Must I cull? (Graphic sorry)

[hedgemoo]

So glad I didn't process him in a panic because he's fine now. I kept him in the infirmary for a couple of days. His eye reappeared from nowhere and the gash healed up. He started going stir crazy crowing and trying to peck his way out, so I put him back in with the young ones. (Culling the other confirmed roo in there first). He ran around, tried to mount a couple, gave a few others a good peck and then settled down. He's happily holding court now.

Husband is going to partition the layers hutch so I can reintroduce him to the old gals gently.

 

[sajimnkim]

Well, I decided I didn't want to try and figure it all out when they all had bloody heads, and they were 8 weeks anyway....I didn't need 11 roos with 13 hens. Culled 9 of them. Will it affect my hatch rate? Dunno. one roo has 6 hens, one roo has 7. They seemed much happier now. Even got two new eggs during the processing. I guess they saw what was happening and started production of product, lol.

I'll get eggs for a while. When I see we have a steady flow of eggs, I'll check fertility as we crack them open; when it gets high enough for me I'll collect for about a week and hatch those out. The flock is off and running, and hopefully will be self-sustaining. The actual hard part for this city boy was only the moment of dispatch. Cleaning was much easier than I thought, and looking back I probably could have cleaned the 2 the dog brought back to the patio. She is a bird hunting dog after all and although the birds were dead, they were undamaged.

26/30 eggs hatched from Myshire Farm, first time out. Circulated air Hovabator, with the standard sliding turner, just rolled the eggs around. Worked fine.