How do you get rid of unwanted male chicks

[Kikkup1]

It really depends on the exact feed

The feed I am talking about is the 16% Dumour and producers pride layer feed Both made by purina in Tennessee..

 

[Niki1313]

We have an amish community near us, who will take roos, they butcher the means ones and keep nicer ones for their own breeding. But I'm in Wisconsin.

 

[Dottie the Chicken]

We have an amish community near us, who will take roos, they butcher the means ones and keep nicer ones for their own breeding. But I'm in Wisconsin.

Fellow Wisconsinite here. Where is this Amish community located, if you don't mind my asking?

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Some people who hatch sexlinked ones will sell male chicks to the zoo, aviaries and reptile owners

 

[Niki1313]

Fellow Wisconsinite here. Where is this Amish community located, if you don't mind my asking?

I'm in the lavalle area in sauk county.

 

[TOR]

Fellow Wisconsinite here. Where is this Amish community located, if you don't mind my asking?

there is quite a few of them

some out by cashton wi
south of viroqua wi
Blair wi area
east of stoddard wi
North Bend area somewhere
this is on the west side of state

Cashton area has quite a few. They have auctions up that way. Very reasonably priced I hear.
I know they auction plants, vegetables not sure what else.

and there is probably lots more
friend buying pigs north blair monday im going with to amish area

 

[jspeese]

I can take them to the feed store and they usually give me something in exchange for them! Same with hens that are past their prime. I would dress them, but my wife can't stand the thought. Other than broilers, I don't think that most cockerels have a lot of meat on them anyway. Not even large breeds. A lot of the weight is bone.

 

[magicdave]

How do you giveaway unwanted male chicks? I want to incubate 12 or 18 eggs, so I’ll have a good amount of cockerels on hand when the hatch is over. So far, I haven’t contacted anyone who is interested in those possible cockerels, and I’m concerned I may have to cull them which to be quite honest I do NOT want to have to do.

I know it is tough to cull unwanted Cockerels but they sure do taste good. I keep 1 rooster per 10 hens. I have 30 hens. The roosters are "too tired" to crow at 4 AM. My situation has been that every time ai made arrangement give away my gorgeous "Light Sussex Boys" they don't show up. So i pick them at night one at a time so they don't see what is happening. They are dispatched quietly one at a time and frozen by the next evening

 

[Tilhana]

I don’t know how to process birds

You may be able to find a local butcher who will do it for you. You transport them alive and they do the killing and butchering. I've heard it usually runs $2-3 per bird. If you have any neighbors who hunt deer or other animals, you can ask them to recommend a butcher; anyone who does venison will likely also do chickens. Or so I've heard.

Or you can give them away for free, if you're ok with the fact that the takers will likely send them to freezer camp. If your objection is to having them be killed at all, then it's a lot more complicated trying to find someone who will rehome multiple roosters.

 

[Tilhana]

If you really don't want the trouble and expense of feeding birds you don't want and can't process for meat later on, then by all means cull them. Yes they're cute little chicks... but they're going to be culled sooner or later, whether now or in someone's soup pot.

I've had to cull chicks because of illness or deformity. It's not fun... but the most merciful way I've found is to wrap them up in paper towels to keep them warm and feeling secure, then put the bundle into a plastic ziplock baggie and press most of the air out of it before sealing it.

It's a relatively humane, non-scary, bloodless method of culling. As the oxygen runs out, the chick simply falls asleep. They usually don't even peep much unless they get cold.

That sounds a bit inhumane to me...I'm not an expert, maybe it's different for chicks, but people who have nearly drowned would probably disagree about the painlessness of running out of oxygen.

I can see the appeal because it's bloodless, but just because they don't thrash around and bleed doesn't mean it's not panic-inducing. I'm inclined to think that quicker is usually more humane. I've never had to cull a chick so I don't really have a better solution, but I don't think I'd be comfortable using suffocation. I've always let roosters grow up and then cull them once they're big enough to make a decent-sized meal.