what age to harvest dual purpose cockerels?

[debp]

For my first chickens I got straight-run PBR and NH chicks from a hatchery, thinking I would keep 2 roosters and butcher the rest of the roosters for meat. They are now 13 weeks old and I have 4 NH and 3 PBR roosters. I have lots of questions about how to proceed.
1. At what age do those of you who have dual purpose breeds butcher? Right now they are very light weight and leggy - all bone, so I was hoping to wait another month or two to butcher. At what age should I expect to see problems among 7 cockerels? So far, it is just the pullets who seem to bear the brunt of feather-picking (see 2.)
2. How do you choose your roosters? I have 1 NH and 1 PBR that stand out as bigger and more mature than the others, but these are the two that have recently started picking and eating the feathers from from the necks of my brown leghorn pullets, especially. If I were going to butcher any right now, it would be these two.

Except that they are physically the best birds, and I don 't know if this is normal behavior. And the NH actually shows some leadership behaviors. I would like to keep 2 roosters for a flock of 16 pullets - could that work? I would keep one of my subordinate roosters that so far gets along with everyone and doesn't get picked on either - assuming he stays that way.

Advice for these next two months of management while they all move into adulthood would be appreciated.

 

[rc4u]

the age of the bird at butcher varies a lot..some poeples birds are much bigger at like 16-18 weeks and they butcher. Others wait till 20-22 weeks to fill out{ or more age}...i feed mine high protein and do it younger.. As for 2 roosters for your flock will be fine or one...and which one is up to you, some keep the faster growing some the nicer . just depends on if you are going to do a strict breeding program..i keep healthey good large and not real aggressive..and that always limits my 10-15{depends on yr} or so to 3 or 4... the rest of your questions i cant really answer as its just different for all..jeff

 

[debp]

Thanks for this info, Jeff.