Culling at hatch?

[RichmondHens]

How many of you keeping and breeding autosexing birds eg legbars would cull at hatch? If you already know the sex of the chick, would you cull the cocks at day old, to save the expense of rearing, or would you rear them anyway, and then have to re-home or eat?

I've not bred autosexing birds before, but couldn't decide when I recently hatched 5 cream legbars, 4 of which were cocks. Should I cull them, thus leaving just the one female on its own (with broody mum), or rear them for the pot? With the other breeds we have, we generally can't tell the sex until a few weeks old and by then we are committed to raising them and have already spent money feeding them, so want some sort of return.

What would you do?

[its hilly]

Richmond, if someone will tell me how to breed auto-sexing hybrids using my weird mixes Id do it, as then I could pass the cock chicks on to someone else to rear for dinner as soon as theyre off heat. Or day one if they would do it. Not because I'd mind them being dinner, but just because I've got enough to look after anyway.

[MaureenHall]

I couldn't do it, sorry. If a chick is hatched healthy then I feel I'd have to let it have a life before it became either another pet for someone or dinner.

[davefromthechipie]

Hi RH I hatched cream legbars & faverolles for the auto sexing and to cull at hatch BUT it didnt work out as i couldnt bring myself to kill healthy day old chicks ......... i have 3 cocks crowing now lol prob upsetting the neighbours. And il have to cull them soon as i already have one cock so cant mix them .Unless you can keep the lads till they are good eating size! Just get it over and done with id say
I found You cant sell them , killing later is still just as hard , and cost of bring them up is silly

[walldanzig]

I had autosexing warrens out of 9 five where cocks but I couldn't do it to day old chick so they are being fattend up at the moment. I'm not worried about the cost too much it was only £6 for a big bag of growers it's more the space than anything

[di]

We hatched Cream Legbars in the Spring,we also couldn't bring ourselves to cull them as day olds.However,is there really a difference?Does it just make us feel better to give them a bit of a life?Is there really that much difference between giving them 16-20 weeks of life,only to slaughter them when they find their voice?
Afterall,from what I can make out,the whole purpose of them being bred was so that breeders didn't have to "waste" money on feeding boys.Is it a case of our sentimentality getting in the way,a cute fluffy chick is far more vulnerable than a full grown cockeral.
I don't know?Like I said,we couldn't do it when we hatched them,but I don't think that anyone who does should feel guilty about it.

[Bramble-Poultry]

From a commercial point of veiw they cull dayold male chicks as they are of little use as chickens but there is a comemrcial outlet for dead day old chicks.

I have to say however that I can't bring myself to do it - I know I should because they cost money to raise which you will never recoup as most people only get cocks when they are FTGH - but I can't. So I hang onto them and hope that next hatch I will have girls to put them with or that someone wants one to complete their breeding group. Currenlty we have only a couple of spare cocks I have managed to pair or trio most of them up.

[lynda66]

well as someone who got 10 day old chicks purely for eating (gave up on hatching)... yes they cost to grow them, but then you'll have happy healthy chickens when it comes to culling time ... and i like the idea that my meat has come from where i know everything it's eaten and that they have had a happy life, and yes i'm a softie, i spent ages nursing 2 sick babies, which could have both been cocks, unfortunately i had to kill one at a week old as it wasnt gonna make it .... but i'd have reared it if it had, the other one is doing fine, though still have no idea what sex it is ..... and am totally looking forward to duck for crimbo dinner

it would however be a lot easier if i knew which ones were cocks, earlier as then if anyone wants girls they could have them ... i dont like the idea of killing the girls .... maybe a bit odd, but then i'd keep the lot if i could.

[Nicos]

I couldn't cull them- although it'd be less messy than culling them later.
I suppose you could hand them over to an exotic pet shop in exchange for some feed or something- on the understanding they were fed to the reptiles after they'd been killed as opposed to live ( although I think you need to feed live food to some reptiles?)

[lynda66]

I couldn't cull them- although it'd be less messy than culling them later.
I suppose you could hand them over to an exotic pet shop in exchange for some feed or something- on the understanding they were fed to the reptiles after they'd been killed as opposed to live ( although I think you need to feed live food to some reptiles?)

you do have to have a special licence to feed live chicks mice etc, and mostly that is only granted to zoos etc. otherwise it is illegal ..... and most reptiles will eat dead food

[RichmondHens]

Thanks all for your replies. Perhaps a grisly subject for some of you, but good to hear your thoughts.

[Nicos]

you do have to have a special licence to feed live chicks mice etc, and mostly that is only granted to zoos etc. otherwise it is illegal ..... and most reptiles will eat dead food

Hi there chuck!!!

...didn't know you needed a special licence- that's good news really.
How you doing lass?

[Hilary B]

I couldn't kill them at a day old, not because of being 'soft' (I've killed enough at eating size) but because I would see it as wasteful. Maybe for that reason, I don't think I would hatch ones that were truly 'not worth' rearing for meat, but then I suspect that with a little ingenuity, most male chicks could be reared for less than the price of buying a free-range roaster the same size (not including bantams, but then I never had many bantams).
I suppose I might do a deal with a snake owner, because I get on pretty well with pet pythons (was handling some on Sunday, see pics on Facebook album).

[lynda66]

Hi there chuck!!!

...didn't know you needed a special licence- that's good news really.
How you doing lass?

yeah i found that out by watching something like zoo vet or that thing with the snotty bloke in at longleat lol ....and made me much happier ... doing ok ta hun xxx

[petal]

I would rear them for the pot or find someone who keeps a bird of prey, then their life was not completely wasted.