I somehow only hatch roosters

[Ridgerunner]

Will I ever get to the point to be comfortable with it?

It's hard to talk about the emotions involved. Some people can't kill them, they just can't. They may be OK processing them after they are dead or maybe not. We are all different.

I raise mine for meat so killing them is part of that. If I didn't eat them I would not have chickens. I don't enjoy the killing part bu I can do it and am comfortable I can do it effectively, quick and sure so there is no real suffering. The way I look at it they have a great life and then one bad moment. I try to make that one moment as brief as I can.

 

[ariri30]

It's hard to talk about the emotions involved. Some people can't kill them, they just can't. They may be OK processing them after they are dead or maybe not. We are all different.

I raise mine for meat so killing them is part of that. If I didn't eat them I would not have chickens. I don't enjoy the killing part bu I can do it and am comfortable I can do it effectively, quick and sure so there is no real suffering. The way I look at it they have a great life and then one bad moment. I try to make that one moment as brief as I can.

Wow that’s exactly how I feel. I can process them but I don’t like the killing part. But I know it’s something I have to come to terms with if I keep letting my hens hatch all this cockerels

 

[JacinLarkwell]

I’m in the same boat with my quail right now. I was hopeful I had 50/50, but my favorite crowed when I was holding him yesterday, my other favorite has foam, and I already have 3 confirmed males. That leaves 2 that I’m not sure on, but I have a feeling the bigger tuxedo one is male. I really should cull them and eat them, I have more eggs in the incubator to replace them anyways, but I don’t know if I can do it...

Females are actually the larger of the sexes with quail

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Also if these are your own eggs that are throwing males, stop incubating eggs from those hens. Hens determine the sex in birds, but the males, so if you're only getting males, it's the hens fault

 

[Trisseh]

Yes, I’m aware the females are generally larger - that’s why I was at first hopeful. But others have told me the males grow larger faster, and then the females overtake them. Not sure if that’s true or not. I feel like it may be, as the only known female in this group (who I sold) was much smaller than all the rest at 4 weeks of age.
but I don’t know that their size makes much of a difference at this point or within this group; the tuxedo was the largest chick and is the largest bird now. Based on behaviour I believe it to be male, although it has not crowed yet or show any signs of foam.
The smallest, quietest one - I’m holding out hope for it to be female. All of the males have been drama queens when handled, and have been noisy even before they started actually crowing.

unfortunately these are not eggs from my own flock; I had none to start with a they were an assorted group of eggs from a hatchery. I have more eggs in the incubator from the same source so we’ll see.

 

[hysop]

You guys have taught me a lot. Now please give me some courage to cull all the extra cockerel. Will I ever get to the point to be comfortable with it?

My husband is the one that dispatches them. I’m the one that defeathers them and removes the guts.

I personally never want to be the one that dispatches them, but I know I can if the need ever arises.

I think after the first couple of times you begin to get used to it. My husband uses an ax and a tree stump to chop the head off. We didn’t like slitting the throat because to me I never knew if it was dead or in pain. But with the head being cut off there’s no doubt.

I think what gives me peace is that I know I treated them well while alive and they were dispatched humanely. Plus there’s so many predators that can get our chickens that may cause them stress or pain, at least I’m doing it humanely and as pain free as it can get and I use every bit of the chicken whether it be fed to the dogs, or composted or eaten or making stock with it and such.

 

[AltonaAcres]

I hatched 9 button quail eggs and got 8 males.

 

[ariri30]

Yes, I’m aware the females are generally larger - that’s why I was at first hopeful. But others have told me the males grow larger faster, and then the females overtake them. Not sure if that’s true or not. I feel like it may be, as the only known female in this group (who I sold) was much smaller than all the rest at 4 weeks of age.
but I don’t know that their size makes much of a difference at this point or within this group; the tuxedo was the largest chick and is the largest bird now. Based on behaviour I believe it to be male, although it has not crowed yet or show any signs of foam.
The smallest, quietest one - I’m holding out hope for it to be female. All of the males have been drama queens when handled, and have been noisy even before they started actually crowing.

unfortunately these are not eggs from my own flock; I had none to start with a they were an assorted group of eggs from a hatchery. I have more eggs in the incubator from the same source so we’ll see.

All good points. How with a hatched? Don’t they fight?

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

I’ve almost always bought straight run chicks or hatched eggs, and I’ve found that the male/female ratio is pretty even. Sometimes I did get more males (2 of out 3, 3 out of 4, etc) but I also sometimes got more females (4 out of 5, 2 out of 2, etc). I think people notice when they get more males but they rarely notice when they get more females, making them think the ratio is uneven.
Because my chickens are pets first and foremost, I saw no reason that I should get rid of my males. I kept most of my males in a rooster-only flock before a predator attack that killed most of them.

 

[Starsie]

Ignore the very obvious roosters in the back of the top picture, those aren't in question at all

I tried incubating this year. First batch was rough, the Guage was off and I didn't have a 2nd one in there. 2 hatched, 1 was picked off by a fox (we lost about 15 this spring, in a few days, but the run is sorted now) the other is a nice little roo. Second hatch went well. Some sex link, and random other barnyard mixes. Out of the sex link ones, 5 were roos and 1 was a hen. In the fox issue, I lost the hen and 3 little roos. I've got 10 chicks about 10 weeks old, and I think they are all roosters. I'm 11/11 roosters. It's just absolutely insane that I won't get a single hen from these hatches! It makes me wonder if hatching eggs even makes sense, or if I should just pay for started pullets.

Trying to research if it possible to have 10 roosters out of 10 eggs that I hatched and came across your post. I had identified 5 out of my 10 chickens to be crowers. I guess we can be unlucky.