[Steph Hen]

Dispite seemingly constant culling, I have ended up with a few spare cockerals. Some that have only just revealed themselves and some that I was keeping so I could pick the best birds for breeding.

Any crosses are going in the pot, one of the marrans has toes that are a bit bent so he's also for the pot. But some of them are quite nice looking birds. I had thought about putting a couple in the next Forfar sale, but I see entries are now closed. There was a light sussex, went for over £20 last time. I have three LS and only need one, from different blood lines and I can't help thinking they're worth more than a couple of chicken breasts and two thighs which is worth about £1 from Lidl.

So the question, where do you tend to get your breeding boys from?

[HesterF]

I've got my breeding buff Orpington cockerel for next year from Preloved. He was an amazing find, I think -  a beautiful bird (albeit a bit feisty at the moment). I'm also going to breed gold laced Orps next year and I've phoned up a renowned breeder who lives relatively close to see if I could have any of her leftovers after she'd chosen her own boy for next year. I think that'll be OK and hoping he'll be a lovely boy too. No idea how much he'll cost but I paid £10 for my buff boy.

Mind you, I've had my lovely Marans cockerel up on Preloved for a couple of months and the only calls I've had were to ask whether I could supply a couple of hens with him. I wasn't planning to breed from him - I only have one hen which was really for eggs - but given there has been some interest in hens, I'll see what colour eggs Mrs Marans produces and might breed a few next year from them.

I've also got three other colour Orp cockerels that I got from hatching eggs this year - one lavender, one blue, one splash - that I'm not quite sure what to do with. They're slow growing so I want to see how they pan out and at the moment they're in a bachelor pad with the Marans. They all came from lovely breeding stock so it does seem a pity to just eat them.

So worth trying Preloved - it's free to advertise - or other similar sites. Nothing to lose.

H

[Victorian Farmer]

i have some good stock cock birds i give away for a bag of corn or even a tea att the sales