Any advice for wording Ads to try to find new homes for roosters?

[YgritteChick]

I have too many cockerels in my flock and they are starting to fight and I would like a happy flock so am hoping to re-home some of the cockerels. I don't want any money for them, but am thinking it might be better to not mention that they would be free in the ad since I am hoping someone will take them for their flock, not to butcher

Does anyone have any good tips on finding new homes for their unnecessary birds? Thanks!

 

[lightchick]

When I had extra roos I just put in the ad that I didn't want them to be butchered and they are now on a farm where they won't be!

 

[DoubleMM]

Um yeah... My mother told me that story about a family pet going to live on a "farm"..

 

[YgritteChick]

When I had extra roos I just put in the ad that I didn't want them to be butchered and they are now on a farm where they won't be!

That is an idea. I was hoping I could maybe do an ad that focuses on the breed of chicken and has cute pics and then maybe some person who raises that type of chicken will see it, fall in love, and come take my chicks to happy new homes. Most of my cockerels are very handsome and I wish I could keep them all, lol!

 

[bobbi-j]

Honestly, it's going to be hard to find a place where they will live happily ever after for a very long time. It might just be best to place the ad that you have extra cockerels that need a new home, and then don't ask questions. How do you know that they're not going to be eaten even if the person who takes you says they won't be? Once they leave your place, they are no longer your birds, and their new keeper has every right to eat them if they please. Sorry, but that's the harsh reality of most extra cockerels. Until you find them a place, can you put them in a bachelor pen? They'll get along just fine and your hens won't be stressed.

 

[YgritteChick]

Um yeah... My mother told me that story about a family pet going to live on a "farm"..

Hahaha...yeah I might have to re-home the chick my daughter has been raising and I am worried about that. I really hope hers at least can go to a farm where he really won't be butchered, lol.

 

[YgritteChick]

Honestly, it's going to be hard to find a place where they will live happily ever after for a very long time. It might just be best to place the ad that you have extra cockerels that need a new home, and then don't ask questions. How do you know that they're not going to be eaten even if the person who takes you says they won't be? Once they leave your place, they are no longer your birds, and their new keeper has every right to eat them if they please. Sorry, but that's the harsh reality of most extra cockerels. Until you find them a place, can you put them in a bachelor pen? They'll get along just fine and your hens won't be stressed.

Possibly. I'd have to build someplace or ask my husband to for me...and I am not mechanically inclined and I know he won't want to, lol. And I can understand that, I don't necessarily care about a forever happily ever after. I more just would like my cockerels to get one more chance. I really like most of my cockerels, they are handsome and most have nice personalities...I just can't have half my flock made up of roosters or else I would keep them all myself. I feel bad that they are not getting kept just because I have too many at one time, it isn't because of them, lol.

 

[bobbi-j]

Oh, I get that. I love having them around, too, and listening to them crow and let's face it - most of them are beautiful! A few years ago I hatched out 25 chicks and got 25 more straight run. Half were male. By the time they got to breeding age, my poor hens and pullets were being run ragged! So all the boys but the "CHOSEN ONE" got locked up in a bachelor/grow-out pen for a couple of months to get some meat on them. Then, a few at a time, they got butchered and put in the freezer. Oh, I hate killing the pretty ones. But they tasted SO GOOD! My thinking is, after I've put so much time and effort into feeding them, housing them, and caring for them, why would I throw all that away by giving them to someone else to eat when I could benefit from them myself? But I know that not everyone thinks that way and you've gotta do what you've gotta do. I do hope you can find good homes for them.

 

[YgritteChick]

Oh, I get that. I love having them around, too, and listening to them crow and let's face it - most of them are beautiful! A few years ago I hatched out 25 chicks and got 25 more straight run. Half were male. By the time they got to breeding age, my poor hens and pullets were being run ragged! So all the boys but the "CHOSEN ONE" got locked up in a bachelor/grow-out pen for a couple of months to get some meat on them. Then, a few at a time, they got butchered and put in the freezer. Oh, I hate killing the pretty ones. But they tasted SO GOOD! My thinking is, after I've put so much time and effort into feeding them, housing them, and caring for them, why would I throw all that away by giving them to someone else to eat when I could benefit from them myself? But I know that not everyone thinks that way and you've gotta do what you've gotta do. I do hope you can find good homes for them.

Is that what you meant by a bachelor pad

I think you had the most practical solution though and there is a chance I would try that. I feel like I am just a bit squeamish still about butchering chickens I raised from chicks and my husband already said he won't do any butchering of the chickens, lol.

 

[bobbi-j]

By bachelor pad, I meant a separate coop/run area for them where they can't harass your hens. They will get along just fine because you will have removed their reason for fighting (the hens). Of course there will be squabbles, but they get over it. I don't enjoy butchering our chickens. I actually don't do the killing - DH does that part. I hold them, he wields the hatchet. After that's over, I'm fine with it. One more thought - if you get to the point where you think you could put them in the freezer, you could see if there are any commercial processors near you that do poultry. Not all of them do. I had family that took theirs in for processing this year and it cost them about $2 a bird.