Too many cockerals!

[Rowan]

Hi, everyone. I haven't been on this board for a long time due to work and the allotments and various health problems but I hope you all had a good harvest. I'm just wondering if anyone has any ideas about what to do with spare cockerals. One of our Buff Orpingtons went broody last summer and we sent away for fertile eggs to put under her. Only four hatched and it's now become clear that three of them are male!  I was hoping for three girls but that's the way it goes. We're going to keep one but don't know what to do about the others, a RIR and a little Poland.

Does anyone have any ideas? I'm vegetarian and anyway it seems a bit hard to kill them just for being the wrong sex. I just hope she doesn't go broody again this year!

Rowan

[Jesse]

Rowan we hatched some this last year as well but planned ahead for the cockerels, as we aren't vegeterian we had them for the table. Please don't shoot me down, I'd much rather eat a home raised chicken knowing it's lived a good and happy life than a broiler chicken who has been intensively raised and fattened.

You could try advertising them on the practical poultry forum but cockerels are more difficult to rehome than hens as I'm sure you're well aware. Or you could sell at a local poultry market, I'm not sure if they're still running with the bird flu thing going on though. If you plan to hatch more this year make sure you plan what to do with the unwanted cockerels before you buy in eggs.

[dandelion]

My mum bought seven fertilised bantam eggs.  1 hen and 5 cockerels! She gave the cockerels away to a friend. Must be in the freezer by now...

[kenkew]

Jesse is right. No-one will take them from you. I'm not going into what I've seen happen to them, so try to get a decent life for them but also relize what raising any animal is all about. A decent life for as long as possible is, sad but true, the best we can accept.

[Robert_Brenchley]

Best thing is to keep one, so you have fertilised eggs to raise the next generation from, and eat the rest.

[teresa]

the poultry market we went to is closed due to the scare but you could advertise in your local free papers or pet shops which sells food for chickens someone might be interested in a male.

[Rowan]

Thanks, everyone. We are looking into advertising and already have a card in the post office but I'm sure you're right and it will be very difficult to give them away. I agree with  you, Jesse but I couldn't do the deed myself (one reason why I'm veggie). My husband isn't, though and he keeps talking about chicken korma!

Someone told us that the local gamekeeper will dispose of them if all else fails and put them in his freezer. I don't  know whether we'll keep any of them at the moment, as we'll probably have this problem again. I'm sure the same Buff will go broody again the first chance she gets!

[Jesse]

Rowan, I'm sure you know this but thought I'd mention it just in case, if your hens go broody you don't have to let them sit and hatch eggs. Our hen went broody for the third time last year (first two times we let her hatch some eggs), the third time we took her off the nest each day and locked her away from the hen house during the day time, took a few days and she gave up her broodiness.

[Rowan]

Hi, Jesse,

Actually, she's the only hen who's ever gone broody and so we thought we'd give her a chance! I have to say she was a great mum and took care of the chicks really well - it's just bad luck that so many of them had to be male! They were so sweet, too, little yellow balls of fluff (aah!).
At the moment i'm thinking never again. The two noisest cockerels should be going by the end of the week, so says my husband. I'm not sure how he's getting rid of them, though.
Is anybody else getting eggs, by the way? We seem to have had one or two every day since the beginning of the year.

[Paulines7]

Is anybody else getting eggs, by the way? We seem to have had one or two every day since the beginning of the year.

The chicks that hatched last May started laying in December and some of the older chickens were still laying.  I think I have only had two or three days in the past year when I haven't have any eggs.        The only problem I do have is that I have to keep them fenced in now because there is a fox about (killed 10 of my neighbours chickens last week).     They have two runs to choose from but it still gets very muddy and although I change the bedding in the nest boxes frequently, the eggs are not very clean.   They cannot be washed as water makes the shells porous and will allow bacteria in.  I just leave them as they are and then if I boil them, I wash them immediately before cooking.

[Jesse]

My three original hens stopped laying for their moult around October time and it seemed like forever before they started again...christmas day seemed to be a big event for them because two of the new hens (hatched by our broody this year) started to lay on christmas day and since then all the others have started too, so we're in full production now with all of them laying, getting about 4-5 eggs a day (6 hens) and even been able to sell some. It was terrible having to buy eggs, realise just how lucky we are having our own hens.

Pauline I wash my eggs in hot water, apparently this practice is okay. But since I've been putting a thin layer of fresh straw in their run regularly I haven't needed to....very much looking forward to the drier weather as our run gets muddy very quickly too.

[Paulines7]

Pauline I wash my eggs in hot water, apparently this practice is okay. But since I've been putting a thin layer of fresh straw in their run regularly I haven't needed to....very much looking forward to the drier weather as our run gets muddy very quickly too.

Jesse, according to everything I have read, eggs shouldn't be washed in water.  The shells are porous and bacteria can transfer to the inside of the eggs and result in salmonella enteritidis.  I believe there was something that was used commercially to clean eggs but I don't know if this is available now as the EEC Regulations state that eggs must not be washed.

[Jesse]

from the DEFRA website:

Is egg washing permitted?
EC egg marketing legislation does not permit Class 'A' eggs to be washed. These are the class of egg most commonly found at retail level, as Class 'A' is the highest quality of egg. Such eggs may not be washed because it is considered preferable to produce a clean, quality egg in the first place reflecting high production management. Class 'B' eggs and those intended for processing may be washed.

I've been told that using hot water rather than cold to wash the eggs prevents transfer of bacteria into the eggs. Personally I don't like dirty eggs, mostly ours are clean but in wet weather they tend to get dirty and I give them a quick wash in hot water, haven't suffered any problems yet. I don't expect to reach "high production management" quality eggs with our hens, they are free range and dirty eggs are inevitable....rather a dirty egg than a clean battery one is what I feel. Do you think I shouldn't wash them then

[Robert_Brenchley]

If you're worried about getting germs into them, add a drop of PEROXIDE bleach to the water. This breaks down to water and oxygen, so it won't do anything nasty to the eggs as long as you use it very weak.

[Jesse]

My OH uses a peroxide based solution to sterilise dometic cold water storage tanks and to make water safe, we have hundreds of litres of the stuff sitting in the garage!

[Heldi]

Oooh I'm glad this came up...re: washing eggs. I don't mind mine sitting dirty in their basket...I give them a quick rinse in hot water before use. OH tends to want to wash them to pristine condition...I don't think that is right and argue with him about it...alot!

[teresa]

When a hen lays an egg she gives it a protected covering so no air etc can get through to the shell which is pourous.
So by washing it you remove the covering and the egg will start to age.
A unwashed eggs will last longer as long as long as the shell is not damaged.
Strange but true.

[Paulines7]

From what I've gathered on websites, Grade A eggs are not washed, they are clean anyway and have no cracks and have a smooth surface.  They are sent out to the suppliers and can be in the shops for a few weeks.

Grade B eggs are washed and they do not end up in shops but go for processing.  I assume that these eggs have a very short use by date. 

Washing eggs allows bacteria to go through the shells and the bacteria inside increases with age.

I personally will continue not to wash my eggs until I am about to use them.  I sell only the clean perfect ones to neighbours and keep the others for home use.  At the moment I only have a small fridge as my larder fridge packed up working.  I used to store the eggs in the bottom half of the large one but now have no room at all for them so they sit on top of my freezer.   

Now this poses another question "Should eggs be stored in a refrigerator?"   

[Heldi]

Thanks for the information teresa and Pauline.

I'd like to know if eggs should be in the fridge or not. I don't store mine in the fridge at the moment. I've been led to believe they are better kept at room temperature. Where I got that idea from I know not!

[teresa]

Eggs are better at room temp to cook with ie, making cakes etc.
thats where it comes from.
I prefer to keep mine at room temp so they dont go from henhouse warm to cold fridge and back to warm again.
But that is me and my lot are fine. Think I said before I dont wash eggs either.
Like Paulines7 said grade A are sent to supermarkets
grade B are what are found on floors of barns etc go into washing buckets and sold to cake manufactures etc. Can have short life span.