Certainly time to get rid of some excess cockerels. When I have to make decsions about which ones to keep, I do as you have been doing and observe.

Aggressive, nasty cockerels go first. (Who needs the hassle?)
Undersized or poors specimens of their breed go second. (You don't want those genes in future generations.)

If you do not have a lot of experience with butchering and you are doing your own as opposed to taking them to a poultry processor, I'd take those out, plus any you JUST DON"T LIKE, then let the dust settle before going on to round two.

Observe again. The dynamics will change as a result of the first cull and you'll be better able to choose from among the remaining roos. You need to consider your breeding goals, if any. Or perhaps you just want a nice, mixed backyard flock. Look for the roos that treat the hens well. Look for the ones who are relaxed around you. Look for a roo that doesn't take himself too seriously. Decide just how many you want to keep. (With only a dozen hens, you only NEED one to get some chicks.)

NOTE: If you are keeping your mature roo, you may be better off keeping two cockerels rather than just one. Last year, my Speckled Sussex rooster Napoleon had an accident and it really aged him. So I kept his most promising son and culled the rest of the young boys. Napoleon had pretty much ignored them while there were half a dozen running in a gang, but just a day or two after the cull he trounced his son so badly that we ended up having to put the youngster down. And then (Murphy's law) Napoleon died that winter and we were roosterless for months. If I had kept two cockerels, Nap probably would have tolerated them and they would have tolerated each other because they needed eachother's support.

It sounds to me as though you have a pretty good handle on what you are looking for. Go with your gut instincts and I think you will do just fine.

Thank you Maggie!--You've had much more experience than I have--I appreciate your expertise!
I told the cockerels, several months ago, that they were in a contest to see who could be the nicest and that the winner would have a nice long life. Of course in the chicken world, the one who comes out on top just might be the meanest (one reason I like the Columbian Wyandottes is they just don't start chases and fights). So this picking the nice guy is a big part of domesticating ( and kind of civilizing) animals.
We are planning to kill the "losers" ourselves. I've never done it but my husband has with some neighbors. I think I can handle the plucking. Not looking forward to it.
Again, thank you!

You're welcome, Claraserena! I haven't THAT much experience, three and a half years, but choosing the flock roo is something I have strong feelings about.

Napoleon was terrific with the hens and mostly fine with us. He got a little edgy when the hens were broody and he took offense if someone went into his yard with bare legs (the prude!) but he was a good old fellow and I still miss him. He taught me a lot. Roosters, even the best of them, have their quirks.

As far as processing your own cockerels, no one enjoys it... but it is not that hard. If you find plucking difficult, you can always skin them. Cockerels that free-range tend to have rather chewy legs and thighs so what I do is process no fewer than three at a time and put the various parts together: boneless breast meat for breading or stir-fry; giblets, legs and thighs for meat pie, and the rest for soup or stew. Just what works for me.

maggie j - once again this is all great advice. I've been wondering about culling, as well. I won't do any this year because I have only 6 hens and a roo that are all about a year and a half, except one hen that is just 7 mos. and starting to lay. I'd like to expand my flock, but will likely wait until spring.

I hadn't considered "grouping" the parts of the older birds - what a great idea! I've done meat birds the past three years with friends, but we've always just frozen whole birds. I may do some cutting up and grouping next year. Thanks for the tips.

claraserena - good luck with your new flock. Sounds like a beautiful mix of birds! My little hen (the young one) is a cross between a Silkie hen and a Barred Rock roo. She is fluffy and just slightly bigger than her mother, but she is black and white barred just like her dad - very pretty!

An extra question form me would be:

Do you set the meat birds apart from the rest and feed them up? If so, how long, what and how much to feed them?

What about hens? Should we wait until they are done laying for the year, then feed them up?

My Dominques are supposed to be dual purpose, but frankly, they are too skinny to consider eating. And while my DH is dead set against eating them, the rest of the family would like some nice fresh chicken.

As I check the condition of my hens I notice that they have protruding keel bones and feel mostly of feathers. Which is why I ask about feeding them up.

Thanks for the interesting thread.
Kitty

Dual-purpose birds should not be compared to the modern meat birds. It's apples and oranges. The dual purpose breeds like Dominiques, Sussex, Buff Orps, Rhode Island Reds, Barred/Plymouth Rocks etc. are what chicken was back in the "good old days".

It is certainly a good idea to pen them and feed them up a bit on scratch and cracked corn before butchering. A lot of people do this. The reduction in activity for formerly free-range birds should also help to make the meat more tender. As for the sharp keel, this is the natural shape for dual-purpose chickens. Don't expect them to have the amount of meat on the breast that a broiler has. They would never survive long enough to lay an egg if they did.

Personally, I have never gone with the fattening process. It seems to me like a lot of bother when most of what is added is fat rather than meat. When I cull an old hen, I usually find a lot of fat in the body cavity... so why would I want to add more? I would not dream of wasting our culled chickens, but if I want white meat for frying or roasting I cook rabbit rather than chicken. Meat rabbits are great.

The chickens go mainly for soup, stew, meat pie etc. and cooked slowly and gently with liquid (try apple juice), they are delicious. Country cooking of various countries features recipes like "coq au vin" (France = "mean old rooster cooked in wine") and "chicken and dumplings" (American = "old hen or rooster simmered to tenderness and served with dumplings").

The political slogan "a chicken in every pot" attests to the fact that "chicken" was usually a culled hen, cockerel or rooster, more suited to the pot than the oven or skillet. When people wanted a roasting bird for a special occasion it was either a "spring chicken" (a young hen) or a "capon" (neutered cockerel).

My Dad quit enjoying chicken when capons went out of fashion. He had no use for the modern meat chickens. "Stale eggs" is what he used to call them. While I would not go quite that far, he had a point: the fast-growing eating machines we have come to think of as "chicken" are simply another invention of the factory farm that many of us are trying to get away from.

Just a little "food for thought".

Culling the ones you don't like is always good. If you are going to be eating them, they will be more tender if you get them younger, but if you get them younger they are less flavorful, so it's a trade off. Young chickens are a lot easier to clean and cut up than old ones, though. If you have one of each, add some broth from the old one in the soup pot to the roasting pan of the tender younger one for flavor.

Usually, if I can't remember how old the particular chicken was, I'll check the breastbone. If it is hard all the way to the tip, then it is a stew or soup chicken. If it still has a cartiledge tip on the breast bone, then it can be a frying or roasting chicken.

I saw a "caponizing set" for sale at an antique store. It sorta looked like medieval surgery devices and I can see why it went out of practice. I'm surprised there were very many survivors of the process.