I somehow only hatch roosters

[ariri30]

I’m not sure if you’re planning on filling your freezer with them or not, but with the whole talk of this will be a dark winter, some homegrown meat in the freezer will be nice.

You guys have taught me a lot. Now please give me some courage to cull all the extra cockerel. Will I ever get to the point to be comfortable with it?

 

[Fullcrazy]

You guys have taught me a lot. Now please give me some courage to cull all the extra cockerel. Will I ever get to the point to be comfortable with it?

I feel the same way

 

[ariri30]

I feel the same way

Really? I thought I was the only chicken

 

[ariri30]

It's hard to talk about the emotions involved. Some people can't kill them, they just can't. They may be OK processing them after they are dead or maybe not. We are all different.

I raise mine for meat so killing them is part of that. If I didn't eat them I would not have chickens. I don't enjoy the killing part bu I can do it and am comfortable I can do it effectively, quick and sure so there is no real suffering. The way I look at it they have a great life and then one bad moment. I try to make that one moment as brief as I can.

Wow that’s exactly how I feel. I can process them but I don’t like the killing part. But I know it’s something I have to come to terms with if I keep letting my hens hatch all this cockerels

 

[JacinLarkwell]

I’m in the same boat with my quail right now. I was hopeful I had 50/50, but my favorite crowed when I was holding him yesterday, my other favorite has foam, and I already have 3 confirmed males. That leaves 2 that I’m not sure on, but I have a feeling the bigger tuxedo one is male. I really should cull them and eat them, I have more eggs in the incubator to replace them anyways, but I don’t know if I can do it...

Females are actually the larger of the sexes with quail

 

[Trisseh]

Yes, I’m aware the females are generally larger - that’s why I was at first hopeful. But others have told me the males grow larger faster, and then the females overtake them. Not sure if that’s true or not. I feel like it may be, as the only known female in this group (who I sold) was much smaller than all the rest at 4 weeks of age.
but I don’t know that their size makes much of a difference at this point or within this group; the tuxedo was the largest chick and is the largest bird now. Based on behaviour I believe it to be male, although it has not crowed yet or show any signs of foam.
The smallest, quietest one - I’m holding out hope for it to be female. All of the males have been drama queens when handled, and have been noisy even before they started actually crowing.

unfortunately these are not eggs from my own flock; I had none to start with a they were an assorted group of eggs from a hatchery. I have more eggs in the incubator from the same source so we’ll see.

 

[AltonaAcres]

I hatched 9 button quail eggs and got 8 males.

 

[ariri30]

Yes, I’m aware the females are generally larger - that’s why I was at first hopeful. But others have told me the males grow larger faster, and then the females overtake them. Not sure if that’s true or not. I feel like it may be, as the only known female in this group (who I sold) was much smaller than all the rest at 4 weeks of age.
but I don’t know that their size makes much of a difference at this point or within this group; the tuxedo was the largest chick and is the largest bird now. Based on behaviour I believe it to be male, although it has not crowed yet or show any signs of foam.
The smallest, quietest one - I’m holding out hope for it to be female. All of the males have been drama queens when handled, and have been noisy even before they started actually crowing.

unfortunately these are not eggs from my own flock; I had none to start with a they were an assorted group of eggs from a hatchery. I have more eggs in the incubator from the same source so we’ll see.

All good points. How with a hatched? Don’t they fight?

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

I’ve almost always bought straight run chicks or hatched eggs, and I’ve found that the male/female ratio is pretty even. Sometimes I did get more males (2 of out 3, 3 out of 4, etc) but I also sometimes got more females (4 out of 5, 2 out of 2, etc). I think people notice when they get more males but they rarely notice when they get more females, making them think the ratio is uneven.
Because my chickens are pets first and foremost, I saw no reason that I should get rid of my males. I kept most of my males in a rooster-only flock before a predator attack that killed most of them.