Hi! Advice for rehoming roosters?

[NewChickenOwner112]

Hi from Texas! This is our first time raising our own chicks, though we have raised many before for other family members. Never any major health problems, only 1 rooster out of 20 as expected. We are raising primarily as pets/educational.

Out of 4 chicks this year, we ended up with 2 cockerels and one with severe crossbeak (though she is doing fantastic! She finally has learned to eat mash on her own after months of torpedo feeding, thanks in part to some of the advice I read here before joining--thank you!). Same hatchery as before, supposed to be pullets.

I would love advice for if anyone has successfully rehomed a rooster and has any tips? We can take them back to the feed store we got them from to be processed, but they were meant to be pets so have been handled a lot and my children are very attached to them--I would love to find flocks. We have tried craigslist, local chicken online groups, fliers at feed stores, reached out to family. We tried to include a lot of details and nice photos in the ads. We've been looking for 1-2 weeks with no interest so far. Do we just need to give it more time?

Anecdotally, has there been a higher percent of roosters this year in the sexed chicks that anyone knows of, or did we just have bad luck?

Thanks so much for your help!

 

[Tookie]

Hello, welcome to BYC! Glad to have you!

Rehoming roosters/cockerels is quite difficult, as so many people want to rehome them. I say give it some more time.

You may want to post in the Texas thread here.->
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/texas.44/

 

[nuthatched]

There was a run for chickens a few months back, hatcheries were just trying get chicks out quickly.
Offer them for free for flock or fricasse.
*I know you intend them to find flocks but the realistic outcome is soup.
If someone is looking for scrawny cockerels to eat, they need the food.

 

[DobieLover]

Hello and welcome to BYC! Glad you joined.
Good luck rehoming your cockerels.

 

[sourland]

Welcome to BYC, and good luck in finding homes for the cockerels.

 

[Allsfairinloveandbugs]

Hello and welcome to BYC, fellow Texan! As mentioned, it is very difficult to find homes for roosters. (Which you have already discovered.) Some people don't want/can't have roosters, while others already have a rooster(s), and don't need any more. You have already tried the common ways to rehome chickens, and it won't hurt to give the issue more time. But sadly there just aren't nearly enough homes for excess roosters; with the ideal rooster to hens ratio being 1:10-12.

 

[TwoCrows]

Hello and welcome to BYC!

It's definitely a bit harder to rehome the cockerels than it is the pullets but it can be done. Stop by our Buy Sell and Trade forums and place an ad... https://www.backyardchickens.com/forums/#buy-sell-trade.67

You can try Craigslist, even your local 4-H club may be able to help. Good luck!

 

[janiedoe]

Hi, welcome to BYC. Come on over to the Texas thread and say hello.

 

[Debbie292d]

We have silkies and when you get too many roosters from letting them hatch their own, you can't even buy pullets to try even the flock out.

What I did is post two roosters for free on a couple of our Wisconsin poultry pages. I would suggest trying to find more local groups. If you're in a Facebook poultry group, click the arrow in the upper right corner. That will suggest other related groups. I'd check some of those out and join a couple.

Go back to your post and "bump" it after a few days. Craigslist I tried once and forgot about it, then suddenly two weeks later I got 4 emails. Go figure lol.

 

[Blue Raptor]

Hi from Texas! This is our first time raising our own chicks, though we have raised many before for other family members. Never any major health problems, only 1 rooster out of 20 as expected. We are raising primarily as pets/educational.

Out of 4 chicks this year, we ended up with 2 cockerels and one with severe crossbeak (though she is doing fantastic! She finally has learned to eat mash on her own after months of torpedo feeding, thanks in part to some of the advice I read here before joining--thank you!). Same hatchery as before, supposed to be pullets.

I would love advice for if anyone has successfully rehomed a rooster and has any tips? We can take them back to the feed store we got them from to be processed, but they were meant to be pets so have been handled a lot and my children are very attached to them--I would love to find flocks. We have tried craigslist, local chicken online groups, fliers at feed stores, reached out to family. We tried to include a lot of details and nice photos in the ads. We've been looking for 1-2 weeks with no interest so far. Do we just need to give it more time?

Anecdotally, has there been a higher percent of roosters this year in the sexed chicks that anyone knows of, or did we just have bad luck?

Thanks so much for your help!

Hi from Texas! This is our first time raising our own chicks, though we have raised many before for other family members. Never any major health problems, only 1 rooster out of 20 as expected. We are raising primarily as pets/educational.

Out of 4 chicks this year, we ended up with 2 cockerels and one with severe crossbeak (though she is doing fantastic! She finally has learned to eat mash on her own after months of torpedo feeding, thanks in part to some of the advice I read here before joining--thank you!). Same hatchery as before, supposed to be pullets.

I would love advice for if anyone has successfully rehomed a rooster and has any tips? We can take them back to the feed store we got them from to be processed, but they were meant to be pets so have been handled a lot and my children are very attached to them--I would love to find flocks. We have tried craigslist, local chicken online groups, fliers at feed stores, reached out to family. We tried to include a lot of details and nice photos in the ads. We've been looking for 1-2 weeks with no interest so far. Do we just need to give it more time?

Anecdotally, has there been a higher percent of roosters this year in the sexed chicks that anyone knows of, or did we just have bad luck?

Thanks so much for your help!

Welcome to BYC!!