There is a Marans breeder near me that has a "rooster man" that will come and take all of her unwanted cockerels from her. She has 500 mature birds on her property so I am sure the number of cockerels he takes is in the hundreds. Setting up a deal like that with someone that you know would be a lot better, in my opinion, than giving a free rooster away to someone that you don't know.
If you give a free rooster to someone you don't know you have no control over what they do with it. Most people hope that the new owner have a small free range flock that they will put their rooster with to serve as a lawn ornament and to help protect their hens from predators, but there are probably only one non-breeding free range flock searching for a rooster for every 10 free roosters being offered. Further the free range flocks are NOT looking for lines that produce cockerels that require you to take a rake with you every time you are in the chicken yard. The fact is small free range flock owners would gladly pay $15 to get a docile rooster so these free roosters may end up with questionable new owner that may breed them with no regard to culling or quality or they may end up in as bate in cockfighting rings (yes this unfortunately does happen and they seem to be the first people that want free cockerel and the last people to care that you require a rake to be carried with you to the coop). Ideal would be for people to process them for meat, but if you don't know who you are selling them to that is just a wishful thought. If people that are breeding chickens and deal with them every day don't want to process them people that don't own chickens are less likely to have that skill or to want to process them. If you keep your price at $15 you eliminate a lot of people that don't appreciate the breed from taking your cockerels. I won't let any rooster that isn't fair quality leave my property and then only in a breeding trio or to someone that already is breeding Black Copper Marans. Yes, I grew up in the city and butchering my pet chickens is my least favorite chicken chore, but I do look at is as a chore. I may not like to scoop poop out of the chicken pens but if I can't keep the pens clean then I shouldn't own chickens. I may not like to remove roosters spurs but if they are long enough to pierce a hen and I don't remove spurs I shouldn't own any roosters. I may no like to go out on a rainy day in the mud to feed chickens but again it is a chore. I feel that their are certain responsibilities that come with owning chickens. Having a plan for retired hens and surplus cockerels is part of that.
Another option that a breeder I work with has is to take her culls to an Amish family that processes them for her for $2 each. She said that she takes 30 culls at a time and they are processed in 2 hours and on ice ready to go home.
There are also a few people out there that run rooster rescues. They take unwanted roosters and let them free range their "rooster ranches" for as long as they live. I haven't figured out the draw to becoming a rooster rescuer personally but have seen photos of 10 acre field were rooster can spread out enough that they don't fight and live quite well together. I think the draw has something to do with simply the fact that many areas have rooster problems created by people that don't know what to do with unwanted roosters and they feel they can made a difference. These rooster problems are that some keep aggressive cockerel because they don't know how to process them and then a child or chicken sitter gets flogged. Or it could be that others live in areas were rooster aren't permitted and again keep them because they can't stand the though of them being culled (even though they eat chicken 3 times a week). Neighbors complain and it creates needless problems.
Plan A might be to sell good quality birds for $15 but if that falls through I always have the plan B (a rooster man that I know will process them, a Amish family or other place that will process them for a price, processing them my self, a rooster rescue that won't breed them, etc.). I personally don't feel the free to a good home is a good option unless you know for sure what type of home they are going to.
Wow. that is a long reply
, I hope you are not lecturing me, i will make the assumption that you are not.
So.. I live in South South Florida (almost key largo) and I do have a rooster man who will take them, but i don't know what he does with them. He has a farm with lots of
animals on it. Where the roosters go i don't know, but he is not breeding them i am pretty sure. So that leaves two options, either meat or the other, or
even for religeous reasons, you didn't mention that one.
He seems to really like the birds but i don't know for sure and like 95% of the people in my area his cultural background is prone to this sport (if you can call
it that). Let me tell you that if someone is cockfighting they are not going to divulge that information even if you ask them, so how are you going to know!!
He does pay me for them by the way but just because he pays for them doesn't mean that i know what happens to them. Actually i would bet there are plenty of
people locally who buy them from him for meat (another cultural thing).
The other thing about my area is that there are "almost" zero people who know what a marans is. Heck they don't even know what a leghorn or an orpington
is either.. All they see is a chicken. It gets very frustrating sometimes, but you can't change the whole world. If you go 100 miles north you get an
entirely different type of chicken owner and most of the people to whom i sell nice birds, drive down from at least as far as Ft. Lauderdale. One thing you can be sure of
is that if someone around me breeds them they don't even know they are a Marans.. because they don't know what one is, and they and their family are happy
with the results because he is a good chicken and makes nice hens.
Most of my guys are not aggressive and the ones that are mean do get given to people who are going to eat them, yes there are always one or two troublemakers.
In fact i just did that with my last black tailed buff rooster because he was this way, even though he was the last one i have and i will have to dissolve
my breeding program for them. I didn't want to breed him because of his attitude.
I have tried to find someone who would process them for a fee, but nothing has turned up yet. If you know someone in Miami or Homestead who does that i am all ears..
I understand that the topic of what to do with excess roosters is always a contentious one, I don't disagree with your comments. But I also understand that
most people with excess roosters have the best intentions and do the best they can to dispose of them responsibly but have to combine that with reality to come
up with the best outcome for everyone.
L
