anybody know of hatcheries selling male birds cheap?

[coldinnh]

I was shocked to find out what happens to the male chicks (they get ground up alive or gassed depending on hatchery). I am looking to raise meat and would love to get a flock (?) cheap.

Would raising 25+/- roos in one space (all same age) cause an issue?

Make no mistake I am looking for dinners not pets and do have someone willing to help me with the dispatching, and it seems wasteful to get straight run chicks (looking at pure cornish not cornish crosses for slower growth) to raise and kill a layer.

I figure it is a win win for me and the hatchery they sell off their excess males and I get dinner on the cheap.

I found one that does sell a heavy breed cockerel frypan special but to vaccainate for mareks is half the price of the 25 chicks.

 

[lavacaw]

Ideal has assortments of plymouth rocks and cornish both - but only males. Sounds like what you are looking for. Roosters should get along fine if there are no hens to fight over.

 

[ChickyLaura]

Ideal has a $25 minimum, check out their assortments - it looks like they're $1.19 each.

Keep in mind though that since these chicks would grow slower than the Cornish Xs, you will spend more $ on feed. Unless you have a place where they could forage, then that would be great!

I thought about it too, but I don't have an area where I could free range extra roosters. Wish I did. I wish I lived closer to my mom's house, she has 3 wooded acres that are just BEGGING to be used for some sort of poultry project. I'm trying to talk her into Guineas!

 

[Ridgerunner]

About any of the hatcheries will sell the males a lot cheaper than the females or straight run. And unless you have Marek's in your flock, it is probably not necessary to have them vaccinated. Many of us don't.

I suggest you look at the red sex link males. They are usually about the cheapest of any, there are always a lot of excess of these, and they grow up white. That means if you pluck instead of skin them, you get a prettier carcass. The dual purpose will grow a lot slower than the broilers, but you do not have to process them at a certain time for fear of them dying on you.

Raising roosters in a bachelor pad as long as there are no females present will probably not cause any problems. They will go through the pecking order stuff, but so will a flock of nothing but pure hens.

It sounds like a workable plan.

 

[coldinnh]

I was thinking chicken tractor or a frame on "The Lawn" (approx 2 acres of grass) away from regular coop that way they could forage and it would help keep cost of food down.

Right now I eat Spirnger Mountain Chicken which is about $12/per bird so I am sure that I can raise a few for cheaper. (I eat only humanely/locally raised meat).

In the article I read it did mention that Ideal said that they sold off their extra roos and did not make them into dog food. Makes me wonder now about the 'real chicken' in my dog's food.

 

[woodmort]

Most hatcheries sell off their cockerels cheap. As a HS kid I used to buy 50 BR males for 25 cents each to raise for my FFA project. The best way would be to contact a local hatchery and pick them up--shipping is the real expense.