Chickens

[Mooria]

Having a discussion at work and we can't come to a conclusion.
when producing chickens how do they control the amount of male to female birds? As a nation we don't eat as many Cocks as Hens, so where do all the other cocks go to??? TIAx

[sandyRoe]

I think that most male chicks have a very short life.

[mccfluff]

Chick culling is the culling of newly hatched poultry for which breeders have no use. In an industrial egg-producing facility, about half of the newly hatched chicks will be male and would grow up to be roosters, which do not lay eggs and therefore provide no incentive for the breeder to preserve. Most of the male chicks are usually killed shortly after hatching.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chick_culling

[mccfluff]

i remember seeing something about this on one of the foodie programmes, they were trying to get support to let them live! can't remember when it was, might of been one of Hugh's welfare ones

[tamborine]

Hens are kept as layers and capons (young roosters) are for eating

[LyndaB]

I seem to remember that zoos buy a lot of male chicks to feed to their reptiles

[Frank97]

Lots of info about Chickens here

[Mooria]

Wow that was quick - quite sad that so many birds are killed just for being male.

Tam- capons are different they are roosters that have had there gentlemans parts cut off, and are meant to be tastier, however the practice is not illegal in this country.

[tamborine]

Capons are ready for the table @ 6weeks & never reach maturity, so meat is tender.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capon

[tamborine]

incidentally, poultry are sexed by their legs; males have longer thicker legs. There's no wastage (killing) & not necessary to chop off genitals.

[Prudie]

Zoos and other exotic animal keepers do buy large numbers of dead day old male chicks to feed to a variety of carnivorous animals.

[Kiki-frog]

Male chicks are also used as training bait by falconers

[tamborine]

Would you pay £8 for barn raised, longer life capon or 1.99 (s'mkt price) for intensive rearing ?

http://www.heartofenglandfarms.com/christmasfayre/shop/roasters.aspx

[hc4361]

It is illegal for anybody to castrate cockerels in the UK.

Any capons for sale in the UK have been imported.

[commoner]

Commercial breeds are usually crossbred from a dark male and a light female....if you use the right breeds then the chicks at hatching are pale yellow for one sex and darker yellow for the opposite sex..... or to put it another way are sex linked for colour making it easy to seperate cocks and hens for obvious reasons.....hens for eggs and cocks for meat.

Me old dad taught me this 70 years ago when he had a few dozen backyard hens duriing the war.....

[woofgang]

chicks are also sold to feed pet snakes.

[hc4361]

It's exactly the same with male calves. Slaughter.

[tamborine]

HC4361, capons are table ready before their genitalia develop.

[commoner]

Birds sold as British Capons are not actually capons but are slow grown to acheive the large size the we have come to associate with capons.....Capons in name only.....

My old dad (again) had his capons injected with hormones...also banned now...made for giant birds which didn't lose weight chasing after the ladies....what a life....just six months...no nookie and then eaten...Heh heh!

[tamborine]

All livestock are subject to market demand. Calves are removed to keep the milk flow. Calves are slaughtered & meat used for veal, dog/cat food etc.

[hc4361]

They're not capons then, tambo - they are young cockerels.

It annoys me how some butchers are selling young cocks as capons.