How to decide when to cull a chick...

[Sarah1up]

It was hard to decide to go ahead. It had been separate for more than three days. It was spending most of the day and night pacing and peeping...which put the other chicks in in a state of distress. This picking behavior was making the other chicks bleed, so I couldn't put any in with it. To me, the stress for all the chicks was cruel, especially the one kept apart. I know everyone has a different level of how long they will wait for these things and how much hope they have. I totally get other people waiting. But my gut said it was a neurotic chicken, on top of being a RIR which apparently have a tendency to be that way with other chicks. I got them from a feed store and not someone who had spend time developing a line of chickens. So all in all, it wasn't something I took lightly, but I feel confident was the right choice. I know everyone will come to a different conclusion.

 

[humblehillsfarm]

It's great that your chick grew out of this. There's also the chance that this other chick would not have. The OP feels bad about having made this decision...it's done now and there's peace in the flock. Let's please not post after the fact that it might have been a bad decision - I'm sure you don't want to make the OP feel worse about the decision that was made for the health of the flock.

I didn't realize OP had made that decision until after my post. I edited my comment since I don't think I can delete it? Would you care to edit yours since it still reflects my original comment? Chicken keeping is hard. Sometimes the only way you know the right answer is to simply make the decision and go with it as waiting can make things worse.

 

[McBriec]

I very much agree with decision to cull for the good of the group. I had an EE pullet who was an obsessive head pecker. That pullet's behavior reminded me of 2 murderous head pecking Wyandottes who I culled after they severely injured 2 gentle hens. I now have a strict policy of culling any chicken demonstrating head pecking or feather picking.

 

[Eggscaping]

I didn't realize OP had made that decision until after my post. I edited my comment since I don't think I can delete it? Would you care to edit yours since it still reflects my original comment? Chicken keeping is hard. Sometimes the only way you know the right answer is to simply make the decision and go with it as waiting can make things worse.

Post was deleted. Thank you for your explanation.