[duncandwp]

I have 9 birds now - unfortunatly 3 are cockrels.
I want and need to start to bring on my young cockreld for the table.

Idealy i wouldlike to run chickens and cockrels together.
What is an ideal system for doing this.
Whats a good age to cull the young cockrels.
should i look to particular dual breeds?
should i kill my old Cockrell first and bring on another as king of the roost.
If so will he be edible.
(I am happy killing them and have read the relevent pages here.
thanks
dunc

[Vember]

Hi duncandwp

Welcome to the Hen House


Never done Cockerels for the table I'm afraid  but I have done Guinea Fowl.
I reared them all together with the adults, then 24 hour before doing the deed separated them.
They were 9 months old, could have done them a bit sooner but wanted to be 100% they were boys & with the Guineas it's not easy till they start shouting

As far as dual purpose breeds I believe the Sussex to be good, my female's are great layers and the boy I had (died of old age ) Would have made a great meal

I think I'd want to be sure the new Cock was up to the job before doing the deed with the older bird. My theory is if it ain't broke - But that's just my opinion
I think if you were to kill him he may be a bit tough good for a casserole may be ??


Sarah

 

[woodburner]

A word of warning first. I thought I would be able to kill my birds by 'wringing' their necks, I had read the books seen videos etc. I also tried breaking the neck of an oven ready chicken, and it was easy.
For various reasons, though, they were closer to 6 months than 6 weeks, and I failed laughably. I thought I had done the deed, and put the bird down, and instead of flapping it's last, it got up and walked nonchalently away . . . It could have been a lot worse, I could have injured it in the process. Though even if that had happened I had an alternative method ready, so it wouldn't have suffered for long. Cleaver, block and nail, and string.
When I prepared the bird for cooking I realised that there is a lot of difference between a 6 week old broiler, and a 6 month, free range bird! I could barely cut the neck, and nearly ended up using the cleaver again! There's no way I would have been able to break it's neck by hand, and I'm thoroughly glad I didn't try again.

I have nine birds too, four of which are cockerles lol They are all currently quite happy together in a run 4ft x 16ft, despite some fighting when they had 3 or 4 times the space     

The ideal system depends on how much space you have and a whole lot of other things, so is a very personal thing. Heck I don't even know what my own ideal system would be yet!

My biggest cockerel was still growing at a year old but I wouldn't dare try and kill him now  so I would say somewhere between day old and 18 months 
Seriously, probably before 6 months, it depends how well you can cook, how much flavour you want and how big you want a bird to be for the table.

If you want to breed your own, yes go for a dual purpose breed, although several first generation crosses are highly recommended (not by me personally, I haven't got that far yet!)

As Vember says, better to make sure the new boy is fertile before getting rid of the old one. If nothing else, he'll make good stock and pies.  :happy:

[Foxy]

The only thing I can add is I think a lot of people separate the cockerels from the hens at around 3mths so the boys can run together, less chance of fighting if there aren't any hens with them and you can choose your best looking boy for breeding. Saying that I have never quite got round to doing that -and have boys all other the place! My hubby kills and bones them. We had been chatting recently about the commercial meat birds -buying them in as day olds. We have decided against it really because I cant get my head around the engineered breeds and will stick to my old fashioned dual breed, where there is a demand for the cockerels anyway - hubby goes out to get one for the table and I say -no sorry sold that one!!!