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

[BackyardinWales]

My first was on vets advice because of a neurological issue, my last decision was to remove 4 cockerels partly to keep a roof over my head, and partly because the older cockerel was killing one of my original girls. Hopefully none of the three eggs I'm currently hatching (my last batch) will be a boy. Don't wish to make that decision again.

 

[Morrigan]

Great poll. Who and when to cull is the hardest decision I make with my flock. I raise chickens as livestock, for both meat and eggs. That being said, I do have 4 elderly hens that that have slid into pet status. Although it's an ongoing struggle not to add more "pets," the rest get evaluated every spring and fall. My goal is to have a healthy, productive flock, of a manageable size, and room for spring chicks every year.

I cull all extra cockerels without question. Next go any hen showing a clear physical or behavioral problem. Next, are hens that just aren't doing as well as I would like -- wonky eggs, poor laying, poor feather quality.

Ultimately, it comes down to flock size, and how the spring and summer hatching comes out. Some years, it's a lot of cockerels and easy to manage. This year, my broody hens hatched out 10 hens out of 12 eggs. Right now, I'm pulling out my hair trying to decide who and when to cull to get my flock to it's winter size.

 

[Loving my girls]

This was difficult for me to answer, I chose other because I don’t ‘despatch’ (aka cull) one of my girls unless I know they are either;
a) In constant pain
b) sick with a condition I cannot cure and will lead to option a.
c) unable to live a life comfortably due to age
d) prolapse (after many years I have always found that when it happens once it will reoccur, if it happens and I do not see it before the others in the flock they will give her hell)

 

[Ridgerunner]

So what is a way to quickly and humanely cull (yes kill) a fully grown bird when necessary.

This is a good question. There are several different ways. You might check out this link to find one that is best for you.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/how-do-you-cull-chickens.1553562/

 

[Ponypoor]

I cull when there is a catastrophic injury/illness. The birds’ well-being is my main objective. Thankfully I have only had to do this twice: once with my BIL’s help to end the suffering of my elderly hen who broke a leg, and then when a new hatchling had severe leg issues that would not correct. I had a Vet euthanize this chick.

I have also ‘re-homed’ excess cockerels - they went as meat birds I am sure, and once I sent a few excess cockerels for processing myself. This was extremely impractical for me due to the long distance to a poultry processor.

Now I have a couple more excess cockerels that I am looking to cull, my farrier’s hubby grows meat birds (25,000 of the suckers! Can you image the cheep cheep cheeping all those chicks make!), and he knows how to humanely kill them - I’ll give her a call next week.

 

[Loving my girls]

I cull when there is a catastrophic injury/illness. The birds’ well-being is my main objective. Thankfully I have only had to do this twice: once with my BIL’s help to end the suffering of my elderly hen who broke a leg, and then when a new hatchling had severe leg issues that would not correct. I had a Vet euthanize this chick.

I have also ‘re-homed’ excess cockerels - they went as meat birds I am sure, and once I sent a few excess cockerels for processing myself. This was extremely impractical for me due to the long distance to a poultry processor.

Now I have a couple more excess cockerels that I am looking to cull, my farrier’s hubby grows meat birds (25,000 of the suckers! Can you image the cheep cheep cheeping all those chicks make!), and he knows how to humanely kill them - I’ll give her a call next week.

So many of you guys have vets to help you, you are so lucky. My local vet can barely spell hen (or poule) let alone know where its head is.
Don’t get me wrong he’s a lovely man. Great with the dogs and cats but definitely has a look when it comes to something he’s used to seeing wrapped n polystyrene and cling film,

 

[Ponypoor]

So many of you guys have vets to help you, you are so lucky. My local vet can barely spell hen (or poule) let alone know where its head is.
Don’t get me wrong he’s a lovely man. Great with the dogs and cats but definitely has a look when it comes to something he’s used to seeing wrapped n polystyrene and cling film,

Oh I would go to my small animal vet all the time to euthanize the suckers. BUT I am not made of money - the baby chick was right after my BIL and I killed the old hen. It pretty much traumatized me, I don’t know how to kill a chicken and dont want to cause any undo suffering.

 

[paintedChix]

Over the years, I have mainly culled for aggression (mostly roos, but a couple of bully hens as well), but also fill our freezer on purpose.

3 aggressive roos (hatchery stock from straight run chicks) couldn't be caught to humanely dispatch, but met the business end of a 2x4 after human ER visits & then entered compost pile. Rooster injuries are painful - physically & mentally. Once a youngster hits puberty now, if he shows human aggression, he'll automatically attend freezer camp.

I have "culled" by rehoming @ no charge and selling both hens & roos.

After dealing w/ cross beaks & prolapsed vents in a couple of birds, I will now dispatch them. I had one hen prolapse when I spent a weekend away (2 nights, 1 day) - returned to find other hens had "dispatched" her - that was horrible. Kept a cross beak chick, a pretty Blue Ameraucana from a "breeder", for about a year. At 1st she thrived. I learned through BYC to trim her beak. I fed her wet feed, yogurt & scrambled eggs. She never laid any eggs. Her beak continued to "twist" & around the time she was a yr old, her health declined. She was added to freezer camp & became part of dogs/cats meals.

Excess roos make it to freezer camp.

Now familiar w/ processing, my goal is a sustainable, "meaty" flock that will fill our freezer every year, for our family & our dogs & cats. Eventually, I would like to sell chicks as potential flocks for others.

 

[Loving my girls]

Over the years, I have mainly culled for aggression (mostly roos, but a couple of bully hens as well), but also fill our freezer on purpose.

3 aggressive roos (hatchery stock from straight run chicks) couldn't be caught to humanely dispatch, but met the business end of a 2x4 after human ER visits & then entered compost pile. Rooster injuries are painful - physically & mentally. Once a youngster hits puberty now, if he shows human aggression, he'll automatically attend freezer camp.

I have "culled" by rehoming @ no charge and selling both hens & roos.

After dealing w/ cross beaks & prolapsed vents in a couple of birds, I will now dispatch them. I had one hen prolapse when I spent a weekend away (2 nights, 1 day) - returned to find other hens had "dispatched" her - that was horrible. Kept a cross beak chick, a pretty Blue Ameraucana from a "breeder", for about a year. At 1st she thrived. I learned through BYC to trim her beak. I fed her wet feed, yogurt & scrambled eggs. She never laid any eggs. Her beak continued to "twist" & around the time she was a yr old, her health declined. She was added to freezer camp & became part of dogs/cats meals.

Excess roos make it to freezer camp.

Now familiar w/ processing, my goal is a sustainable, "meaty" flock that will fill our freezer every year, for our family & our dogs & cats. Eventually, I would like to sell chicks as potential flocks for others.

Woah, Respect

I name my girls and could no more eat them than my dog
Hugz

 

[paintedChix]

Edited to add - VERY pic heavy!!

Woah, Respect

I name my girls and could no more eat them than my dog
Hugz

I used to name them. But found it was the named ones, most often, to either get taken by predators or were ones who were culled (gifting, selling or freezer). I will probably name some in the two flocks I'm picking up today (12 week old Blk Australorps & RIR. 4 pullets/1 cockerel per. Stupid me, I didn't double check & they are hatchery birds. But age coming into point of lay & price right. I will work on hatching & see how they grow out.)

Din-Din, a "super blue layer"(Ameraucana/Leghorn mix) survived 2 different properties w/ free range - about 3 yrs?(was over a yr old when purchased), sired many NICE cross bred chicks that went into freezer camp. At the endish 2nd year here, he & 3 hens disappeared. Not sure if predators or found a new home thru the woods...




You can tell his kids!! Two pullets laid sorta lite green eggs (pretty sure , w/ their crests they were out of bantam silkie mix hens). The boys all went to freezer camp that fall. The girls, after moving to our new property, were sold as a group of 6 hens & a rooster, to a family that were doing pinestraw baling at our neighbors place.




Some of them were named. I don't have a pic w/ 2nd girls' name & can't remember it.

This litte guy came w/ Din-Din. His name was simply "Roo". I dont think he ever sired any chicks, hard to say. This was before i joined BYC(?) & started learning about coops, runs & predators
... he didn't survive when cooped at temporary quarters while we lived in a hotel for 6 weeks, closing on our current property/home. Not sure how he died, but no wounds or illness according to my friend... Don't know how old he was or what breed (serama or serama mix?).




There were a bunch of CLB's & 55 Flowery Hens named. Some were sold as flocks in a hurry when I needed to be gone for extended time. A quad of each were cared for by neighbor. But 2 weeks after I returned home, I was removing damaged chicken wire from run top & they discovered they liked the trees better than the coop. I didn't even think about it... before I could get the top wire replaced, they disappeared. We discovered an BIG owl later, dead itself, in our yard just short of the woods behind that coop...




I didn't find pics of 55 Flower-ies w/ names on them. But some names were Big Boy(blue tagged roo), Pinkie, Hans(Green tagged roo), Solo (red tagged roo), Zipper, Lovey...

Edited to add - From Dec 2011 to Dec 2013, the only roos we had were several bantams that were given to us as a surprise pack of 15. They were the 1st to disappear... Din-Din was our 1st LF roo. Both he & Roo were friendly, easy going roos. From Dec 2013 to winter 2015/2016, he sired chicks that were from a group of hens - mixed silkies, production Reds & EEs. The bantam hens set on the eggs, hatched them & raised them. We did have an EE hen disappear. She returned w/ chicks... but her chicks didn't survive. While talking about predators - some may have been feral cats we adopted & had spayed. We did feed them, but...? In 2019, we still had 1 hen & 1 bantam roo carrying lines back to the 2011 gifted bantams. We found, no matter how big the tractor or coop/run, they were unhappy. I always ended up turning them out... 2020 - last brood w/ hen raised chicks. Some made it to freezer camp. The roo was found w/ wounds to his neck & he passed. After the babies caught & kept in tractor in the fall, mama hen disappeared. She was actually about 7 or 8 yrs old.







If we had gotten aggressive roos when we started, between Dec 2011 - Dec 2014, I might not have stayed w/ chickens.

When an. EE roo, turned out to free range & then couldn't be caught, he started hiding under or behind things, running out to flog & attack. I don't remember what year - 2016 - 2018. Hours & $$ in ER for our granddaughter, whom today is still uncomfortable around roos. They moved to Mom's old place in MT in 2021. This year July, she showed a pullet at their county fair.