The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Poultry & Waterfowl => Topic started by: GillB on July 25, 2012, 09:03:31 pm
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I guess this is prob the eternal question but Im new to having chickens and have 5 X 3mth old cuckoo pekin cockerels from our first batch of 8 chicks that Im afraid will reach maturity and start beating the hell out of each other
Im also fed up with the resident pekin cockerel whose aggression towards the non- pekin hens is bugging them - and me ???
Do people normally cull unwanted cockerels?
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keep em till they start to fight then eat them. Simples.
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If I dont want to eat mine, I take them to a chap in nuneaton who takes them for free but then sells them on for whatever he can get. This is for the rarer breeds which are easy to move- he will take other birds but charges a small amount of money for food to help keep things going.
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If you're going to hatch you need to be prepared to despatch. Fact of life you'll get lots of cockerels and nobody wants them. We eat a few of ours but if we have more than a few they are culled as soon as they can be sexed. They cost money to feed.
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You could try advertising them on say Pre-loved or in local agri-store. Someone may need new blood for breeding. It is sad but often you have to cull them :'( . A neighbour of mine does eat her surplus pekin cockerels but says it is hardly worth it .... not much meat as you can imagine.
We have 4 pekin cockerels at the moment. 3 of them live together in the same pen. The 2 younger ones abandoned the hens they lived with and moved in with the older cockerel and his ladies ::) . They free range in the day and live pretty peacefully. There were a few fights in the spring. I threw a bucket of water over them as advised by someone locally who keeps a lot of pekin cockerels together and it seemed to do the trick. There is a pecking order among the cockerels and as long as that isn't upset they seem to get along okay. None are nasty to other hens, either pekin hens or hens from other breeds.
Too many cockerels will damage hens though.
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Bless you guys - thanks so much for your help :)
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I'm going to pick up 15 surpus to requirement cockerels this evening. Different breeds, different sizes but they will all be dispatched tomorrow morning.
Even bantam cockerels shouldn't go to waste Put in a casserole with haricot or borlotti beans they stretch a fair old way. Even fed to the dogs is better than putting them in the bin :chook:
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I agree, they're better to be eaten by someone or something!
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Pity isn't it, they are always so lovely looking and are only wee boys at the start, but they do grow up to be big pests and the longer you wait the more difficult it is to kill them (physically and emotionally). As someone said to me, 'there is no such thing as a lot of hens, only a lot of cockerels' and you will discover this is the case if you keep breeding. Personally I don't breed them any more, I felt too sorry for them, I don't let my hens sit. But as other people have already said, you have to get used to the killing thing if you are going to breed.
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Pity isn't it, they are always so lovely looking and are only wee boys at the start, but they do grow up to be big pests and the longer you wait the more difficult it is to kill them (physically and emotionally). As someone said to me, 'there is no such thing as a lot of hens, only a lot of cockerels' and you will discover this is the case if you keep breeding. Personally I don't breed them any more, I felt too sorry for them, I don't let my hens sit. But as other people have already said, you have to get used to the killing thing if you are going to breed.
Very nicely put.I keep livestock and poultry for meat,but the killing part of it is never nice.
Graham.
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It isn't a nice job to kill them or prepare them but nothing tastes better than your own chicken when you know exactly how it has been loved, respected and cared for. Get someone to show you what to do. It is easier than you think, although it doesn't stop being upsetting so do be prepared. Good luck and get the roast potatoes ready xxx