How do i trust someone to give my rooster too?

[fawkestheman]

I have 12 chickens, eight i got last year and 4 newbies this spring. i already had one rooster in my flock from last year who i adore! but two of my four new chicks are roosters and i may have to get rid of one or both. i don't want them to be used as meat birds but they need to go. how do i know who to trust to give my birds to?

 

[krista74]

You could advertise them for sale at a higher than normal price. So if roos normally go for $5 in your area, put $20 on him. One would assume that if you elaborate on his good features, a reputable person who is buying the bird for breeding purposes will pay money for it in excess of what you could buy a chicken out of the supermarket freezer for.

Alternatively, ask around people you know - relatives, friends, co-workers - who might be looking for a replacement rooster in their already pre-existing flock.

That's about all I can come up with I'm afraid. I just faced the same thing myself and managed to get my brother to take one rooster once he's old enough to go. I also have 5 chicks of unknown sex, and any roos in that will simply be heading to the poultry auctions. I try not to think about what happens to them after that.

Krista

 

[Amina]

Ultimately, the only way to really know for sure that a chicken will get to live out its natural life is to keep it yourself for its whole life.

The next best thing is to rehome it to someone you know personally who believes as you do, that chickens are pets only, and never food. But even with this, there's still a level of risk because stuff happens. People need to move and sell off their flock. Neighbors complain about crowing. Roosters may become aggressive and too difficult to handle. Or if the person gets him for breeding purposes, as he ages he may become less fertile. In these cases, the person may need to re-sell the rooster, and it may not go to someone that you would like it to.

After that, yes, you can increase the price of the rooster and sell him to someone you don't know. It will likely reduce the risk. But in every case, you will have to find peace with some level of uncertainty about his future. Again, I think the best bet is to sell him to someone you personally know, and who believes that chickens are pets only.

 

[appps]

As above had said ask money for them as most free roosters go into the pot. Unfortunately there are no guarantees so If you choose to breed you have to learn to turn off the thoughts about their long term future. Mind you I say that as my new chicks have yet to hatch. Not sure I'll be as strong once they have arrived and I've held them . My plan is to re home the moment I know they are boys so I don't get any more attached than I have to. I've also hatched good quality purebred eggs in the hope that finds them a place in a breeding pen not a pot.

 

[CrazyTalk]

Unless your rooster is winning awards, and is NPIP, you're not going to get $20 for him. You'll be lucky to get $5.

Advertise it as a pet, and then if someone comes and gets it, move on. You only get to dictate the care of an animal when it's in your care - past that - it's out of your hands.

 

[bobbi-j]

Unless your rooster is winning awards, and is NPIP, you're not going to get $20 for him. You'll be lucky to get $5.

Advertise it as a pet, and then if someone comes and gets it, move on. You only get to dictate the care of an animal when it's in your care - past that - it's out of your hands.

x2 - Once it leaves your place, it's out of your hands. If it helps, tell yourself that he's going to a nice farm in the country where he'll be happy for the rest of his life. Then move on.

 

[GD91]

Unfortunately I sold a rooster as a pet once and found out that the person who took him loved him and cared for him well, but then grumpy locals complained about his crowing. I heard this on the grapevine and am unsure of the outcome, I just know the guy had to get rid of him. Either being culled or passed around is not very fair on roosters, but I have to cull my boys once the crowing starts.
Its a very sad affair that mankind is so out of touch that they no longer like hearing wild birds singing in the morning, let alone a rooster crowing.

 

[nayeli]

x2 - Once it leaves your place, it's out of your hands. If it helps, tell yourself that he's going to a nice farm in the country where he'll be happy for the rest of his life. Then move on.

Once you rehome him you have no say in what his new owners choose to do/use him for. People will lie, or just change their minds because they get a better rooster to breed or he becomes a problem.

Honestly I just bought from Ideal and they sent me 9 packing peanuts (all males). I know they will be food because who would buy 9 males? I just comfort myself in knowing that if Ideal didn't send them as packing peanuts they would have been killed immediately and probably not as humanely (nothing against ideal but when your mass killing your goal isn't usually that the animal doesn't suffer). Now these boys will get to live a good life on a farm until the day comes that they are killed for food.

 

[donrae]

Unless your rooster is winning awards, and is NPIP, you're not going to get $20 for him. You'll be lucky to get $5.

Advertise it as a pet, and then if someone comes and gets it, move on. You only get to dictate the care of an animal when it's in your care - past that - it's out of your hands.

This.

There are worse things than a quick, humane death.