What do you do with Day old roosters?

[Baxter-Shamo]

If you hatch out eggs that can be sexed at day old, Obviously you don't want the males so what do you do with them?
keep? feed and re-home? Kill at day old?

Would like to hear others opinions, Especially opinions on killing day old chicks.
Thank you.

 

[amillecay]

I gave mine away for free and I kept one but he got aggressive so I also gave him away and he now has 26 girls instead of 6.

In my mind killing day old baby chicks is not okay and a bit cruel.

 

[ShelterFarm]

In my mind killing day old baby chicks is not okay and a bit cruel.

Not to mention a waste of time, effort and resources. Roosters go pretty quickly on craigslist.

 

[amillecay]

Not to mention a waste of time, effort and resources. Roosters go pretty quickly on craigslist.

You're correct I put mine up on Craigslist and within 3 days someone wanted him and they took him.. i just gave him away since he was aggressive.

 

[RoosterAddict99]

Personally, I would keep them if I had the space or sell them on craigslist. I agree with amillecay, killing day old roosters seems a little inhumane and also a waste of a little life.

 

[Baxter-Shamo]

Cheers for the replies so far. I also feel a little uneasy killing any chickens, Especially day old chicks as its a huge waste of life.
Problem is, I'm incubating my yearly lot of eggs right now, They're Welsummers. They're due next week and Im disputing what I should do with the males. I could easily put them in our weekly poultry market but they'd just be culled and used as ferret food.

 

[loanwizard]

It depends upon what your goals are. I have no compunction about killing whether a day old chick, a 12 week old broiler, or a 3 year old spent hen. I eat meat, sell them for a profit, and eat their eggs.

Technically, my eggs are all fertilized so when I sell eggs to people to eat, I am killing a chick. If I were to properly incubate them for 21 days, I should get a 90% hatch rate. If the humidity is off, I might get a 50% hatch rate meaning I killed 40% in the egg.

I wonder if it would be as easy to give away 20 roosters as it is 1? If it took longer, it still costs to feed them. Am I any less cruel because I DON'T sex my chicks, but butcher and eat excess males?

Thoughts?

Shawn

 

[amillecay]

Cheers for the replies so far. I also feel a little uneasy killing any chickens, Especially day old chicks as its a huge waste of life.
Problem is, I'm incubating my yearly lot of eggs right now, They're Welsummers. They're due next week and Im disputing what I should do with the males. I could easily put them in our weekly poultry market but they'd just be culled and used as ferret food.

Well I think that it would be best, if you're planning on killing them any way to let them get bigger so you could actually make a use out of them and use 'em for food. But they do have craigslist in the UK so you could sell them on there or give them away for free on Craigslist, that would be my pick to just get rid of them on Craigslist.

 

[amillecay]

It depends upon what your goals are. I have no compunction about killing whether a day old chick, a 12 week old broiler, or a 3 year old spent hen. I eat meat, sell them for a profit, and eat their eggs.

Technically, my eggs are all fertilized so when I sell eggs to people to eat, I am killing a chick. If I were to properly incubate them for 21 days, I should get a 90% hatch rate. If the humidity is off, I might get a 50% hatch rate meaning I killed 40% in the egg.

I wonder if it would be as easy to give away 20 roosters as it is 1? If it took longer, it still costs to feed them. Am I any less cruel because I DON'T sex my chicks, but butcher and eat excess males?

Thoughts?

Shawn

Yes you have a point on killing the chick BUT... it's different when they hatch and then you kill them the day after , this is just my opinion.

Actually it is quite easy to give away rooster on CL they go fast! And I have no problem at all with butchering them when they are older so you can eat them, infact I would to if I had the guts to do it.

 

[Baxter-Shamo]

That is an excellent point. My goal is to make money from selling what I've bred, And by keeping the roosters, I'm going to be losing out feeding and accommodating for nothing in return, Where'as the hens can pay for themselves+earn profit.

I've never had this problem before because I'm used to breeding Game birds, People are interested in both the Cocks and the hens, Actually, I could sell more Game cocks than I could hens, Where'as Laying birds, The Roosters are not needed. Problem is these birds don't lay all year round giving me enough to incubate.

Thank you.