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and crowing and crowing. Im gutted as he is the tamest and most beautiful of the 3silkies not to mention being responsible for a third of the biggest vet bill ive had in a while to bring him to his present rude good health. Have left a message for breeder and he will have to go. No idea what ill do if she hasnt got room and is going to cull him. Poor littlw fella is so pretty and tame :-(
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Sods Law Baldrick. How old was he when he started to crow? I'm interested because I've two 'pullets' for sale at 22 weeks and am assuming that we will know by now whether they are girls or boys...
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silkies are very difficult for even the most experienced breeder to sex - by 22 weeks you ought to have an inkling.Comment
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he is 13weeks but ive had suspicions for a fortnight or so as he is much bigger and bolder than the pullet...who better had be a pullet. Really upset as like him a lot. The breeder cant take him back so is advertising him which im not entirely comfy with as he arrived with a resp infection so i only really want him to go to someone who has resp survivors in their flock in case he takes myco or somwthing into a clear flock. Not prepared to kill a healthy bird on the offchance he may possibly be carrying a disease rife in garden flocks and am wondering if there is someone on here with facility to quarantine a new bird who have had resp problems in their flock and will take a boy. He hasnt crowed yet today and its8.20already. He does 3 long crows of a morning then stops so im trying to wing it at present? Any ideas that dont involve killing him? Please?Comment
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Hello Baldrick,
I have rehomed birds through putting a postcard in my feed merchants. Cockerels aren't easy to rehome though. because of this I have decided to cull all my young cockerels as chicks, hard to do, but otherwise I have lots of mouths to feed, lots of work trying to rehome them, and if I can't rehome them they get grown own and culled to eat anyway.....Comment
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yes totally understand, you are quite right in being responsible for what you breed. You have the fun of hatching you have the pain of culling. I wish everyone would take the sh*t with the sugar like you do. If id hatched pretty birds I would have hatched something I was going to eat if I couldnt find homes. I would have loved to have hatched silkies and handled them from day 1. Id have had very very imprinted birds at a fraction of what I paid for an allegedly healthy hen with 2 professionally sexed by an expert chicks (who were at deaths door within a week and one of whom turns out to be a boy!Originally posted by jessmorris View Post
). The reason I didnt is as you say, at least half are likely to be cockerels. I didnt want to be faced with culling birds Id grown attached to. This is why im so upset and angry.
I understand birds get sick. They are animals not machines and stuff happens. I rang to tell them, not to be horrible or demand a refund but for their info and for advice. She was lovely, and quite upset when I finally got hold of her, but her husband was rude and couldnt care less. Now Harlie has turned out to be a cockerel I have tried as she requested to let her know so she could rehome him as arranged but my calls were ignored. I finally got through and was told she would speak to a mate and put him on an internet advertising site (in spite of his health history) WITH MY PHONE NUMBER
coz she hasnt got room for him (she hasnt advertised coz ive checked). Ive given her the benefit of the doubt all the way but my patience is wearing very very thin as I have not had so much as a text since. TBH I realise anyone can sell you a sick bird....birds get sick. Anyone can make a mistake with sexing, especially with this breed, but the aftercare has been pretty poor, and nothing like what was promised. I bitterly regret ever buying them at all. In the meantime im stuck with a boy I cant keep and an upset kid...not to mention being upset myself. Ah well sorry for the rant but I feel a lot better now. 
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You've had bad luck with your sellers Baldrick. I'd be mortified if I'd sold two pullets to find out that one was a boy and the other one was sick! But stuff happens and as you say, its the attitude of the seller in their aftercare which is important. I guess you won't buy from her again either.
To be honest, although it is hard culling the boys, chicks you raise yourself are often healthier than hens you buy in (I may just have had bad luck here of course), and the more I've raised, the less attached I have been to them, so its got easier to cull the boys. I've also friends with a smallholding where we can grow the boys on (just in case someone wants them) and cull and eat them when they get past 6 months or so. Now I'm part-time I won't be able to do this (as my friends are near my work) so I'll have to deal with all my boys myself. Its not nice, but its just about the only way forward for me, unless you know lots of hen keepers who might want a cockerel. I've rehomed some cockerels, though mostly to friends and friends-of-friends.....
Good luck with your re-homing!
bye for now,
JM
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