When to separate out cockerels

[HennyPenny44]

Hi everyone. I hatched out 8 chicks with a broody hen 6 1/2 weeks ago. They stayed in a chicken tractor for 4 weeks but mama and babies got tired of being contained so I moved them out to the main coop. Besides mama being very territorial over food for her babies and some night time roosting drama, there are no major issues.

Well, I also have 2, perhaps 3 cockerels in the flock from that hatch. The two are already facing off with each other and play fighting pretty regularly. One of them, when his mom is roosting in the evening, will get on top of her and peck at her head. This irritates her and she ends up knocking him off, as well as any other babies who try to roost on her. I wanted to know if it’s already time to separate these young guys from the flock. Mom is still taking care of her chicks and quite protective so I’m not sure. The one who pecks her has been regularly patrolling the perimeter of the run from early on and just seems dominant compared to the other. I plan to give them away but if that doesn’t work I will need to process them.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

IMO those little squabbles between chicks and between developing birds and adults is a necessary part of maturing and learning to be flock mates.
You can separate at any time and it may help to keep pullets and cockerels separate after 8-10 weeks but I usually don't till they approach breeding age (just out of laziness) .
At the age of your birds, pullets and cockerels need to be fed the same.

 

[Parront]

I have been known to process an annoying little cockerel as young as 10 weeks. Small but good on the BBQ.

 

[HennyPenny44]

IMO those little squabbles between chicks and between developing birds and adults is a necessary part of maturing and learning to be flock mates.
You can separate at any time and it may help to keep pullets and cockerels separate after 8-10 weeks but I usually don't till they approach breeding age (just out of laziness) .
At the age of your birds, pullets and cockerels need to be fed the same.

Ok, thank you. These are my first cockerels so I’m not sure what to expect. Didn’t want anyone drawing blood but if you say you don’t separate until breeding age, then I’ll just observe cautiously for now. It’s much easier for me to keep them all in one place as long as possible so count me as lazy too!

 

[aart]

I slaughter my cockerels at about 14-16 weeks......just after they start causing too much trouble in the flock trying to mate.

 

[HennyPenny44]

Some people roast them at ages when some other people stew them or grind them for sausage. Resting the meat for a few days can help, cooking it "right" can help, and different people have different tolerances for chewy vs. tender meat. In my own household, one person says "it's too tough," while someone else is happily eating it, and a third person is cutting it into small pieces and then eating it So personal preferences and tolerances count for a lot.

You just described my husband and I. For him, the meat is sinewy and he can’t eat it. For me, it just needs a bit more chewing action and I eat it all. I learned a while back before I ever raised chickens that hens are different from chickens and cooking them 2 hours isn’t enough to soften them. It was one of my more embarrassing cooking experiences since I was trying to make an impression with my cooking. Yes, I can definitely grind it up for chicken patties, sausage or any number of things.

 

[cmom]

Everyone is different with different situations. I hatch out a lot of chicks every year of which around half will be males. I do raise my birds to show at poultry shows. In the past we have processed the extra males but now I sell them. I keep the best as future breeders. We have a local farm swap with plenty of buyers so I have no problem with selling my extra males. I do grow them out and when they start bothering the females I separate them and put them into bachelor coops and pens but I do have several coops. They are fine as long as there are no females. Now if I want a bird to eat we have a butcher down the road and I buy an already processed bird there. I can get more from my birds when I sell them which helps to offset the cost of feed but I also go through a lot of feed. I don't have the usual backyard flock. Currently with the chicks I average around 400/500 birds. I recently sold a bunch of birds. Good luck...
Some of my Rhode Island Reds.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

In the wild, no one separates them by sex and they work it out.
For almost a year (after dismantling a coop) I've had all the materials to build two new 3 unit buildings and have done no more than clearing the ground yet.
Like @Parront, I used to process as they started to crow.

 

[Parront]

These are my first cockerels so no, I don’t have an older rooster. I would love to keep one of them for breeding perhaps or just beauty but I don’t think my neighbors would appreciate the crowing. The coop is only 4x6 with a 12x27 run. I have 3 grown hens and these 8 six week olds so I have to get rid of at least 2 of them. I wasn’t expecting this many to hatch from shipped eggs!

Chicken math strikes again! If you have neighbors that would not like crowing, you will probably be learning to process the males soon. I have had Leghorns crowing loudly @ 10 weeks, those bad boys had to go, even though we lived in a place where we could keep roosters, they were just awful! There were 14 of them out of a box of 25 st. run Brown leghorns. I had wanted to keep them until they were older, to keep the nicest one for breeding. I made my selection based on the one that was the largest, & nicest at 10 weeks!
With such a small space, you might only want to keep 3 of the hens, too. What breed are they? I have one Barred Holland cock, he is beautiful, but I would not have any more! Here he is with his girls.

 

[HennyPenny44]

Depends on your management practices and flock goals. If my fridge is empty, I'll process extra cockerels as soon I can ID them and are certain they don't have traits I want in my future flock which aren't already present in my breeding rooster. If the fridge is full, I process as soon as they start trying to jump the hens - because they aren't my breeding rooster - and I'll adjust the menu to accommodate.

Its just my wife and I, so even a 10 week old dual purpose cockerel is a meal for us, and there are no shortage of ways in which it can be prepared. If its instead 18 weeks? Well, we aren't as fond of baking it at that point, but damn does it braise nice...

Seems like you have quite a bit of experience with this. I never butchered a chicken but I plan to start doing that soon. Thought about Cornish Crosses but I think doing a few dual purpose ones to start is easier, as well as more sustainable and natural. I guess I first have to find out the right time to butcher just as you’ve found yours through trial by error. And figure out how to cook it. Never cooked a cockerel before.