Need to cull some roosters

[Graytalon]

Greetings everyone,
This is a post I made in a different forum and didn't get much response. Well, to be honest it's in one of the Bielefelder Threads, but I degress.
Our chickens have reached 20 weeks and the roos are getting a bit feisty. We are concerned that having 9 roosters to our 21 hens will very soon be putting too much pressure on them. All the extra roos are from a straight run we had to purchase.

We are wanting to keep the 2 best roos but not sure what criteria we need to determine which roos to cull (form/color/behavior/size, etc). I understand that they reach maturity in about 24 weeks. Is there anything specific we should be looking for. I don’t want to cull one that is just currently slightly smaller as the only criteria.

Here's a few pictures of them.

Any suggestions, information, and opinions are welcome!

Thanks,
GT

 

[Brooks_]

I would use behavior as the criteria. Starting with just a few for reduction. Watch behavior and repeat.

 

[Folly's place]

Beautiful birds!
Any cockerels with obvious physical defects, or any who are in any way human aggressive should go first. These birds should be large, right? So the smallest aren't 'keepers'.
Remove any of the above, and see how the remaining birds sort themselves out next.
Look at the breed standard, and try for birds that come close to that. Temperament is first, so again, cockerels spending their time watching out for their flockmates are good. Nobody who is injuring the pullets needs to stay!
I too like to keep the two 'best', at least for a while, hoping that the best birds are actually 'best'.
I sorted my Chantie cockerels a bit sooner this year, and have the two largest still here. Nobody was acting badly, or had conformation issues, so the two largest stayed. So far.
Don't feel bad if those choices turn out to not be best, it happens. Once in a while roosters decide to be jerks as yearlings. who knows why?
Mary

 

[Mrs. K]

For me, they rather naturally divide into the don't like, like, and it is the maybe crowd that is difficult.

First - remove any you don't like for any reason. Get them out of the way. Often times, this will change the other's dynamics.

Second - you really need to handle them, as feathers hide a lot of sins. So weigh them, they all have had the same feed opportunities - who has gained more on it. Look very carefully at their beaks, feet and legs. Feel the breast bone. At first you might feel like you don't really know what you are doing, but as you go back and forth through the roosters, you will notice things you have not noticed before.

Third - divide and conquer. Remove the don't likes, find the maybe's, ignore the pretty sure... With the maybes - take a head count and divide by two...say there is four in the maybes - pick the top two, and remove the bottom two...wait 2-3 weeks. Dispositions change, behavior changes, likes and dislikes change, divide the group again and remove some more.

Wait, and divide again, by this time it is usually pretty self evident who you will keep.
But I knew a lady that tried that one for two or three weeks with the hens alone, without dispatching the last one or two, to see if he truly made a great flock master. Then she made the final cut.

mrs K

 

[aart]

First - remove any you don't like for any reason. Get them out of the way. Often times, this will change the other's dynamics.

For sure, that's what makes picking 'the one' so hard.
I'd not keep more than one, your coop looks rather small for 22 birds.

 

[Ridgerunner]

What are your goals with the boys? Why do you want any roosters? To me, that's the first thing you need to decide. If you are raising them to show then definitely get a Standard of Perfection (SOP) and go by that. If you are raising them for meat then eye color or shape of the comb are less important to me. If you want to sell hatching eggs or chicks then the SOP is more important. If you are going to hatch chicks, what do you want the chicks to be like? Your choices need to be based on your goals, not mine.

Behavior is a hard one because they interact with each other and that affects how they interact with the flock. Another problem is that their behaviors can change as they mature. An immature cockerel with his hormones driving him crazy can be a totally different bird when he grows up.

I understand that they reach maturity in about 24 weeks.

Don't put too much faith in this. Different cockerels and pullets mature at different rates. This is something else that can make it harder to choose. Usually things get better as they mature but usually doesn't mean always.

I agree the best way to approach it is to first remove any that don't meet your goals or somehow disqualify themselves. The first cuts are usually not too hard. By the time you get to the last decisions it gets harder but any decision you make might not be that bad, most should be good candidates. Good luck!

 

[Brooks_]

Standard of Perfection (SOP)

Thanks. I never could figure out what that meant. I understood it in the context it was being used, but didn't know what the letters stood for.

 

[Graytalon]

Evening all,

Thanks to everyone who took time to help us out. We really appreciate it. This is a composite of my wife and I trying to answer, so if it looks like two people typed this, we did.

We decided to get chickens for the first time to help us be a little more self-sufficient. My wife likes the idea that we are more able to have eggs and chickens from a known/cleaner source. We eat a lot of eggs and settled on the Bielefelder because they are dual purpose (10+lbs with hens being slightly smaller). A quieter, friendlier breed.

We plan on raising baby chicks for the continuation of our flock, the experience, more eggs, and a few chickens for the freezer. We would like to try to stay more true to the breed, but have no experience with chicken breeding. That’s the reason for the post in the Bielefelder thread first. We aren’t quite sure of the standard or SOP, but we are trying to learn. It’s more of we don’t know what we don’t know.

For the most part the roosters have been very Clark Kent. When we go in the fence, they don’t seem to be aggressive. A couple are a bit skittish, but we are working on that.

@aart, the coop is a design from Justin Rhodes and should fit up to 39 birds. I would never want to fit that many in it, but the 30 seem to do well without any squabbles. Getting rid of 7 of the bigger birds should really free up some real estate, though.

We sort of picked out the first batch of 2 or 3 to go. The first ones we cull are more for me to learn the proper disposition, care and cleaning of them. We have a few more items to pickup before we can start processing them. Any suggested reading or watching prior to starting would be greatly appreciated. Should be an interesting experience.

Again, thanks everyone!

GT and Mrs. GT

 

[Ridgerunner]

We plan on raising baby chicks for the continuation of our flock, the experience, more eggs, and a few chickens for the freezer. We would like to try to stay more true to the breed, but have no experience with chicken breeding. That’s the reason for the post in the Bielefelder thread first. We aren’t quite sure of the standard or SOP, but we are trying to learn. It’s more of we don’t know what we don’t know.

The more criteria you are breeding toward the harder it is. If you are breeding toward an SOP and want meat and eggs you often have to choose between some trait in the SOP like eye color versus a hen that lays more eggs. I personally do not breed to any SOP, I go for other traits. I highly respect those that do, what they are doing is hard.

If you really want to breed tot he SOP I suggest you get a written copy, you should be able to get one from the APA (American Poultry Association). Talking to people that raise Bielefelder is a great idea. I also suggest you go to chicken shows and chat with people there for help on what these traits actually look like. A good breeder isn't made overnight.

We sort of picked out the first batch of 2 or 3 to go. The first ones we cull are more for me to learn the proper disposition, care and cleaning of them. We have a few more items to pickup before we can start processing them. Any suggested reading or watching prior to starting would be greatly appreciated. Should be an interesting experience.

There are a bunch of threads listed at the start of this meat bird section about processing. There is a lot of good information in these. One of your problems is that there are a lot of different ways to do any of the steps. Are you going to pluck or skin them? Do you want a whole carcass or do you want it cut into parts? You'll need to decide which methods you want to use. I think the only thing we'll all agree on is that you need a sharp knife, end even there we go about that in different ways. Don't hesitate to ask specific questions on whatever methods you decide to use. There are little details that can make that go smoother.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/meat-section-sticky-topic-index.248648/

 

[Graytalon]

Mrs. GT here. Thank you Ridgerunner. That helps us narrow things down. I didn't realize we were more spread out on goals than we should be. I don't think we're that picky about physical traits (like eye color), though one of our roosters has an odd green feather in his hind quarters. I've no idea where that came from. We eat a ton of eggs, so that's probably our first criteria, then cull extra roos and hens who don't lay for the freezer. The direction on processing info is also very helpful, we'll take a look.

I do have a question on roo behavior. Our dominant roosters are #5 and #7. When I needed to cool chickens down a little, I gently immersed them in some water. Both roos #s 5 & 7 were protective of the little hen who didn't like what I was doing. She was flapping and squawking. They stayed about 3' away, flapped their wings, and lifted their feet at me. They didn't actually come close enough to touch me.

They also jump on the hens and grab them, mating with them while the little hens scream and try to get away. Our #1 banded roo, who has a smaller comb and wattle but is more tame around humans, has begun to do a cute little courting dance (I've not seen him mount one yet),. This makes me wonder if the alpha roos are ones I need to cull.

So far the hens aren't damaged or missing a lot of feathers. But I'm beginning to think I need to order saddles.