Poultry slaughter is an important subject for smallholders

Hugh & Fiona Osborne firmly believe that processing chickens for meat and "the cockerel question" are subjects that deserve mature consideration by smallholders

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THE COCKEREL QUESTION

We consider Buff Orpington chickens to be the ultimate smallholder’s chicken. They were bred to be a true “utility bird”. They are large and friendly and not only produce 200 or so tinted eggs per year but also make a great table bird and are one of the few breeds that are still reliably broody. We hatch 8 or 10 clutches a year, selling the naturally reared hens.

However, half of what hatches are cockerels. We only keep one cockerel to sixteen hens and even then, we must guard against “feather wear”. Feather wear can be seen when an amorous cockerel treads his harem frequently. The friction of his repeated attentions wears away the outer waterproof feathers from the hen’s back exposing the inner down layer. If left unchecked eventually all the feathers wear away, exposing the skin which can cause sunburn and other welfare issues. To guard against this, we use “chicken saddles” on our hens to reduce feather wear but we do have to be constantly vigilant.

If we were to keep one cockerel to every hen the welfare issues would be pronounced and additionally the cockerels would compete and even fight. As a result, it is imperative that we manage the cockerel numbers. In many commercial hatcheries, cockerels are vent sexed at hatch and dispatched immediately. We prefer to raise our cockerels to maturity and then process them, on the smallholding, as table birds.

BEST PRACTICE AND THE LAW