What do you do with your culls?

[NoelTate]

My vote is that good breeders sell their culls at a good price to people like me who just want a backyard flock of nice birds without worrying about showing them. I'd love to get a good breeder's turken or bantam cochin rejects. Even thought they might not be show quality, they'd be much better than what feed mills usually have.

 

[Gypsy07]

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Um, I specifically said I really didn't think I could bring myself to kill them as youngsters, which was why I posted looking for alternatives. And no, I'm not being premature in culling before they feather out. The day old culls are those with single combs and the month old culls are those with the wrong colour legs; it takes about a fortnight for the leg colour to come in, four weeks to be sure, and about four weeks for the comb faults I am hoping to breed out to start becoming noticeable.

I'd actually keep them all if I could, but it's just not practicable. I free range my whole flock, and I don't want to change that unless absolutely necessary. At some point in the future I know I'll have to set up individual breeding pens, but at the moment I don't need to as I know which bird lays the eggs I'm wanting to hatch out for the next month or so.

I don't want loads of random 'cull' birds getting in my way, and they're not really the best layers anyway so I don't particularly want to keep all the pullets, though I might keep some of them to see how they mature. The roos make good eating, but they're slow to mature, so I could free range them when younger but when they got a bit bigger I'd have to build a separate coop-and-run for them to keep them from mating with my good birds. I could do that, but like I said, I prefer to see them all free ranging. It may yet be an option I suppose...

I'm not sure I'm comfortable with the snake-food thing. It's a very sensible idea, but as already said, I'm a big softy!

That's why I was asking about finding them homes. I wouldn't be trying to get money for them, or maybe just a little bit, but I obviously wouldn't be selling them as pure breeds or rare breeds. The last thing I'd want is people breeding them themselves and trying to make money out of sub-standard stock. I mean, I'm trying to improve them, not churn out hundreds of rubbish birds! So I'd kinda only be able to pass them on to trusted acquaintances, with the instructions not to breed them, or strangers who I didn't mention the breed to in case they looked them up and got the idea of making a quick buck by breeding them...

I may put a feeler ad on Gumtree and see what responses I get!

Thanks for the ideas and opinions everyone

 

[Medicine Man]

Are some poeple confusing the words "cull" and "kill"?

 

[Tuffoldhen]

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Yes, I agree. Cull has lots of meanings in the poultry world. Culling from a flock to me can mean acouple things. Kill off if a chick, hen, roo is injured or you just have a mean old rooster!! Culling can also mean sell out if you have more than you are willing to care for or feed, give away or freezer camp. Lot's of people want culls just for flock layers from good breeder birds or yard eye candy!!!

 

[WyandotteTX]

I have a good friend who is a longtime breeder of bantams in several varieties. He does not sell his culls to anyone to raise.. He has great birds and they are great because he doesnt dilute the market with his culls(which are better than alot of peoples stock). His methods may be extreme but he sells his culls to a dog breeder who turns them into food for his animals. But his culls then to dont wind up in the hands of people claiming to have "his" stock either. He raises alot of birds though, I know one year he hatched out about 1600.
I am sure this will ruffle some people the wrong way, so be it. I dont have too much problem with it as they are being put to good use and being fed to dogs is no different than being fed to humans.

 

[HarlansHollowFarms]

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NOTE: Craigslist has not hit Scotland yet, but the above has!

 

[BlackBart]

Male chicks (those that are sight sexed), Roos, old layers etc some people give the to the Raptor rehab sanctuary for food.
They are killed in a humane manner for the Raptors.
They will not take sick birds.

 

[Enchanted Sunrise Farms]

i've had good luck rehoming baby chicks and adult birds on craigslist, sounds like Gumtree is a similar type of thing. Sometimes it takes a couple rounds, but eventually someone nice shows up to take the birds. i sell the chicks for a couple bucks and give the roosters away free. i think i've been pretty good with who i pick, most people i believe are honest. Only roosters i sold that i knew would eventually end up as dinner was to a man who said he was breeding silkies to larger birds, trying to develop a larger dark skinned bird, as his wife and mother-in-law preferred that. He said they would be used for breeding, but i knew that after those boys attacked him one too many times (as they did me) they would end up on the dinner table.

You might be able to find a feed store that will put them up for sale or buy them outright. Or maybe there is a poultry club in your area with young folk who would like to help you sell them and make a few bucks for themselves in the process. It sounds like you will need some help in rehoming all those birds, so having a club or even an enthusiastic individual assisting would be a good idea.

In any case, much luck to you in your breeding efforts!

 

[Katy]

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One of the things I like about selling thru the auction is that even tho I mark the cages with the breed, but they have no idea what lines they're from. And honestly most people in my area could care less if they're show or pet quality.....they just want layers or birds to butcher.

 

[Gypsy07]

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I think they must be. I was meaning cull as in removing from my breeding programme.

Whether or not I'm going to kill my culls, and at what age, I haven't decided yet!