How long before you cull?

[tonkatuff]

How much time do you give a pullet to start laying before she goes to the table? I have one Ameraucana pullet, hatched 3/17/09 that has yet to lay.

 

[silkiechicken]

Depends on your goal. If you want strictly egg layers, and want to breed for younger layers, cull when you think they should lay by. But since it is fall, some birds wait till spring. That said, are you sure she is not hiding them?

 

[greathorse]

Easy there trigger, LOL that pullet has a lot of time left to lay. There are a lot of pullets that dont start until they are 8 months old. I have virtually all old hertitage stock and frankly that is when they start, right at 8 months. Er or in fact I have a bunch of RIR 8 months and nada.

Whacking them now would likely mean you are dispatching just before they lay.

 

[hen-thusiast]

We have an EE around the same age, maybe a week or two younger. Nowhere close to laying yet, she's a pet though, so we're willing to wait.