PoultryTalk.com

Should birds which don't meet their required breed standard be culled to help preserve the pure breeds we have?

Or be kept for pets?

What are your views on this?

Personally I think that as long as they re not used for breeding stock, keeping them for pets or egg production should nt be a problem.
Alex

i do try my hardest to give away or sell but if knowone needs or whant them i do cull, wouldnt cull hens. also if there from good parents, try breeding from them as they may produce some good stock

Good topic.

I breed a good number of birds but could never cull a healthy bird. I always breed for type but have a real problem with culling birds of poor type. As an animal lover I could not breed then kill a bird because it does not meet a type which rarely has anything to do with health or vitality of the breed (infact in many cases over time it has had the opposite effect). I always find pet homes for my birds and have even picked up cheap pullets so I can pair off cockerels. If I ever get to a point where I can't rehome cockerels and can't keep them myself I will stop breeding.

I have no problem with birds being killed if ill or for meat. I know of individuals that will cull over 10birds for every 1 kept just to meet a standard.

As far as keeping them for pets, some that people feel that all poultry keepers should breed for type. Although I do, I think it is important to remember that people keep birds for different reasons. If someone wants to breed poultry and does not want to worry about type that is fine, as long as any birds sold are advertised as pet quality. Providing birds are kept appropriately, birds bred without regard to type are likely over generations to be more healthy.

Got to agree with you BigBrahma, I could nt kill a healthy bird just because it wasnt up to breed standard, its bad enough when they die of natural causes. Well done for finding them homes or girlfriends lol!

I keep all my chickens purely for pleasure, hopefully we ll have a few crossbred chicks (we have a marran cockerel and warren hens) in the spring once I get hold of an incubator!

Great, I would love to see some pics later in the year.

I ll keep you posted, hopefully we should get some interesting colours going on, but as long as they have a good temperament like the warrens do I ll be a happy girl!

I breed for fun but like to breed to the breed standard, instead of culling hard like some breeders I select carefully, keeping a few and selling on the rest. I keep a few boys for eating as well.
I don't have a problem with culling if ill or for meat but I know someone who bred 100's of seramas and culled 100's! such a waste as they'd make fab pets for someone!

we now breed alot of araucana's and could sell on twice as many as we hatch, most people who buy the birds want some 'back garden' hens to lay them eggs and be a good focal point or a pet (a lot of them don't realise just how addictive chickens become!!)
out of all of the birds we hatched last year i culled 6,
If they don't meet the 'standards' it does'nt mean that they have to die! it just means that they can't be shown.

you can keep a bird 'pure' without having all of the standards set for it, the purity is in the genes not the looks.
my wife doesn't look like Naomi Cambell (she's a so called show standard!!!) but she wasn't culled because of it!

haha that made me laugh so true though!
I think its a shame that breeding for show is more often then not making the breeds weaker. for example I have two pekins (one black and one mottled) from a top show strain, they are weak and don't think either have laid yet (well over a year old!), whereas I have a pair of pure mottled pekins of a more garden/ pet quality that I bought because of being over mottled and tiny to put to show ones and the difference in vigor is amazing! the pet ones are bright red in the face with much healthier looking plumage and more energetic foraging and jumping around more. Not to mention she started laying at 6 months. They are both kept in the same pen with the same feed etc...
All these people who are culling due to "imperfection" are also often culling out the health of some breeds too!

Very true chaz, ive bought so called show stock in the past and ended up with hens that dont lay and cockerels just not interested in treading. Yet mr ugly in the next pen is at it 24/7 if i let him lol.

As long as they are healthy i could never cull a bird! But why cull a bird before you find out what it produces when breeding it! I personally would find a good home for the bird and if they want to breed it let them hash out all the little details. Some birds that don't meet breed standard may actually produce a very unique/ beautiful addition to the breed.

I wanted to get some Lincolnshire Buffs. I was so desperate i got hold of some eggs and after a long story got 3 chicks. They all had curled toes. Should I have culled them. I didn't have the guts. So I tried to straiten their toes. It worked on 1. 1 still has curled toes but not as bad and the third has now got 1 leg facing backwards. I still can't kill it and it is managing to get about, eat and drink. Am I being cruel and selfish?