Quick question about cockerel packages~

LooseyGoosey

Chirping
5 Years
Mar 1, 2014
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There is a lot of talk about ordering so many pullets and a few of them turn out to be cockerels.
I ordered a cockerel package of 100 heavy breed cockerels - I got a fair balance of barred rock, some type of production red, and buff orps.
So how many PULLETS do you usually end up with in a COCKEREL package??
 
There is a lot of talk about ordering so many pullets and a few of them turn out to be cockerels.
I ordered a cockerel package of 100 heavy breed cockerels - I got a fair balance of barred rock, some type of production red, and buff orps.
So how many PULLETS do you usually end up with in a COCKEREL package??
Good question. I'll bet close to none. When they sex the chicks, they're looking for the male parts. If, they don't see any, the chick gets tossed into the pullet bin, and vice versa.
I would think it a rare event, to have a female, that showed signs of being male. Most likely way to get a pullet in the cockerel bin is a brain fart, on part of the sexer.
Let us know what you eventually end up with.
 
We had 100 1 year from a roaster/fryer package. Although predators tore thru them once I reared them in a separate pen I would say they were nearly all definite males. We harvested some, younger than planned, only ended with stew/stock birds. It seems you end up with more males in the female bin than you do females in the male bin. Have toyed with the surplus bargain at a few hatcheries (Like mt healthy) that are super bargains, but what are the odds you'll get a pullet from 100 or 200 chicks? And a good portion of the birds we had in the 100 were sex links, so those are 100% not mistakable to sexers.
A person might get a handful but by the time your done, unless you grow out and harvest every rooster your just as cost effective ordering birds you want as end product. Since those bargains are all hatchery choice breeds etc. Mainly its a way for big hatcheries to dump males of less value w/o a pile of dead chicks to clean up.
But since I can hatch my own with better odds of getting pullets for equal or less cost (Just electricity and time/effort) I decide against trying 1 again. Would be good if your looking for a rooster for a flock though, though breed would not be guaranteed.
 
I got it specifically for butchering. I have decided to keep one BO roo for my flock but the rest will be processed. At three weeks they are almost all OBVIOUSLY cockerels. Except one BO. Its either a late cockerel .....or a pullet. Time will tell.
 
Good question. I'll bet close to none. When they sex the chicks, they're looking for the male parts. If, they don't see any, the chick gets tossed into the pullet bin, and vice versa.
I would think it a rare event, to have a female, that showed signs of being male. Most likely way to get a pullet in the cockerel bin is a brain fart, on part of the sexer.
Let us know what you eventually end up with.

Yeah, about zero, haha. I didn't order the cockerel package, but I did get a bunch of packing peanuts with my last CX order. The peanuts turned out to be brahmas, which are basically gender neutral FOREVER (super slow to mature, I guess), so I finally emailed the hatchery and asked if I could expect any pullets from the packing peanuts. I was told pretty much no, and like the website states, they have a 90% sexing accuracy. So...maybe you'll have 10 pullets out of your 100, if you are lucky!
 
Yeah, about zero, haha. I didn't order the cockerel package, but I did get a bunch of packing peanuts with my last CX order. The peanuts turned out to be brahmas, which are basically gender neutral FOREVER (super slow to mature, I guess), so I finally emailed the hatchery and asked if I could expect any pullets from the packing peanuts. I was told pretty much no, and like the website states, they have a 90% sexing accuracy. So...maybe you'll have 10 pullets out of your 100, if you are lucky!

I wouldn't expect ten, that's for sure :) It is the same way with human ultrasound. If they see junk, it's definitely a boy. If they see nothing, it's a girl. It's easier to miss junk that is actually there (declaring girl when in fact, it's a boy) than to mistake girl parts for boy junk :p
 
I got it specifically for butchering. I have decided to keep one BO roo for my flock but the rest will be processed. At three weeks they are almost all OBVIOUSLY cockerels. Except one BO. Its either a late cockerel .....or a pullet. Time will tell.


So you are now a 1%-er? JK sorry. Yeah we had same thing with ours the year we did them. All male looking really early on.
 
Yeah it's funny how you have a mix and some are so iffy - but when you have all the cockerels together it's almost as if they mature faster cause you can tell! SOme of mine have such huge combs they look like they are evolving into dinosaurs XP
I'm fine if I've got one little BO pullet. I have one BO hen, one coming in the mail (6 months old) and I'm keeping one of the BO roos for breeding. So if I have an extra BO pullet that's cool. If so, I might start playing the lottery! :p
 
Yeah it's funny how you have a mix and some are so iffy - but when you have all the cockerels together it's almost as if they mature faster cause you can tell! SOme of mine have such huge combs they look like they are evolving into dinosaurs XP
I'm fine if I've got one little BO pullet. I have one BO hen, one coming in the mail (6 months old) and I'm keeping one of the BO roos for breeding. So if I have an extra BO pullet that's cool. If so, I might start playing the lottery! :p


Really seemed like that to me too, just thought it was my paranoia back then. Its like SR are hmm wait forever to see, but all males its BOOM 3 weeks all combs and waddles. Too much testosterone in the air maybe. Or a super dominance race.
 
We had 100 1 year from a roaster/fryer package. Although predators tore thru them once I reared them in a separate pen I would say they were nearly all definite males. We harvested some, younger than planned, only ended with stew/stock birds. It seems you end up with more males in the female bin than you do females in the male bin. Have toyed with the surplus bargain at a few hatcheries (Like mt healthy) that are super bargains, but what are the odds you'll get a pullet from 100 or 200 chicks? And a good portion of the birds we had in the 100 were sex links, so those are 100% not mistakable to sexers.
A person might get a handful but by the time your done, unless you grow out and harvest every rooster your just as cost effective ordering birds you want as end product. Since those bargains are all hatchery choice breeds etc. Mainly its a way for big hatcheries to dump males of less value w/o a pile of dead chicks to clean up.
But since I can hatch my own with better odds of getting pullets for equal or less cost (Just electricity and time/effort) I decide against trying 1 again. Would be good if your looking for a rooster for a flock though, though breed would not be guaranteed.

Check out the Cackle Surprise package. $65 total for up to 40-50 chicks with sometimes a duck or two. And the best part is a LOT of them are females. There is a thread of here about the Cackle Surprise and what each person gets. Most get tons of pullets.
 

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