Donate your unwanted roosters and old hens

[Chickassan]

Im with @cluckmecoop7 now im afraid.
Iv'e gotten squishy in my old age....squishy with a rooster collection.
But look at that face, he's too rotten to eat anyway.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Sorry, but it's harder to re-home cockerel's and rooster's than you think.

Yup. Even though they're legal in my area, most keepers just want hens. Sending them to an animal shelter or worse, dumping them over someone's fence just pushes the problem onto other people. I think even the feed store was having an issue with people just dumping unwanted cocks and roos over their fence which is why they suggest that people donate them for dinner. Better than leaving them to starve or just killing them and letting them go to waste.

 

[cluckmecoop7]

Then you might have to be prepared to have your own rooster flock.

Lol, yes, maybe!

 

[cluckmecoop7]

Yup. Even though they're legal in my area, most keepers just want hens. Sending them to an animal shelter or worse, dumping them over someone's fence just pushes the problem onto other people. I think even the feed store was having an issue with people just dumping unwanted cocks and roos over their fence which is why they suggest that people donate them for dinner. Better than leaving them to starve or just killing them and letting them go to waste.

Agreed. But as I said, I don't have the heart to eat any of the chickens are raised/helped care for.

 

[cluckmecoop7]

Im with @cluckmecoop7 now im afraid.
Iv'e gotten squishy in my old age....squishy with a rooster collection.
But look at that face, he's too rotten to eat anyway.View attachment 2003457

Glad you agree with me! To each his own, though.

 

[aart]

I thought I’d suggest this idea for people who don’t want to kill their chickens themselves or don’t know what to do with them.
Donate them to your local zoo or somewhere that has carnivorous animals. They will use them as food for animals like snakes, alligators or other meat eaters. The whole process is humane and they are already dead when they are given to the animals to eat. Just make sure you call before hand to make sure they accept them, mine did and they fed them to their kimono dragons.
If you have any other ideas of your own, feel free to share!

This is a great idea......I did that with male chicks for a local raptor rescue, they were thrilled.

Anyone who doesn't want their roosters killed... well, there are other threads for that

 

[martymaranto]

So if you do have a rooster how do you find someone who can make it into a meal? I'm sure I couldn't kill it myself!

 

[eulogos]

Think about it. Half of all chickens hatched are roosters. Or will be. But no one needs all those roosters, unless you just like to look at them. I like to look at them, but if you have too many they run the hens ragged, so they have no feathers on their backs, and so they stay on the roosts and don’t come down to eat unless they are starving. Too many roosters for the number of hens and you subject your hens, basically, to gang rape. If your hens hatch chicks you just have to be ready to get rid of roosters. And no one wants them except to eat. I have seen mine butchered. I don’t like it but the experts do it very fast. We did it ourselves once years ago when we needed to eat them and could not pay to have them butchered. That was worse but still over quickly. Please try to face the realities of raising animals. If you can’t, just have hens. Even then, eventually you will have old hens and very few eggs. Maybe that is ok, if they are pets. If you want to have eggs you will have to dispose of old hens somehow and get new ones.

 

[aart]

So if you do have a rooster how do you find someone who can make it into a meal? I'm sure I couldn't kill it myself!

Into a meal for you or for them?
Good luck finding someone who will slaughter a single bird.
You might get lucky putting up an ad on local CL or FB or farm store.

 

[rosemarythyme]

So if you do have a rooster how do you find someone who can make it into a meal? I'm sure I couldn't kill it myself!

Unsure of your location but if you have an amish or mennonite community nearby someone might be willing to do it for cheap.