Getting rid of roosters

[Bantam bell Wood]

In the suburbs knowing there would not be takers for my BYM rooster I gave the boyscouts troop him to do the deed. I did not see it, I did not hear about it, and when i asked, they used his remains as fertilizer under a fig tree I gave them. That's just a last option, of course. I hope he can find a home instead.

That’s a good idea. Thank you.

 

[McChooky]

I have tried to farm out my bantam cockerels, with no luck. I can’t keep them bc I don’t have enough acreage to meet town’s enforcement code.

I understand that many people here don’t agree with the idea of eating/culling/dispatching their birds, so please understand I’m sensitive to that. Still, no matter what, I need a solution because I have 3 cockerels and 4 pullets- an unhealthy ratio. Do I bring them to a farm vet to have them put down?

What advice can people offer me? I’m not all that interested in culling them myself, I’ve seen the process, and not confident I’m up to it.

Big picture, they are super cute! The small Barred Rock cockerel is the girls favorite. The EE is hilarious as far as tough guys go- running out shoulders up and breast high- all 11 inches of him! The larger Barred Rock is the boss and laid back except when the EE gets all up in his grill. They’ll be 12 weeks any day now, so I know time is short.

You can field dress cockerels like pheasant or quail.It only takes a couple minutes to skin them this way.No special equipment and its over with and done quickly.You'll only get 2 breast and 2 wings

 

[Bantam bell Wood]

You can field dress cockerels like pheasant or quail.It only takes a couple minutes to skin them this way.No special equipment and its over with and done quickly.You'll get 2 breast and 2 wings

I’ll read about what that means. Thank you.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Thats a decent deal if she cleans them up for you too lol

Oh yes, they come back in a zipper bag, as clean as if they came from the grocery store. She has a little side hustle doing this and must do hundreds.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

You can field dress cockerels like pheasant or quail.It only takes a couple minutes to skin them this way.No special equipment and its over with and done quickly.You'll only get 2 breast and 2 wings

No thighs or drumsticks?

 

[McChooky]

No thighs or drumsticks?

You hold the bird down by the wings and pull up by the legs.
It get the drumsticks and breasts if you clip off the wings.You could get the legs but cockerels don't have much meat of their legs

 

[McChooky]

No thighs or drumsticks?

I recommend this method for newbies who want to eat their cockerels but don't want to process the whole bird

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Interesting, thanks.

 

[Fluffy_Butt_Hutt]

I could check into that, the Barred Rocks are dual purpose but still bantams. From what I gather at 12 weeks they’re close to full grown, and I they are small. The EE is healthy but wirey on top of being small, probably very little meat.

Thanks for the suggestion!

Definitely not full grown! I fell under this misconception too. I thought my under 4 lb barred rock girls were underweight at 20 weeks. They were a healthy weight and unlike solely meat birds, take 2 years to get to the full 6-7 pounds promised.

Edit addition: a 4.5 pound BYM (partial barred rock) at 17 weeks gave them 1.3 pounds of meat to work with (drumsticks and wings not deboned)

 

[McChooky]

The field dress method is the best solution for someone like myself who only has a couple cockerels .I have limited money, time, space and resources for raising and processing birds.The breast and wings are the best parts of a cockerel.The first one is always the hardest.
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