run since. I can go in first thing in the morning to open the pop door. He doesn't exit for an hour or 2 after it's been opened do I get to spend a few minutes with my ladies. But while I'm opening the pop door he is trying to attack me through the clean out door.
So here I am now, trying to come to grips with the necessity of culling my beautiful boy. I don't trust giving him away because I don't know they will do proper introductions so he could possibly be killed in a fight. Quarantine could be skipped and he die a horrible sickly death. If I give him away and they follow all good practices they may cull him anyway because of his agression. I understand, he is just trying to protect his ladies from the only thing that enters his domain and isn't a chicken...me. So I am torn between giving him the chance if living by giving him away or culling him myself to be sure it is done properly.
So you are right, culling for behavior is a whole different scenario, so very hard and heartbreaking.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

I do feel bad about that instance, but at the time it was not my call to make and to be perfectly honest me and my family didn't have that much of a clue

All we can do is our best with the knowledge we have at the time. Chicken keeping is a never stop learning experience for me even after more than 10 years... there is SOOO much I haven't yet experienced!

I agree super market eggs are gross. I hope my expressions of cost and such are coming off as helpful, as I thought discussing heritage breed we were discussing more of hatching eggs and not eating eggs on the future??

 

[aart]

Lots of good replies in this thread...I can only add my stock cliches.
Livestock/Deadstock.
Romance meets Reality on the DreamStead.

 

[Cryss]

Lots of good replies in this thread...I can only add my stock cliches.
Livestock/Deadstock.
Romance meets Reality on the DreamStead.

Yes, and the first time it comes up, no matter how much you knew you'd be ready, you're not. I started chickens with 3 goals. Eggs, fertilizer, and meat. I've grown up raising calves knowing dad would use them for beef or veal. I've watched my older cousins hang chickens by their feet and watched as the blood drained. I've played house with rabbits dressed in doll clothes today and next week it's on my dinner plate. I've always known where my food comes from. Raising chickens seemed like a no brainer. But when the livestock is yours, you know them well, and it's you that makes the decision, not dad or Uncle Jack, the first time you make that decision is more emotional than you anticipated. As someone approaches this moment for their first time and they come here for advice we need to acknowledge that they are in a sensitive place and help them through it. I shiver to think how difficult it must be for someone who has never known an animal that they later had for dinner. If it's difficult for me how much more so for them. Byc is a place to come and learn how to enjoy our flocks, and how to be good stewards to them from livestock through deadstock. And not just for utilitarian livestock but also the ones just raised as pets because sometimes a pet, be it dog, cat, cow, or chicken, needs to be released from suffering.

 

[Kris5902]

Wow, so many awesome replies here! This thread gives a very good perspective on the necessities of chicken/livestock raising as more than a pet/backyard novelty . Also very good and responsible of the OP to ask and consider the hard parts of the process before jumping in.

I think that on a small scale it is more manageable to strike a balance in breeding. You could keep track of genetics and desirable traits. As many heritage birds are dual purpose you could isolate any less desirable birds for either meat or egg production giving them a somewhat productive life and reducing the culling. But it is a necessary part of breeding, especially with a 50/50 gender split and many, many cockerels. I think of culling in two ways.

Culling for terminal illness is not hard for me. I would rather take a life than let an animal suffer. It is a kindness, and once an animals quality of life is too low, or they are in pain it is the right thing to do. I do not eat sick animals.

Culling for quality of breeding stock and cockerel population management... well, I eat meat and would rather have a death serve that purpose than have cockerels kill or injure each other. You also do really want to avoid breeding weaker genetics, as that could eventually lead to a necessary culling for survivability . (We ran into that with a ram in our sheep flock... it showed up several generations later in his daughters and grand-daughters offspring as a severe deformation in the jaw which prevented eating, and it was a huge pain to eliminate!)

My thoughts on it, at least. It is doable, you need to prepare mentally, have everything ready, have a backup plan or helper with one available the first few times. That you are asking the question means you can probably handle the culling aspect, respectfully and well. You’ve gotten a lot of great advice here.

Best wishes!

 

[xshoshin]

It depends on your state. In California and a couple other states necropsies are free. Here in MO, it can range from $75-110..

It’s $20 now in California.

 

[meglynnie]

Hi there, welcome to BYC!

The hardest part about breeding with a purpose is HAVING to make decisions that are for the good of the whole flock... which will sometimes include culling newly hatched chicks.

50% of everything that hatches will be male as well. So start preparing yourself mentally. You know what you will HAVE to do, so work your way up to it. My teenage daughter was a highly sensitive person and I thought we might be vegetarian before all was said and done. My husband does not participate in culling at all. Alas, we still enjoy eating meat but are more aware of where our food comes from and thankful for the circle of life understanding (and acceptance) that came with it making us more conscientious consumers.

Our first culling was awful with plenty of mistakes. But with practice... it is a SKILL I value greatly... now if one of the birds I hang out with daily faces an issue... I have the confidence to help them out, knowing I'm not causing anymore trauma, drama, or pain.

That being said... poultry is NO easy way to make extra money in my experience and you'd be lucky to cover your cost. ANY farming is a labor of love.

You might be able to find a neighbor, friend, uncle or something that you can prearrange any need culling. I did have someone doing the processing for me and was worth every penny. But ultimately waiting on their schedule became VERY inconvenient. Dispatching and such is not desirable but it is needed. You learn to do it as any terrible job like cleaning the toilet or changing poopy diapers.

Watching something die slowly is never an appropriate option. But once you wrap your mind around things you start to see LIFE instead of death. Everything dies eventually. But for example now instead of seeing a dead animal on the side of the road... what I see is carrion. Something dies so others can live.

Learn about humane euthanasia. And decide the difference between culling and killing. Culling is with purpose. Killing is senseless.

Hope this helps a little. It's good to have goals and that you are working on growing yourself! Hang in there and good luck, you got lots of support here to get through that first time and such!

This was great information!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

It’s $20 now in California.

Thanks. That's a bargain. Is that for a complete workup and lab cultures?

 

[kukree]

I have my chickens as pets, and it feels like i’ve had chickens for my whole life.
Some come and some go, it’s part of life.
When they do leave it’s very heartbreaking, but just like humans they don’t last forever, so we might aswell enjoy our time with them.
When mine get ill, i try to take them to the vet as soon as I can, so i can treat them. If the treatment doesn’t work or they become considerably worse with no chance of recovery, i get my dad to do what he needs to.
I have cockerels and hens which hatched from eggs. When they hatched we thought the odd one would be a cockerel, but we ended up with more cockerel chicks!!
They do attempt to attack me every time I go out, but i just deal with it. As someone mentioned earlier in the post, mine are also calmer when the weather’s cold.
When they become aggressive, I just take a bottle or bag or something outside with me to scare them off, and it usually works.

 

[Member 482121]

I find myself in the same predicament--or maybe in a worse one. I need to kill three healthy, beautiful roosters. I have three chicken houses, no room for more, and one of them and its enclosure are now occupied by three roosters. In one of the others I have one rooster and fourteen hens, and in another five hens and two roosters. The two roosters in the latter one are almost OK together, though one of them is obviously the ruler of the roost and he's the one who copulates with the hens. The other, when he tries, gets chased away. The problem is the enclosure with the three roosters. A while ago one of the hens in one of the other two houses began to brood, and foolishly we let her keep some eggs. Five chicks hatched, and we transfered them to a cage in the garage, where we could keep them warm. When they were big enough we put them in the vacant chicken house. Of the five, two were hens and three were males. When they became adults the three roosters were constantly trying to "do" the two hens, plucking their necks and heads bare and keeping them in a constant state of terror. So I decided to transfer them to the big enclosure/house. They are doing well there, but the three roosters now are trying to copulate with one another, fight all the time, and although they are beautiful and healthy it seems to me that the quality of their lives is terrible. I would like to cull them to make room for the beta male of the other house (the one with two roosters) and a few of the hens in the house where now there are fourteen. But I just don't have the heart to kill three gorgeous, healthy roosters. But I'll probably have to do it, because no one wants roosters, and they have become too aggressive even toward us to be pets. I guess such problems as mine come with the territory when you decide to raise chickens or some other farm animals. Honestly, if I could go back in time I would not start raising chickens again. Eggs are cheap, market chickens are already dead, cleaned and plucked, and I could sleep in in the morning or take a vacation now and then...