Should we cull the boys ???? advice please

[oesdog]

Quote:
You are right I know that. - The praying bit and a quick death is a good thing. I remember as a child I watched news real about a chicken truck going to the slaughter house and the poor critters were stuffed in tiny metal slots and some of the doors had been viciously shut on their little legs. No one seemed to care for them or that they were in much pain. It reminded me of the rail cattle trucks that the Jews were taken away in and I told myself I would never ever treat a hen that way. I also give mine names because they will never just be a number like those tatooed on the arms of Jews. I guess it had a profound affect on me - I still see chickens as a food source though, and I would also write their names on the freezer bags. - My sister always named her sheep and once killed she always knew which one she was eating!!!!! We tend to go for names like Drumstick and nugget! My sister called her sheep things like Lamb chops and mince sauce!!! DH wants Piggys called Ham and bacon.

Thanks - Oesdog

 

[Ridgerunner]

Just another thought. Perhaps you need to look at your goals based on your experience and see if you need to make revisions. Chicken keeping should not be that stressful all the time. We all have our moments of stress and excitement, but mine do not last that long. Maybe look at what is causing the most stress and consider what you could do to change that aspect.

Maybe you don't really need to try to keep that many different breeds pure? Maybe you can find someone to take your excess? Maybe you can change your set-up? I can't tell you what to change, but maybe something will make it easier and more satisfying.

Editted to add: I go for names like Dumpling and Stew, though I am leaning toward Drumstick for my lead rooster.

 

[oesdog]

Quote:
I guess we love the different breeds we are very lucky to have inherited. We got the girls from a fellow who's daughter had them but he has an egg farm with just PRs so didn;t want the fancy breed girls. We love them and we would really like to have more of the Red Speckled Sussex like Bertha as she is a brillient Brood girl and The maran Gerty is sooo wonderful at leading and keeping the girls safe. I guess I wanted to keep Blue and have Olive Eggers from Omlet. THose two were our mistakes because they are Bator chicks. Now they are here well we feel responsible more so for them in that we played Mum and Dad and nursed them through such a lot. So I doubt if those two will ever go - we call them the kids! I guess the others are what we concider the Meat/Egg stock!!!!!! Blue is just to get the blue/green egg layers and he is really stupid. I feel for those two as they don;t know much how to be chickens and if left they would die because they have no understanding of how to go in out of the rain or inside at night. Blue has been trying to mount Omlet but he kind of tried to mount her head? As I said he is stupid. If I had the room I would keep all three roosters and breed seperate blood lines from them. Blue would have Omlet, Caroline and Betty - all low ranking hens that need a gentle roo.
Nugget would have - Drumstick and Bertha and Duck would have Isobella and Gerty ( The Buzzards!!! cause they beat up Roosters real bad!!!)

Thanks Oesdog

 

[sonew123]

Here you go-
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=385948

 

[Mrs. K]

I hatched out a bunch, wound up with 3 hens, and the rest all roos. As they got bigger, my coop/run got smaller, as winter came on, I had to leave them locked up more often, with much less free range.

I loved having the baby chicks and a mama, so fun to watch, and I want to have that again.

My sister in law and I culled the roosters. And what we kept saying to each other, "It was not near as hard as I thought." Really once they were dead, it did not bother me at all. But I knew that I wanted this done.

It does make you feel pretty competent to be able to do it and provide for your family a safe, and nutritious food. Do 4-5 at once, and it won't be nearly as bad as you were imagining.

Mrs.K

 

[oesdog]

Mrs. K :

I hatched out a bunch, wound up with 3 hens, and the rest all roos. As they got bigger, my coop/run got smaller, as winter came on, I had to leave them locked up more often, with much less free range.

I loved having the baby chicks and a mama, so fun to watch, and I want to have that again.

My sister in law and I culled the roosters. And what we kept saying to each other, "It was not near as hard as I thought." Really once they were dead, it did not bother me at all. But I knew that I wanted this done.

It does make you feel pretty competent to be able to do it and provide for your family a safe, and nutritious food. Do 4-5 at once, and it won't be nearly as bad as you were imagining.

Mrs.K

Thanks for that. We only have two roo to go at the moment though. I think your right about the number.. It would not have been an issue if we had 6 - 10 Roos needing bumped off! But when you have a smaller number you do get more attached and thats when it gets hard work. I think Dh will find it harder than I will. So far no one has complained about the noise yet so we might be ok for a day or two. I quite like the killing cone idea as its just not nice to see some poor critter taking off round the yard with no head. I think what you say is true about satisfaction of good provision of a food source and I am at that point. Wanting to provide good food that I know hasn;t been tampered with. Food in the shops seem to be getting more and more junk added?

Oesdog - Sharpening the axe!​