When to cull my RIR

[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.

 

[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

 

[Ridgerunner]

What's a relatively easy way to get a bachelor pad set up?

What you need is predator protection, weather protection (not much in summer, they can sleep in trees in Indiana), a roost, and enough room. I don't know how you can best provide that.

 

[Artichoke Lover]

Mine started fighting for real around 4 months which is also a good age to butcher. 8-9 months was when they decided to try to kill each other though.

 

[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.