Help! 3 out of my 4 chicks are cockrels.

[AuntieWeasel]

Remember, too, that if you plan to breed, you'll run into this cockerel issue again and again. There always seem to be a disproportionate number of boys!

I haven't the heart for it, myself. I usually buy chicks at six weeks, when you can be reasonably sure what you're getting, with the breed I have. I've hatched eggs two years running and...I currently have a bachelor pad.

 

[Hobbits Mommie]

I was "given" 25 chicks, of which only 5 turned out to be pullets. I too was attached to them, that is until they began to fight each other, and me. I gave 19 of them away and kept the one I "thought" was the friendliest. A few months later when he began to fly up to my head & face determined to kill me, he found a new home too. Now my 5 girls are perfectly happy and content as am I. It was hard letting them go knowing that their future was probably going to be a very short one but that's just part of accepting the responsibilities that come along with raising chickens. You always have to do what's best for the flock, and your family.

 

[chickenmomma912]

Again, the Silkie will produce smaller less productive offspring with your standard hens.
Three breeding groups? A bunch of mixed breeds with wildly varying characteristics?
There's plenty of time to plan!
Remember that hens store semen for at least two weeks after mating, maybe longer. With separate breeding groups, that may mean separate pens for over a month at least during egg collecting time. Planning!
Mary

Thanks Mary!!

 

[Folly's place]

HM, that's so often the story with the 'friendliest' cockerels, and new chicken owners. It's not being friendly!
Yes, hatching means at least half the chicks will be cockerels, and be prepared for this. I sell some, keep a very very few, and have a freezer.
If you eat chicken from the store, remember that those little Cornishx birds are at most eight weeks old, and haven't had a nice life. your cockerels can have a good time, and one bad day at most.
Mary