fluffy chick Posted May 4, 2011 Share Posted May 4, 2011 (edited) I know most of you are aware of the awful practice but wanted to share this article, the more chicken folk that are aware the better I think. http://www.countryfayre.co.uk/index.php?module=pnForum&func=viewtopic&topic=223 Edited May 4, 2011 by Guest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppy ben grace Posted May 4, 2011 Share Posted May 4, 2011 I agree with everything that was written. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lavenders_Blue Posted May 4, 2011 Share Posted May 4, 2011 It's truly horrible but people really do need to be aware of the realities of hatching. It's so easy to think that someone will take your cute little cockerel(s) as a pet, but the fact is that very few people want a cockerel, especially a cross breed, poor example of the breed etc. If you want to hatch, you HAVE to be prepared to cull. If you don't want to cull, don't hatch. Simple as that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kissinuk Posted May 4, 2011 Share Posted May 4, 2011 Disgusting and sadly I expect there is some truth in this one rather than being an urban myth. Sadly the chicken industry is also full of equally distressing stories, one of the reasons I turned veggie. Viva has some good videos for those interested, I won't post a link in case people are easily distressed, but on YouTube search for "The fate of almost all male chicks in organic, free range, barn and caged egg farm systems" and watch from 3:19 onwards. I really wish there was a way of choosing the sex of chickens, using genetic modification or otherwise, yes controversial but if it means thousands of male chicks don't fall into the macerator *every day* then I'd support it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chicken shack Posted May 4, 2011 Share Posted May 4, 2011 I became a veggie over 20 years ago for the same reasons. However unless you become vegan it is hard to be completly animal freindly but I try my best. I just wish the cruelty would stop. Even when we buy our POL girls there have be sacrifices along the way by the little cock chicks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Margalot Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 I have just read this and it made me feel sick We have just re-homed Florence, who we got by mistake (but thought I would keep anyway), but instead of advertising him free to good home, I contacted the original breeder, who took two weeks to come back to me and who couldnt take him back due to moving house and downsizing, but she was able to give me the number of a local farm, who took some of her surplus hens. I took FLo up to the farm and checked them out, and thankfully he is now roaming around two acres of paddock along with about 60 others, some even his cousins I expect! I nearly had him dispatched as he was becoming unmanageable and just going into the garden provoked an attack, it took me a few weeks to find the farm, but at least I know he is happy there. and after reading that post I feel that I did the right thing. It was so hard parting with him and as he was such a gerogeous specimen but we were never going to breed from him as they were probably his sisters anyway! there are lots of Free to good homes advert for cockerels, and I had listed Flo on the practical poultry site, but never got a single call so it does make me wonder how prolific this is? I know it does happen but maybe a bit of scaremongering?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redwing Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 I think it is slightly emotionally blackmailing but sadly it probably does happen I do think that most cockerels sold end up in the pot as part of the underground meat trade though - Its horrible to see a cockerel sold for 20p at auction to be carried off with six others at once and chucked in the back of a grubby van, I've seen this countless times and it makes me angry that the 20p wasnt the incentive for the seller the cowardly move of not dealing directly with the problem was the aim and the poor cockerel pays the price with a day of fear and sometimes inhumane slaughter Bantam cockerels arent as in demand but I see kids buying these all the time, I doubt they will be taken off to be a much loved pet somehow, either carted around the streets for the day for a fun cheap diversion, despatched by an angry dad on arrival home, set 'free' in a misguided act of kindness or in rare cases used for baiting dogs/cocks etc... Of course many do find lovely new homes but if a cockerel turns out to be a terror at his new home what do we think will happen to him? People ask me all the time to cull cockerels for them and I do this willingly, its sad but often the only choice. I dont sell hatching eggs but if I give them away for hatching I always offer to take the males back for culling I have also managed to rehome a few but its the devils own job to do! 99.9% of pet hen owners dont want a cockerel and breeders who do want cockerels breed their own and wont buy in 'new blood' if they can avoid it At the end of the day a cockerel has no real value and is easily disposed of. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duckmomma Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 We have a beautifull Cockerel, Nugget, a black Silkie. we purchased him from Surrey Poultry to replace our beloved Delboy, a white silkie cockerel we hatched ourselves. Our neighbours actually suggested we get a replacement after Delboy died! Unlike Delboy, Nugget crows at night as well as during the day, but the neighbours like to hear him during the day and at night his crowing is muted as he is in the coop so you can barely hear him, also being a bantam his crow is not so loud anyway. We love him, he is a handsome devil, looks a bit like a clingon from star trek Now all the chicks we hatch we sex and males culled asap, it's kinder that way, I don't think we could get away with keeping more than one cockerel . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suzannejoy Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 It's truly horrible but people really do need to be aware of the realities of hatching. It's so easy to think that someone will take your cute little cockerel(s) as a pet, but the fact is that very few people want a cockerel, especially a cross breed, poor example of the breed etc.If you want to hatch, you HAVE to be prepared to cull. If you don't want to cull, don't hatch. Simple as that. I second that . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madchickenlady Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 Agree with Tasha that the piece goes a bit heavy on the emotional blackmail, but agree with the overall sentiment. I hatched 3 pekin cockerels last year, and was lucky to find them all good homes with fellow chook lovers. However, if that hadn't been the case I had an arrangement with my vet. I wouldn't have culled them myself purely because I don't have the experience/ability to do so without causing unnecessary suffering. But I would have taken my cute bundles of fluff to the vet, and I wouldn't have enjoyed it. In my opinion, if you hatch you are responsible, and that responsibility extends to dealing with unwanted males. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mollie333 Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 Sad but true.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redwing Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 You dont necessarily have to know how to cull the cockerels yourself but really must have someone who can do this for you So many people hatch with a vague idea that they know someone who will take the boys but when it comes to that point that person cant help Nail your plan down solid at the start! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madchickenlady Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 Exactly, Tasha Before I bought the eggs, I had spoken to my vet. Unfortunately I don't have any nearby poultry people who can show me how to cull. I keep thinking that I should do a course, just in case. You never know when you might need to put a bird out of its misery, and the delay in going to the vet etc might not be kind I have no problem with the idea of culling, I'm just so scared I'd get it wrong and cause unnecessary suffering to the poor thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mollie333 Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 Luckily a friend of mine will take my Pekin boys.. But if it came to the point that she couldn't, i think i'd have them culled. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fluffy chick Posted May 5, 2011 Author Share Posted May 5, 2011 Even when we buy our POL girls there have be sacrifices along the way by the little cock chicks. I think about this and it makes me feel guilty. I wanted to take a cockerel when we picked up our girls just to 'even it up' but OH won't let me cos he worries about the neighbours (I don't ) Chances are for the 8 girls I have 8 boys met an early end. I am not against culling. But I am against any animal's suffering being used for entertainment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chortle Chook Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 Thanks for posting that article. I don't want to hatch eggs as I'd be upset about having to despatch the cockerels but I'd always thought that if my present little cockerel, Dill, should draw complaints from the neighbours then I'd put an ad in Practical Poultry for him to go with two of my girls. Now I've woken up to the reality and should he attract complaints I'll take him to the vet I did not set out to get a boy on purpose and luckily so far all is well and I'm nearly a year into having him, but I just found out at the weekend that my neighbours on one side are selling up so I'm now very anxious Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emmastar Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 This has been on my mind from the fist day we decided to ley our own eggs . I have 7 little silkie eggs in a bator right now and its one thing i have talked about with other keepers of chickens round here . They keep there males or take them to auction and dont cull them as i asked for help showing me how do do it , They said they didnt do it so i think it will have to be a trip to the vets for me . I have spoken to my neabours and they have said if i can keep them in till after 9 they dont have a problem with it . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
