When to cull my RIR

[ruraldocfarm20]

I have 10 10-week old RIR. I got them unsexed and I am not able to tell for sure how many roosters I have in the bunch. All ten are starting to size each other up and have seen some pecking going on, but nothing that doesn't look like chickens just establishing a pecking order. How long can I keep multiple roosters together before culling them?

 

[Mrs. K]

You can keep them together...until you can't keep them together. If you have a place that you can set up as a bachelor pad - get it set up sooner than later. Multiple roosters in a flock, need a plan B set up and ready to go.

Some cockerels will start harassing the pullets, can run them ragged. Sometimes long before 5 months. Some roosters will fight with each other... and some will attack people. Getting them out of the flock the earliest - is the best plan. Some people will want to keep all the roosters - but often that is not a great plan. Look at all your options.

My advice -get something set up now, so it is ready to go when you need it. Separate the roosters as soon as you are sure they are roosters. In my experience, if I ever look at a bird and think - 'wait, is that a rooster?" I am generally right.

Mrs K

 

[Ridgerunner]

Hi, welcome from Louisiana, glad you joined.

What do you mean by cull? Kill them, eat them, or just remove them from your flock? Cull can mean different things to different people and that might affect how some of us respond.

As Mrs K said, you can keep them together until you can't. Some of that could depend a bit on how they are housed, the more room the better. Some of that can depend on your expectations and tolerances. What I might consider normal and typical behavior someone else may consider it an emergency and want to call out the national guard to restore order.

We should be able to make a pretty good guess as to sex at ten weeks for a RIR. If you could post a close-up of the head of each one you have a question about, we are looking at the size and color of the comb and wattles. A second photo showing the legs, posture, and body shape could also be very helpful.

There are many different things you could do. The main question is what do you want to do with them?

 

[Ridgerunner]

You can read a lot about how chicken breeds behave. For any breed you want to talk about you can find some that are brutes and some that are very nicely behaved. I don't pay a lot of attention to that, what matters to me is how the ones I have behave.

Yours haven't hit puberty yet. Whether they are Silkies, Orpingtons, or RIR's that's when things often get exciting. The boys often start fighting each other and chasing the girls to mate although the girls don't want to. As someone on here once wrote watching pullets and cockerels go through puberty is often not for the faint of heart. When do the boys hit puberty? It varies, some can start by 12 weeks, some may wait until five months or more.

My circumstances are different from yours. I have a lot more room but I also raise more chicks each year. Some years it's worse than others. Every three years or so I may isolate some boys until they get to butcher age but usually I just let them go. If no one is getting injured I just consider it chickens being chickens. But I do pay attention.

Have you butchered and cooked cockerels? The age you butcher them has a lot to do with how you cook them. I generally butcher mine from 16 weeks to 23 weeks of age. To me they are too old to fry so I bake them. I find, in general, by 16 weeks several have enough meat on them to make it worth butchering but after 23 weeks the rate of growth has really slowed. It's not worth feeding them any longer for the amount of meat you gain. Some people think 23 weeks is too old.

 

[ruraldocfarm20]

Hi, welcome from Louisiana, glad you joined.

What do you mean by cull? Kill them, eat them, or just remove them from your flock? Cull can mean different things to different people and that might affect how some of us respond.

As Mrs K said, you can keep them together until you can't. Some of that could depend a bit on how they are housed, the more room the better. Some of that can depend on your expectations and tolerances. What I might consider normal and typical behavior someone else may consider it an emergency and want to call out the national guard to restore order.

We should be able to make a pretty good guess as to sex at ten weeks for a RIR. If you could post a close-up of the head of each one you have a question about, we are looking at the size and color of the comb and wattles. A second photo showing the legs, posture, and body shape could also be very helpful.

There are many different things you could do. The main question is what do you want to do with them?

I plan on killing and eating them. I have an 8x4 coop with an 8x25 run so I feel they have plenty of space. I knew that RIR roosters could be more aggressive, but I've had different people tell me that even hens are aggressive and they will turn cannibalistic, but everything I read says that hens are docile. I would say that would be my limit, if they are maiming and killing each other.

 

[Mrs. K]

@ Ruraldocfarm20
Well, I think you would harvest them long before winter. You would really only need a wind shelter say a triangle shape building with an open front with a roost. People have used old dressers, plastic totes, children's playhouses. Old sheds, or outhouses. And some type of secure fencing. People have use barrels, and then stake out the rooster, one rooster per barrel.

Look on craigslist - or the want adds - often times you can find a deal.

The other thing to consider is your predators...and keeping them safe, so YOU get to eat them.

 

[poultryprofessor]

I have 10 10-week old RIR. I got them unsexed and I am not able to tell for sure how many roosters I have in the bunch. All ten are starting to size each other up and have seen some pecking going on, but nothing that doesn't look like chickens just establishing a pecking order. How long can I keep multiple roosters together before culling them?

By 10 weeks,, I'd expect noticeable differences between male and female Rhode Island Reds. For comparison, here is an 11-week-old RIR cockerel and an 11-week-old pullet:

As others have mentioned, you can keep boys together until you can't. That timeframe varies by many factors (breed, housing setup, etc). With a mixed sex flock, you can expect some squabbles as they reach sexual maturity (~26 weeks of age). Many people, including myself, keep bachelor pens for different reasons. For example, I currently have a pen of 5 8-month-old Black Jersey Giant cockerels that I'm growing out as potential breeders. Those five are getting along just fine, but we started with nine in the same space and had to thin the group when they decided it was fight club time at ~5 months of age.

Having said that, if you plan to butcher your extras, I would aim to do that at 16-18 weeks of age for Rhode Island Reds. At that age, their meat shouldn't be too tough (though it will still be different from grocery store chicken). If you wait longer, you'll essentially feed more for minimal gain. Yes, they'll grow a little bit more, but not enough to be worth the feed for a table bird.

 

[LaFleche]

I have 10 10-week old RIR. I got them unsexed and I am not able to tell for sure how many roosters I have in the bunch. All ten are starting to size each other up and have seen some pecking going on, but nothing that doesn't look like chickens just establishing a pecking order. How long can I keep multiple roosters together before culling them?

You can post individual pictures here so we can help you single out the males.

 

[demonic]

I have 10 10-week old RIR. I got them unsexed and I am not able to tell for sure how many roosters I have in the bunch. All ten are starting to size each other up and have seen some pecking going on, but nothing that doesn't look like chickens just establishing a pecking order. How long can I keep multiple roosters together before culling them?

I have had 3 roosters with 3 hens before. My roosters didn’t fight each other nor fought people but they harassed the hens. (All raised together So all same age) They were good boys and took care of them but still needed more hens. I think they were all 8 months old when I culled the main aggressive rooster but he started really acting up at around 6-7 months, so I’d say you can keep the roosters for about 5-6 months (whenever your hens start laying eggs because they like mature hens)

 

[Folly's place]

Welcome!
@Mrs. K has said it all! Often the cockerels can stay with their flockmates until you are ready to have them processed, as long as they have space, multiple feeders and waterers, and aren't being total jerks. How long? it depends.
For eating, you might find yourself processing one or more early, just because those individuals are behaving badly.
They will be tasty any time! And if you plan on keeping a rooster, he should be large, have no obvious defects, and be very polite!
Mary