Getting new chicks without knowing if male or female

[possumqueen]

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Definitely go to the meat chickens section of the index. There are very efficient ways to kill chickens there, for whatever reason, and a lot of the folks who post there are good at it, and willing to answer ANY question you have.

I read there the other day about several BYC folks who get together to pool their labor and have a butchering day, complete with beer and party atmosphere. Everyone learns from everyone here!

 

[usschicago1]

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Of Course ! One roo to 6 hens i believe! I thought that you couldnt have any. Make sure its okay with your neighbors first (maybe hand them a 20dollar bill or something) because if they report you they'll make it hard for you to keep them. Also When you have too many roosters you will have to give some away. Sometimes they fight ( believe me bad experiences with Cockerals Fighting) so keep only one or 2 since it doesnt seem like your flock will be too big. If they are free range you can leep some more. But yeah keep a couple! Great .

 

[possumqueen]

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That's rotten luck!

I've ordered only from Murray McMurray, mostly because they were all I knew, but they were always pretty good to me. I almost always had buyers for the packing peanuts, but I didn't mind eating them, either.

 

[rainnotebook]

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Wow never thought of that!!

Hmmmm

 

[saddina]

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It depends on the chicken's personalities, as well as if there's enough ladies to go around. But you are correct, you need a plan for extra roosters before you get into chickens.

You can:
Eat them yourself (you're not a vegatarian?)
Try to find them new "homes" (sometimes people on craigslist will take a free rooster, most get eaten)

Well that's about it really, they may do well togather as a group, but things can change fast. I'd order St Run, vent sex (not hard to do ,in the quail thread is a how to, PM me if you can't find it), and give anything that's for sure male away as a chick.

 

[usschicago1]

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I agree it isso hard to tell whatcha gonna get. Me and my grandfarther ordered from stromburgs and got exactly a 50/50 Hatch and my friend got an order from mycmurry''s and 70 % were roosters. So it really is LUCKY what you get. They have layer specials at mcmurrys and great specials at stromburgs witch is better. Since you want a small flock the other hens you can sell (people always want hens) and you can make a few bucks.

 

[rainnotebook]

Make sure its okay with your neighbors first (maybe hand them a 20dollar bill or something) because if they report you they'll make it hard for you to keep them.

That's another concern I have... my neighbors are fuddy-duddies and hate anything we do. I don't care other then the fact of letting them out... I don't think the 20 dollar bill would work. Now maybe an 100 bill. lol​

 

[saddina]

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Well... no.

See ordering pullets only means that the hatchery has to dispose of extra males there. You don't have to do the dirty work yourself, but it still gets done. Most "responsible" thing is to order what breeds you want, knowing that you'll need to butcher the extras.

 

[rainnotebook]

I honestly never thought of eating them. I wanted to raise chickens for a hobby so I never planned on eating them. However I'm not a vegetarian... and I do want the whole "farming" experience, plus I plan on raising a turkey (not with the chickens) next year to have for Thanksgiving so this would give me some practice.

I'm glad to hear these suggestions. I had no idea of what people do about this.

 

[rainnotebook]

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Well... no.

See ordering pullets only means that the hatchery has to dispose of extra males there. You don't have to do the dirty work yourself, but it still gets done. Most "responsible" thing is to order what breeds you want, knowing that you'll need to butcher the extras.

Okay... thanks! I feel better about that now. I rather do it myself knowing I still have the breeds I want. Thank you very much!