Official BYC Poll: How and When Do You Decide to Cull a Bird?

[BYC Project Manager]

Deciding when and how to cull a bird is a challenging and personal decision for every chicken keeper. Whether it’s due to health, behavior, or flock management, each of us has our own approach.

We’re interested in hearing how you navigate this aspect of raising chickens. Share your experiences and choices in this important part of flock management, and see how others handle similar situations.

Further Reading:

• The Chicken World's Worst Chore, culling the injured and sick babies
• The Deed is Done - My flock is now at peace
• Chickens & Euthanasia
• Processing Meat Birds: "Go With The Flow"

(Check out more exciting Official BYC Polls HERE!)

 

[casportpony]

I picked other because only I cull/euthanize when the injury, illness, or condition is not survivable. For example:

• Prolapsed intestines
• Exposed abdominal cavity
• Exposed brain

I also take "quality of life" into consideration too.

 

[muddy75]

Quality of life is biggest issue with older ones
Culling chicks for failure to thrive and other hatch defects

 

[AinaWGSD]

It depends on the flock and their purpose. In the past I have culled when injury or deformity was incompatible with quality of life, to manage flock size (ie culling poor layers to make room for new pullets, culling excess cockerels), for aggression, and because meat birds reached butcher age.

My current flock is only 6 hens and me and the kids are likely to become attached to them as pets. So they are probably going to live out their natural lives. But we haven't decided for sure (I have culled and eaten favorite hens before, though previously they had developed health issues that would have eventually killed them).

 

[TooCheep]

I selected a couple of options above, but you left out a major one: when I find out that I have a cockerel. I live on a small piece of land and want to keep down the noise, so cockerels are out.

 

[tripletfeb]

By "cull", I took it as meaning "remove from the flock" not necessarily by killing. I've done both. I've given away birds that no longer laid well and I've used the broomstick method on bullies before. I've also put a .22 into one girl's head, poor thing was so sick. I solve for peace of the flock, however that needs to happen

 

[Cinnamon Roll]

I raise chickens for meat as well as eggs so I always cull cockerels after 13 weeks, before they get too far into puberty. Having a defined age for the cockerels to go helps me stay on track with my flock size and make room for my broody hens to raise new chicks whenever they want to.

Hens and pullets stay if they meet my goals and if my flock size isn’t too large. I also cull any hens or roosters that show bad behavior like aggression or egg eating.

I used to sell my extra pullets but my flock now has MS so I don’t sell any now.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Selected a few options, including Other: 1) When the bird hatches/arrives with something that will not lead to a life of any comfort (a bad leg, head and eye swelling, unresolved balance issues, ect.) or something that is not comparable with me and my day to day (crooked beak)
2) When an injured/sick bird tells me that they won't get better. When they stop eating or acting like they normally do, and just give up, there's nothing more I can do.
3) When the injury will lead to a life not compatable with my day to day (blindness they cannot learn to navigate, severe frostbite injuries, recording crop issues, ect.)

 

[Lacy Duckwing]

I only cull a chicken when their illness is at a point of no return, such as waterbelly that cannot be cured and the chicken no longer has any quality of life left. Other than that, I'll try to save the bird if I think it might still have a chance and isn't living in pain despite me attempting to help it.

 

[FrostRanger]

Haven't had to cull yet, but my main criteria are quality of life and serious behavior issues like aggression. Otherwise they're free to live out their natural lives