- Jun 10, 2014
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I bought a bunch of straight run Appenzaller Spitzhauben chicks in June (13 weeks now), and ended up with 12 cockerels, and 4 pullets. If you don't know what the breed is, just think Polish, similar body size and shape. The cockerels are a bit over 3lbs at this point.
Anyways, the coop is big enough for 16 birds, but clearly not for 12 cockerels - the last 2 mornings I've come out to one cockerel with a bunch of broken tailfeathers and a bloody tail. Looks like they've all got blood feathers coming in and once one starts bleeding it just escalates. I've separated the two birds that were bleeding and grabbed two more last night (so 8/4 in the coop now), and there was no blood this morning.
So, what do I do here? Is it worth starting to process these cockerels at 3 lbs? Or do I need to keep them separated and try to put some weight on them? Any advice here?
Anyways, the coop is big enough for 16 birds, but clearly not for 12 cockerels - the last 2 mornings I've come out to one cockerel with a bunch of broken tailfeathers and a bloody tail. Looks like they've all got blood feathers coming in and once one starts bleeding it just escalates. I've separated the two birds that were bleeding and grabbed two more last night (so 8/4 in the coop now), and there was no blood this morning.
So, what do I do here? Is it worth starting to process these cockerels at 3 lbs? Or do I need to keep them separated and try to put some weight on them? Any advice here?