Help!! Children want to keep all the roosters!

[Bellemere]

I have two boys a 12yr old and a 2yr old. I ordered 10 chickens as a straight run with the plans of keeping the hens for eggs and put the roosters in the freezer. My 12yr old has Asperger's and is very attached to the chickens. He holds them all time. He doesn't want them slaughtered. I explained to him that they are not pets. They are farm animals, and that it's a part of life. He is very distraught about butchering them and says he won't eat them. Should I stick to my original plan or sell them instead?

 

[BlueBaby]

I have two boys a 12yr old and a 2yr old. I ordered 10 chickens as a straight run with the plans of keeping the hens for eggs and put the roosters in the freezer. My 12yr old has Asperger's and is very attached to the chickens. He holds them all time. He doesn't want them slaughtered. I explained to him that they are not pets. They are farm animals, and that it's a part of life. He is very distraught about butchering them and says he won't eat them. Should I stick to my original plan or sell them instead?

Maybe they could go visit grandma and grandpa while you are doing that, so they won't know?

 

[Bellemere]

Maybe they could go visit grandma and grandpa while you are doing that, so they won't know?

Oh I fully planned on doing it when they aren't around. The problem is that he has names for most of the chickens and counts them every night. He would know what happened and would refuse to eat any meat in fear of it being one of his.

 

[Shadrach]

I have two boys a 12yr old and a 2yr old. I ordered 10 chickens as a straight run with the plans of keeping the hens for eggs and put the roosters in the freezer. My 12yr old has Asperger's and is very attached to the chickens. He holds them all time. He doesn't want them slaughtered. I explained to him that they are not pets. They are farm animals, and that it's a part of life. He is very distraught about butchering them and says he won't eat them. Should I stick to my original plan or sell them instead?

Do you have a farm?
Why not keep them?

 

[BlueBaby]

Oh I fully planned on doing it when they aren't around. The problem is that he has names for most of the chickens and counts them every night. He would know what happened and would refuse to eat any meat in fear of it being one of his.

Make some nuggets out of them so he will think they came from McD's?

 

[Bellemere]

Do you have a farm?
Why not keep them?

I don't have enough room to keep them all. I also ended up with I believe an even split of 5 hens and 5 roosters. I'm also worried that many roosters would fight each other.

 

[BlueBaby]

I don't have enough room to keep them all. I also ended up with I believe an even split of 5 hens and 5 roosters. I'm also worried that many roosters would fight each other.

Not only that, but when those hormones' kick in, they could also end up hurting your children or even you.

 

[Bellemere]

Not only that, but when those hormones' kick in, they could also end up hurting your children or even you.

That's what I thought. This is our first time raising chickens of our own. So there are a lot of things we're learning still.

 

[Shadrach]

I don't have enough room to keep them all. I also ended up with I believe an even split of 5 hens and 5 roosters. I'm also worried that many roosters would fight each other.

Ah, starting to make more sense now.
You have 5 cockerels and five pullets?
You don't live on a farm (?)
Bad choice of reasoning with your sons then.
Can't be long before your eldest tells you unless the creatures actually live on a farm they're not farm animals.
If either, or both of your sons have become attatched to these chickens and your line of reasoning given for needing has been found wanting then you've got ten pets as far as your boys are concerned.
If you kill any you'll be a pet murderer. Children remember things like this for the rest of their lives.
Just out of curiosity, what did you tell them when you ordered the chickens/when they arrived?

 

[BlueBaby]

That's what I thought. This is our first time raising chickens of our own. So there are a lot of things we're learning still.

I can understand that. You do have too many cockerel's. If you decide to later on keep only one of them, I would pick the most mellow one to try out.