What to do with make chicks!

[Onadietcolabreak]

Hi, I have just ordered some silkie bantam and Orpington bantam eggs! I can't wait, I want to keep about 4 females if I get a good hatch, but I know I will get males, and I live in a house, where I'm not aloud roosters, so, what can I do with any males, I'm not sure I'm going to be able to 'dispatch' myself. :(

Hello, do you live in a rural area where there might be other chicken keepers willing to take on a noisy male? You could put an ad up, or a board saying free to good home? Or you could find a local farmer, or someone who is willing to 'dispatch' - just make sure they know what they are doing so it is quick and kind.

If there is anywhere near you that has Birds of Prey then they might take them from you too.

It is quite difficult to sex chicks when they first hatch. we are seasoned chicken keepers 10+ years with a flock of over 30 and we hatch most of our own yet we have got it wrong on a couple of occasions. some breeds are easier to sex than others! If you dont feel 100% confident doing it then get someone else who does to do it for you so you dont despatch the wrong ones. a word of warning - our first hatch of 7 from the brinsea incubator were all male! our last hatch of 5 was 3 female and 2 male.

I arranged for a local petting zoo type farm to take mine when I hatched, and a friend had one for her hens on her husbands allotment. However I really think you should have asked this question before getting the eggs. from my hatch (first one ever) I got 3 cockrels from 8 eggs under a broody. You wouldnt need to despatch until you are absolutly sure, my first started crowing and it was very obvious I wouldnt risk it before then.

This is why people in houses who aren't willing to kill their own should only buy sex-linked chicks or older pullets.

Thanks for all your advise (bar Boomting!) I don't have the eggs yet, so will phone a few places, to hopefully line a few options up. I did ask myself the question before I brought, I brought an incubator along with my brooder that we had for our last 4 chicks. The breeder promised to send some duck eggs, but they never arrived :( and the kids wanted to hatch something for the summer. I love my chickens and I'm unable to even think about killing them in the same way I couldn't even entertain dispatching our elderly cat! I may try ring our vet to see if they might put them to sleep in surgery.

Roughly when would I be able to tell when they are male? I brought 4 hybrids before, that are now 16 weeks and one of them, a white star, is looking very male and getting more and more aggressive by the day, when would they start to crow?

I looked into getting the vet to put my first poorly hen down, it would have cost £40, dh manned up and did the deed. I think ethically if they are not for table you should have homes lined up or buy day old sex linked chicks, I think that is what I will do next time (or hatch sex linked chicks with an agreement for the farm to take back the cockrels. mind you I really want some cream legbars so works for me.