To Cull or Not

[dancingbear]

When I raised Cornish X's, making them get a little exercise prevented leg problems. But once they're down, you may as well butcher them, they're unlikely to get better. You can still let your others grow out the next couple of weeks.

I always thought "culling" meant getting rid of excess or unfit birds (or other animals or plants), such as culling the weaker ones from breeding stock, but I see people use it as the normal term for butchering, when the birds were always meant for meat from the beginning. Is it now used as a euphemism for killing, slaughtering, or butchering?

 

[mikarod]

Personally, I consider culling getting rid of the unwanted stock. Either from breeding, showing, or other uses.

I consider processing part of the butchering process...but that's just me.

 

[HidingInTheHenHouse]

Thanks for everyone's advice. All of you were right. By yesterday morning, the weaker one was dead. I didn't want to waste the meat on the other one, so I butchered it yesterday afternoon.

That is interesting about the wire. I never thought about it. I raised them the first 3 weeks in the house in a brooder, lost one to unknown causes. Then moved them outside to a moveable wire bottomed 6x6 pen. They stayed there until 5 1/2 weeks, then I moved them into the outside run with the hens. Lost one to a heart attack, I think, but found it as it was dying, so saved the meat. After I moved them in with the hens was when the 2 with leg problems showed up, almost immediately. I wonder if it wasn't from running around too much as the hens and guineas established the pecking order?

 

[dancingbear]

Under those circumstances, the problems could very well have been from running around when they were not accustomed to it. The leg muscles would have been weakened from inactivity, and stressed from the wire bottom. Then suddenly being chased by other birds....

I kept mine where they could go outside when they wanted, and hung feeders so they had to stand up to eat. In the afternoons I took them out in the yard on grass, away from the coop, so they had to walk back to the coop, and either get up the steps or up the ramp. When I started doing all that, those batches didn't get leg problems. I let them be in the dark at night, after they were old enough to not need the light for heat, and that was the no-feed time. Feed was there, but they were in the dark and so went to sleep.

They did a lot better than previous batches, that had been allowed to lay around and eat 24/7, except for some losses due to a killer heat wave one year. They don't take heat well, being very hot-bodied little furnaces to start with.

We butchered starting at 7 or 8 weeks, did the last around 10 weeks old, for big roasters. You'll probably get the rest to 8 weeks, but I'd watch for trouble signs, and butcher any that look like they may not last that long. Good luck!