Oh, and definitely if you're gonna hatch a lot to cull early and often.
Chick not thriving, twisted toes, crooked beak, awful bird who attacks you, etc? If you are hatching a lot of chicks (more than 1-2 times a year) it's probably best to cull these early/often, as it's much easier to cull a very small bird than a very angry teenage rooster you know you can't keep. It's also easier to cull a very small bird than that bird you put 2-4 weeks of special care into and it's still 2/3rds the size of the rest and seems to be falling further and further behind... So early and often is best!
This falls into the above as well, but... Specifically have a plan for the boys, too. Plan for a lot of soups, rehoming, or a moderately noisy bachelor pad. We skin them and make soups here. You'll always have more boys then there are good homes for, and even if you do find homes for em, how many sweet roosters are you taking good homes away from? So have a plan for your males.
Chick not thriving, twisted toes, crooked beak, awful bird who attacks you, etc? If you are hatching a lot of chicks (more than 1-2 times a year) it's probably best to cull these early/often, as it's much easier to cull a very small bird than a very angry teenage rooster you know you can't keep. It's also easier to cull a very small bird than that bird you put 2-4 weeks of special care into and it's still 2/3rds the size of the rest and seems to be falling further and further behind... So early and often is best!
This falls into the above as well, but... Specifically have a plan for the boys, too. Plan for a lot of soups, rehoming, or a moderately noisy bachelor pad. We skin them and make soups here. You'll always have more boys then there are good homes for, and even if you do find homes for em, how many sweet roosters are you taking good homes away from? So have a plan for your males.
We just purchased 5 French copper Maran birds to start a flock of them. We have 1 roo and 1 hen that made it to adulthood. Predators got the others. It’ll be interesting to see how broody they are, but I can’t imagine any breed being broodier than a bantam Cochin, they’ll hatch a golf ball in the winter - pal.
