I've got two newbie questions I'd like to ask of you seasoned chicken folks . . .
I'm soon to be starting my own flock and will be getting a few rarer varieties as fertilized eggs that I'll be hatching at our farm. I'm raising my flock primarily for eggs, but I also want to breed my own additional birds over time to develop the best flock possible. Regarding numbers, my goal is to end up with a flock of about 8 times the number of hens than roosters. Once the eggs hatch, I'm guessing that I'll likely end up with more or less an even amount of girls and boys at the beginning. I'm not counting on finding neighbors who want to adopt any extra roosters, so I'm curious what most chicken folks do is this situation with all of their extra cockerels. Do folks typically raise everything to the 12 week stage and have whichever birds butchered that they don't want for their flock? Or do people generally cull the cockerels once the chicks have been sexed and they've decided which they want to keep? My concern is that the coop will become quite overcrowded if I raise everything to the 12 week stage.
Second, I'm curious how old cockerels generally need to get before it's apparent to someone who understands chickens which best meet the Standard of Perfection and are the best to keep for breeding purposes.
Thanks in advance for any feedback.
John
I'm soon to be starting my own flock and will be getting a few rarer varieties as fertilized eggs that I'll be hatching at our farm. I'm raising my flock primarily for eggs, but I also want to breed my own additional birds over time to develop the best flock possible. Regarding numbers, my goal is to end up with a flock of about 8 times the number of hens than roosters. Once the eggs hatch, I'm guessing that I'll likely end up with more or less an even amount of girls and boys at the beginning. I'm not counting on finding neighbors who want to adopt any extra roosters, so I'm curious what most chicken folks do is this situation with all of their extra cockerels. Do folks typically raise everything to the 12 week stage and have whichever birds butchered that they don't want for their flock? Or do people generally cull the cockerels once the chicks have been sexed and they've decided which they want to keep? My concern is that the coop will become quite overcrowded if I raise everything to the 12 week stage.
Second, I'm curious how old cockerels generally need to get before it's apparent to someone who understands chickens which best meet the Standard of Perfection and are the best to keep for breeding purposes.
Thanks in advance for any feedback.
John