Culling: Which Birds to Remove and When

Why culling is part of running a flock

Most farmers do not enjoy culling, and that is a good sign. It means they see each bird as both money and a living animal. Still, a flock that never loses a bird to a deliberate decision is often a flock where small problems are being left to grow. A hen that has stopped laying still eats feed every day. A chick with a weak leg still crowds the same drinker as the others, and a bird with a respiratory infection can pass it along the row before you notice.

Culling done well is simply removing those birds before they cost you more. It protects feed money, protects the healthy birds and keeps the house cleaner. It also gives you information. Every removal says something about feed, housing, water, vaccination or management, as long as you write it down. For the wider picture, our guide to poultry farming in Ghana shows how the main parts of the farm fit together.

Culling criteria for laying hens

With layers, the first question is production. A hen that is laying well, eating normally and staying with the flock should stay, whatever her age. Once she stops laying for a sustained period, the decision becomes one of money. She still eats close to what a laying hen eats, takes up house space, and may carry parasites or disease to the others.

Set your own rule before you need it. Many farms use something like this: a hen that has not laid for four to six weeks, is otherwise healthy, and does not recover after a check of feed, water and worm burden goes on a short list. A hen that has lost weight, has a pale comb and wattles, and stands apart from the flock goes on the list straight away. The exact numbers are yours to choose, but write them in the flock book so you are not deciding under pressure.

If you want to put a figure on what a non-laying hen costs you each week, our layer egg profit calculator sets the feed and egg numbers side by side. When you are ready to replace her, our layer chicks for sale in Ghana page explains what we supply.

What to look for in broilers and spare cockerels

Broilers are different. They are culled for welfare far more often than for production, because they are sold by weight and are meant to grow steadily. A broiler that cannot walk to the feeder, sits with its legs stretched out behind it, or stays down most of the time is in pain or too weak to recover. If you can, weigh a sample of birds on the same day each week, and pull out any that are clearly behind the rest of the house and not improving over two or three days.

Spare cockerels in a laying flock raise a separate question. Too many males leave the hens bare-backed, injured and stressed. A ratio of roughly one cockerel to around ten hens is a common free-range starting point. Retire an older or injured cockerel early, before he starts fighting, because the hens are often hurt by then. Male chicks from layer lines are usually surplus to requirement, so plan for them before the chicks arrive.

If a broiler batch is failing and you need to restart, our broiler chicks for sale in Ghana page lists what we supply.

When a sick bird should come out now

Some signs mean you should separate and examine a bird the same day. These include a bird that has stopped drinking, a bird with breathing noises, watery eyes or nasal discharge, a bird that sits hunched and fluffed up while the others move about, and a bird with bloody or very watery droppings. Move her to a clean pen with food and water she can reach easily, and look at her again within a few hours.

The rule we would give any farmer is simple. If a bird is not improving within a day or two of separation, or if her suffering is obvious, make the decision. Leaving a suffering bird in with the flock to see what happens costs feed, spreads infection and usually ends with more deaths. A bird that is clearly dying should be removed promptly, even before you are sure of the cause, because the rest of the flock still needs protecting.

Do not treat by guesswork. If the signs appear in several birds, or you see sudden deaths, call a vet or veterinary officer before you give any medicine. Many illnesses look alike from the outside, and the wrong treatment can cost more birds than the wait for a proper look would have done.

A quick reference table for the flock book

Keep a simple table like the one below near the house, and fill it in as signs appear. It is not a diagnosis tool. It helps you decide what to check first and when to call for help.

In every row the order is the same: check the basics first, then bring in a vet if the picture is still unclear after a day or two.

Humane methods you can carry out safely

Choose a method you have been shown by someone competent, ideally a vet, a veterinary officer or an experienced poultry keeper who does it regularly. Practising on a dead bird is no substitute for being supervised the first few times. The aim is to end the bird's suffering quickly, with no more handling than necessary, and in a way you can carry out calmly, away from the rest of the flock and from children.

For small birds, a trained person can use a firm, quick neck dislocation. Some larger operations use a sharp blade in the hands of someone trained in the method. Striking a bird, or leaving her in a sack to die, is cruel and must be avoided. Do not use any chemical, injection or drug for killing unless a vet has instructed you and it is authorised for that purpose, and never use human medicines for this.

Calm the bird first. Hold her gently, keep your movements slow and quiet, and work out of sight of the others. Wash your hands and clean the tools immediately afterwards, and keep those tools apart from the ones you use for feeding and watering.

When the bird is for eating: halal slaughter

This matters for many of our customers. A bird culled for eating should be slaughtered in the Islamic way if you want the meat to be halal. The person doing it should be a Muslim who knows the method. The name of Allah is said at the time of slaughter, and the bird must be alive when the cut is made. A sharp knife cuts the windpipe, the gullet and the main blood vessels in the neck in one smooth, fast stroke, so that the blood drains fully.

A bird found dead, or one that dies before the cut, is not halal, and it should not be eaten or sold for food. The same applies to a bird that was dying from illness. If you are not sure whether a bird is safe to eat, ask a vet or veterinary officer, and do not let a sick bird go into the cooking pot because the flock has already cost you money. Culling for disease and slaughter for food are different decisions, and your records should show which one you made.

If you are unsure of any step, ask an imam or an experienced halal slaughterer in your area to show you. Learning from someone who does it every week is worth far more than reading about it.

Disposal: what to do with the carcass

A dead bird stays a source of disease until it is properly dealt with. Burial is the most common method on small farms. Dig a pit deep enough that dogs and scavengers cannot reach the carcass, usually about a metre, and well away from wells, boreholes, streams and drinking water. Cover the carcass with soil and, if you have it, a layer of lime to help control smell and flies. Never dump birds in a stream, a gutter or a rubbish heap where animals will carry the problem elsewhere.

If you suspect a serious disease, do not bury, move or sell the birds until a vet or veterinary officer has told you what to do. They may want to keep carcasses for testing, and some diseases need special handling. Wear gloves when you handle carcasses, wash your hands afterwards, and clean your footwear before you walk back into the house.

Keeping a cull record that pays you back

A cull record can be a notebook or a simple spreadsheet, and on a small farm it may be the most useful record of all. For every bird you remove, write down the date, the house or pen, the bird's ring or mark, its age, the sign or reason, what you saw when you examined her, the method used, who did it, how the carcass was disposed of, and whether you called a vet.

After a few months, the record answers questions that used to be guesswork. Do most losses come in the first three weeks, or in the heat of the dry season? Do most of the hens that stop laying come from one batch? Is the death rate in one pen twice that of the others? To work out a death rate for a period, divide the birds lost by the birds you started with, then multiply by 100. Compare that figure from one month to the next, rather than judging one bird at a time.

Start the record on the day the chicks arrive. If some chicks are dead when the box is opened, note the exact count that same day, since that number is what any replacement claim will be checked against. Our delivery page explains how boxes reach all 16 regions and how the cost is quoted before you pay. Keep the cull record next to your vaccination and feed records. Our poultry vaccination schedule calculator helps you plan vaccine dates, and the cull book shows whether the vaccines and feed are doing their job.

When to call a vet or veterinary officer first

Call a vet or veterinary officer before you cull if three or more birds show signs at the same time, if a bird has died suddenly without warning, if birds have breathing trouble or swollen heads, if you see bloody diarrhoea, or if the sick birds do not respond to basic care within a day or two. A vet can take samples, confirm the cause and advise on treatment, including how long any medicine must be withheld before birds are eaten or eggs are sold.

Follow the vet's instructions and the label exactly. Do not start antibiotics or other medicines from a shop on the strength of a guess. Ask the vet specifically what to do with the birds you remove, because the answer depends on the disease. Some diseases mean the carcass should never be eaten, and others need special handling or disposal. Know the answer before the next bird dies, not after.

Mistakes that make culling cost more

The most common mistake is waiting too long. The second is removing one bird and carrying on as if nothing has happened, even when three more birds in the same pen show the same signs. The third is selling a sick bird to avoid the loss. That passes the problem to someone else's flock and damages the trust your business depends on. The fourth is culling by feel rather than by criteria. A farmer who removes the bird he dislikes and keeps the one he likes tends to lose the best birds and keep the weakest.

The fifth mistake is leaving carcasses where scavengers can reach them. A dog, cat or rat that eats a dead bird can carry the disease elsewhere on the farm. Finally, do not treat culling as the only tool. A flock that loses birds to the same cause every season needs a change in housing, water, feed or vaccination, not just more culling. Culling removes the birds that have already failed. It does not stop the next ones from failing.

To put a figure on what each loss costs, our poultry calculators are a good place to start, and our blog has more practical guides on flock management.

Questions farmers ask