way too many roos , when to cull

[Phox01]

I have way too many roosters , how and when to cull

 

[Hobbley_Farm]

I don't really know how old your roos are or what breed. But if you have too many I would just start asap. I'm not sure in what respect you mean culling, but you can list them on craigslist for a nominal price. Or if you have a trading news close by. You could also contact 4H and see if they need any for any reason. But unless you are going to serve them at your dinner table (again, I don't know what breeds you have) I would just start right now. The longer you have them the more you're going to have to feed them, clean up after them (less they are free range) You can even post them on here in the classifieds

 

[Phox01]

not too old yet , maybe 2 - 2/12 weeks for the oldest but I am seeing a big difference between them. Tail development and coomb color mostly. Always planned on dinner table for most of the roosters but it seems like I have 5 roosters to every hen right now.Just wondering on how old to let them get before processing them for the freezer.

 

[Opa]

Size to age ratio is going to be dependent upon breed. Laying breeds are going to take substantially longer to reach what would be considered a fryer size. Rather than feeding them out to that size you might just want to consider them individual serving birds. Remember the expensive cornish hens in the grocery are pretty small.

 

[Hobbley_Farm]

I'm still half asleep...sorry, what breed were they??

 

[damselfish]

We waited until 16-17 weeks last year because we could not bring ourselves to believe that 11 of 12 straight-run chicks were roos.

That was too long, and was very hard on our 4 pullets because the roos were constantly after them.

I vote for earlier, definitely before 12 weeks. Don't know what your intentions are but ours made the best chicken soup I have ever had.

Edited to add: Welcome to BYC!

 

[chickenmum]

Eat 'em!

 

[Phox01]

OMG!!! Just re-read my second post , I meant months not weeks. I think they are delawares and red sexlinks.

 

[KatyTheChickenLady]

when they crow, that's usually right before they start harrassing the hens.