How do you find new homes for your culls? * POLL *

[dichotomymom]

Like the person below you said, not everyone views them as pets (myself included). I have no problems with people hatching (it's like seeds for produce, why buy a new plant if you can save the seed from the year before and plant from scratch) and if it's an unwanted roo, I have no problems culling it. That's my issue with it. If it's unwanted, cull it yourself or make sure you know someone else will do it for you. If you don't do either of those things, what happens to it after you give/sell it away, isn't your business, that's why you have to take responsibility for killing it properly.

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[dichotomymom]

The other thing I want to mention about getting hens is that when you're using these as production animals (and really, even if you're not), you have a better guarantee of a good hen when you buy straight for the hatchery. You're not having to worry about disease, owners that didn't care for the animals properly and have now shaped their personalities in a negative way etc......Yes, it's wonderful to get a cat or a dog from the pound if you can but again, there are some people who have requirements for their animals that make starting from scratch (or being purebred) a must.

 

[speckledhen]

you have a better guarantee of a good hen when you buy straight for the hatchery. You're not having to worry about disease....

To a degree, that may be true, but there have been periods when certain hatcheries were fighting disease, very recently in fact. There was an outbreak of Avian Encephalomyelitis (sp?) from some hatchery chicks not so long ago. Many folks were affected by that, but it was resolved by the hatchery. My hatchery chicks were healthy, though many died later from internal laying just after two years old. That said, I never buy birds from anyone, period, not even those I trust, not even chicks. Too easy to bring in one disease carrier and decimate the entire flock, even when the bird appears outwardly healthy. And people don't seem to get that chickens don't get simple head colds, so they sell sick birds and cause heartache to others.

Back to the topic, when I sell my extras, I realize if I sell a bunch of cockerels for little money, they'll be used for food. I don't like to think about it (one bunch was 13 weeks old and I was getting attached, but couldn't keep them all), but sometimes, it's a rooster's lot in life to be dinner. I accept that, and yes, I do eat chicken on occasion, so it would be hypocritical to try to dictate what happens with them when I sell them. If someone buys a rooster for $10-15, they are less likely to be wanting him for supper. If they only pay $2-5, that's a different story.​

 

[dichotomymom]

Thank you for reminding of that (I remember the McMurray "debacle" from just a year ago. I never buy from auctions and I don't let people come into my coop and I never wear my coop boots into tractor supply because I know other chicken owners may be wearing their coop boots.

 

[yotetrapper]

I agree with nyreds 100%.....they're chickens. I generally eat them, but when I had an abundance of banty roos I didnt feel like messing with cleaning, I put an ad in the paper for free roos and gave them to the first caller, a guy with a pickup truck loaded up with cages of fowl.....