Do I need a rooster for each variety of chickens or only one rooster?

[hysop]

Plucking the feathers isn’t hard at all. I think it’s the easiest part. I use my hands. Nothing fancy. Now if I had to process dozens at a time each year then I’d look into a defeatherer (spell check?). But I have only processed a total of 2 birds since I started my chicken journey in 2017. It will be 3 later this month.

 

[CindyinSD]

Nineteen! Your poor girls!!! How many sexually mature females do you have? If you want fertile eggs from all/most of the females, you need a rooster for every 8-10 hens. (Maybe more or less depending on the virility, energy, and any preferential/picky tendencies on the part of the rooster(s).)

If you don’t intend to hatch chicks then you don’t need any roosters at all.

If you only want to breed some of the hens, you can house them separately with the rooster you’d like to be the father for as long as you choose to collect their eggs for hatching. You don’t have to have 10 hens, but at least 3-4 would be good. You’ll have to adjust that ratio if the girls are looking too ragged. @OneMountainAcres makes beautiful saddles to protect hens of all kinds from overbreeding.

Females can remain fertile for as long as a couple of weeks after having been bred, so if you want a particular father, you would put them in your breeding pen with the chosen roo and wait two weeks before you start collecting eggs.

 

[bobbi-j]

Yes I have a chicken tractor next to the pen and had planned on moving most of them in there temporarily until I decide what to do with them all. Would you all eat the roosters or sell them? I am not sure which is the best thing to do with them. I am not set up with the whiz bang for removing feathers or anything.

Plucking is easy! You do need to scald them first (I don’t know the ideal temperature of the water, my DH is in charge of that, but you can look that up.

If you’re not planning on eating them, I’d jump on $5 a rooster! You can’t hardly give them away around here. I hope for cockerels because we freeze and can our extras.

 

[hysop]

@bobbi-j — when is the ideal time you process them? I have a cockerel now that hatched late August. He’s a product of a broody hen, but he’s a mix breed (plus I already have 4 roosters) so I want him for dinner, but I also want him to get bigger. He’s half Black Jersey Giant so I know he will get bigger, right now he’s the size of a White Leghorn (which is his other half).

 

[bobbi-j]

@bobbi-j — when is the ideal time you process them? I have a cockerel now that hatched late August. He’s a product of a broody hen, but he’s a mix breed (plus I already have 4 roosters) so I want him for dinner, but I also want him to get bigger. He’s half Black Jersey Giant so I know he will get bigger, right now he’s the size of a White Leghorn (which is his other half).

How do you plan on cooking him? I you want a fryer, the sooner the better. The longer you wait, the tougher he’ll be. One thing to consider is, he will never fill out like a Cornish x or other meat bird. They’re just not built that way.

 

[CindyinSD]

I see you’re considering processing your extra roosters I recommend Butchering: Poultry, Rabbit, Lamb, Goat, Pork by a Adam Danforth. Very comprehensive and helpful. It’s nice to have a step by step in addition to remembering what you’ve seen on even the best videos. The Kindle format is $9.99... less than half the print version, but I may order the hard copy in addition to my e-book regardless.

 

[featherhead007]

@bobbi-j — when is the ideal time you process them? I have a cockerel now that hatched late August. He’s a product of a broody hen, but he’s a mix breed (plus I already have 4 roosters) so I want him for dinner, but I also want him to get bigger. He’s half Black Jersey Giant so I know he will get bigger, right now he’s the size of a White Leghorn (which is his other half).

If you want him for dinner, make sure he wears a bib, and is seated on newspaper. Roosters are kinda messy when they eat at the family dinner table!

 

[CindyinSD]

Roosters that have matured enough to breed need to be cooked low and slow by a moist method. More flavor, though!

 

[Duckfarmer1]

I did put an add on Craigs List and a man wants to pay me 5.00 each for them so I may consider his offer if I dont get any better offers. Just to get rid of them.

It took us more than an hour to pluck the feathers...we are new to this, but so are you ...how much is your time worth? I’d take the $5 and be done with the hassle...but..make sure you’ve picked the best rooster first!

 

[Duckfarmer1]

I have watch several videos on processing and may try to buy those rubber fingers to use with a drill. That seemed to be the cheapest option for when we get ready to process them.

What rubber fingers? Can you show a link?