Musing on the Fall Culling

[3KillerBs]

I should be sending my cull cockerels to Freezer Camp this weekend so I'm thinking that I'll pull my cull hens and put them into that pen so that I can more easily sell them and more easily collect the eggs from the ones I want to breed forward since I was planning to hatch a batch or two of chicks in Sept. and October (given that I live in a warm climate).

I'm pondering the criteria for said culling.

First, I have my oldest hens, who are entering their second molt. I *might* keep the California White, whose idea of slowing down laying in her second year is to give me eggs 6 days out of 7 instead of 28 out of 30, and the best of the Blue Australorps, the one who made me want to focus on that breed in the first place.

Second, among the ones from last fall's order I have a Lavender Orpington who had been mistaken for a very pale Blue Australorp and kept for her beauty. But her shredder gene has revealed her true breed and I don't need Lavender screwing up my blue genetics.

I have another overly pale Blue girl who can be replaced by one of the second generation pullets, who are much darker.

I love the Dominique's personality, but not her medium eggs so she should probably go.

I'm waffling on keeping one Mottled Java because she's promising as a broody -- IF I can get her to graft to a new nest instead of breaking when I move her. (I've had that happen with ALL my broodies when moved). But I'll sell one or both of them because while they're nice enough they don't excite me.

I'm probably culling the Langshan, who lays cute purple-pink eggs but who has been VERY prone to rooster wear.

The Lavender Orpington x Silver-Laced Wyandotte girls should go too. They're great layers of attractive, pink eggs but I wasn't impressed with their temperament. I *might* keep the best of them since they were a gift from a friend.

There are also some of this year's chicks who need to go.

I've got a Black Australorp pullet just starting to lay who is rather nice. I want to focus on Blue, but since I want to keep a Splash male when I hatch one I probably should intentionally keep a couple black females.

I'm keeping the California White's daughter even if I do cull the mother. She's a gorgeous DEEP black and should lay really well.

I should get good photos of all the POL girls so as to better evaluate them and get some feedback.

 

[BarnyardChaos]

Good luck with your musings! It's always a difficult decision which to cull. I'm not at all into a breeding program, other than lots of eggs and lots of meat. I don't give a hoot what breed they are (only requirement I have is a dual-purpose breed), but it's fun to see the different colors showing up in my chicks. I'm approaching a cull date, too, in about 2 weeks when I rotate the chicks and the next group of cockerels have timed out. Sigh. I choose based on overall health, age, evidence of egg-laying, and lastly - personality.

 

[3KillerBs]

I choose based on overall health, age, evidence of egg-laying, and lastly - personality.

Buffalo, my Dominique, would be a winner in the personality category -- that crazy girl will fly up onto my wrist to get first dibs at a colander of veggie trimmings that I'm carrying. But her eggs are never bigger than Medium.

 

[BarnyardChaos]

Buffalo, my Dominique, would be a winner in the personality category ---

I kept a rooster 'til he was elderly and I was sure he wouldn't last another winter with his bad feet and slow movement. Just because I loved him. He still contributed to the flock, playing the decoy when hawks flew over and mating with a couple of his old ladies when no one else was looking.

Hens, however, don't get the same pass, unfortunately. They stop paying room and board, they're done.

 

[3KillerBs]

Except for the cripple, the crossbeak and other future chicks with like problems, every bird I cull will get it's chance on Craigslist before he/she goes into the freezer.

 

[Mrs. K]

selling laying hens should be easy. This part of chicken math is hard, but so very important this time of year.

 

[3KillerBs]

selling laying hens should be easy. This part of chicken math is hard, but so very important this time of year.

Selling excess POL pullets should be easy enough.

Not sure about selling year-old and 2yo girls going into molt. I will be honest about their age, status, and what to expect.

Seen too many people here tricked into getting old hens that never did lay well.

 

[3KillerBs]

So, thinking over my criteria,

1. Health/Vigor -- IMO, everything else has to be subordinated to vigorous good health.

2. Physical Perfection -- Lack of defects and adhering to type as closely as possible. Not sure if age factors into this.

3. Egg-Laying performance (when known) -- This is harder because, with few exceptions, I can't tell which hens lay which eggs and I don't have trap nests or the ability to sit there all day to record eggs. But, even so, I expect to improve this simply because when I choose which eggs to hatch I eliminate all oddballs and aim for eggs that match my preference of L or XL with perfect shape and cleanliness.

4. Age -- I won't progress my flock if I don't replace the older birds with the next generation.

5. Personality -- though I don't currently have any flock troublemakers.

 

[Sally PB]

Oh, man, I feel ya on this issue! I thought I had a plan for the future of my flock, but it went a bit sideways.

Following...

 

[3KillerBs]

Oh, man, I feel ya on this issue! I thought I had a plan for the future of my flock, but it went a bit sideways.

Following...

My initial plan was to have a bunch of fun mixed breeds in black, white, black-and-white, and blue.

But I just fell for these Australorps.