How to cull a rooster when you don't want too?

[ForTheLoveOfSilkies]

I know the day will come when I'll have to face a similar dilemma. Here's how I think about it:

I give my chickens a good life keeping them fed, safe, and happy. When the time arrives and I can't do it (for whatever reason), I will do my best to find them a good home. If I cannot, I'll cull them, even though it will be very difficult. I see it as a better alternative to putting them in a bad situation.

It helps that I think about my chickens as a hobby vs. pets. I'm fond of them, give them names, and enjoy their company. But I don't view them like family (as I do with my cats).

I know chicken keepers have different relationships with their flock and, as long as they're treated well, owners are entitled to relate however they choose.

Hope this helps.

Yes better them having them go to a bad home..when I sell chickens I always check out their home first to see if it's suitable and the people will care for them.

 

[ForTheLoveOfSilkies]

I had the same emotional hurdle that blocked me from killing my rooster, I felt selfish for wanting to take away a perfectly healthy life that wanted to live. The emotional hurdle is the hardest to jump. I luckily found a place last second. The people here on BYC are incredible and were lifting me up to help me jump that large hurdle. I didn't need to, but I was standing on top of it. I made it up, but didn't need to jump to the other side. I hope they can lift you up like they did me, even if you do need to jump to the otherside. Best of luck.

thank you. It does seem selfish to take a healthy life

 

[Aunt Angus]

If you are willing, I've entertained the idea of offering to "sponsor" my rooster if I had to rehome him. If you donate money to a rescue, they may be more open to taking him.

And - this is insane - have you thought about keeping house roosters? I had to do this for a bit when we were between houses. I was staying with my mom, and her neighbors could not suffer my boy's crowing. So, while we were waiting for the paperwork to clear on our new house, we diapered our boy and brought him inside. He still crowed, but not as much, and we just kept him in a large crate at night in another part of the house, so it wasn't that bad. And he ran around the house during the day. He was quite happy. Might be able to bring just one in and see if the flock settles down.

Crazy. I know.

 

[ForTheLoveOfSilkies]

If you are willing, I've entertained the idea of offering to "sponsor" my rooster if I had to rehome him. If you donate money to a rescue, they may be more open to taking him.

And - this is insane - have you thought about keeping house roosters? I had to do this for a bit when we were between houses. I was staying with my mom, and her neighbors could not suffer my boy's crowing. So, while we were waiting for the paperwork to clear on our new house, we diapered our boy and brought him inside. He still crowed, but not as much, and we just kept him in a large crate at night in another part of the house, so it wasn't that bad. And he ran around the house during the day. He was quite happy.
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Thanks for your ideas.. and that's lovely that your boy had a good life as a house pet for a while.. I personally wouldn't have a chicken inside as a pet unless I was in your situation where they couldn't be outside.

 

[Aunt Angus]

Thanks for your ideas.. and that's lovely that your boy had a good life as a house pet for a while.. I personally wouldn't have a chicken inside as a pet unless I was in your situation where they couldn't be outside.

Don't blame you! It was weird. He's back out with his girls now and back to being his ornery self. For us, it was either being a house rooster or being dead because no one would take him. We went with the former.

 

[docteurshepherd]

They are your responsibility.
Pull yourself up by your bra/bootstraps and just do it.
You do it quickly and humanely.
Or look for someone who will and agree that they keep the meat.

Yeah as blunt as this may sound I have to second this. I feel like this is an issue that's becoming more common as more "city slickers" , urban/backyard farmers or people who just don't have experience with country or farm life try it out. I don't really know what to say other than what nuthatched already did. People really need to do it though if it's the best decision, as for how I do it.. quickly and humanely.

I don't enjoy it, I hate it a lot, I feel bad for even days afterwards. It's sort of funny the disconnect and how I'm inbetween these two worlds. I could tell a complete city slicker that I butchered a duck and I feel bad, and they would probably think you should feel bad! That's horrible! But if I told a local farmer that I butchered a duck and felt bad, they would probably think I'm overly sensitive. I guess my feeling on it is that you are doing something right, which is caring for the bird and trying to find it a home first.. that is as long as it's not aggressive and you're just putting a problem on somebody else, it's sick, etc. Empathy is key, I truly believe if you don't have empathy, then what are you doing keeping animals? So yes, you should take it seriously. To others it may be only a chicken, but it is a life.

I suppose something else about that I've noticed is you can go too far, in the pretense of caring for the animal. I've seen that a lot with people who don't have experience with it, they keep an animal that is suffering alive as long as they can under the false pretense of caring for its wellbeing, when in reality they're doing it just so they don't have to take a life as it would make them feel bad, which in reality is actually coming from a place of selfishness.

 

[Roo2D2]

Culling animals is tough. I use to use a pellet gun and a head shot to the brain. It is instant and painless. However on one roo he moved at the last second and didn't hit his brain. He freaked out as well as I did. I grabbed the hatchet and then ran after him. He made it to my work area of the garage before I could grab him. He was flopping around and I struck my finger instead of his neck with the hatchet. It cut length-wise on my finger and it left a good scar. The 2nd swing partially cut his head off. I let go as I thought the ax went completely through. The poor roo flopped around from the nerves with his head hanging on by the skin at a horrifying angle. His blood went all over the work area and on me.

It took me a long time after that to harvest another chicken. I also raised meat chickens but couldn't bring myself to kill them. The meat chicken in the video below grew so big that he weighed 23 pounds. I finally had to harvest him and his sisters after one broke a leg.

 

[JCaseyHammond]

How do you bring yourself to cull a rooster because you have too many?

I have let my Silkies breed and produce cute little fluffy things but I know I will have too many roosters, so after trying to sell them with no response, how do you bring yourself to cull a rooster that you keep just because you can't bring yourself to do the cull?
I would never treat my chickens bad and always feed and care for every one of them, rooster or not, but I don't want to keep roosters in a seperate bachelor coop. I admit I already have a cockerel separate in another coop because he looks good so I have kept him and given him some pullets for company but I have a young 9 week old that I know I will not want to breed with and he isn't a unique colour so I have been trying to sell him. Do I give him a few more weeks up for sale or do I cull? And if cull, how do I bring myself to cull it?
I have only killed one chicken in my life when she was very sick and I tried everything to help her, she was near dead so I ended her suffering poor girl, I was so upset about doing it but knew I had to do it to end her pain. So how on earth would I kill a perfectly healthy chicken!? And just because I don't want it? I feel so bad! How can I kill him if he doesn't sell? How do I bring myself to do it!? Is it better to do it young or just allow him to grow up a little more and live out his little life?

Ok first of all, cockerels don’t go until they crow, so enjoy watching them grow up. I recommend finding a livestock auction and dropping them off on the morning the auction sells the poultry. This strategy works very well to pay for part of the feed and help other people find the breeds they need. The auction wants them in pairs of the same breed or color so I sell a hen or 2 with the rooster as a breeding trio. Also I don’t use an incubator and only set enough eggs under my broodies so that each hen gets to raise a couple of chicks. I swap the eggs around under the broody hens when they are hatching. Hen 1 gets the first 2 hatchlings, hen 2 gets the next 2 hatchlings, and so on.

 

[docteurshepherd]

Culling animals is tough. I use to use a pellet gun and a head shot to the brain. It is instant and painless. However on one roo he moved at the last second and didn't hit his brain. He freaked out as well as I did. I grabbed the hatchet and then ran after him. He made it to my work area of the garage before I could grab him. He was flopping around and I struck my finger instead of his neck with the hatchet. It cut length-wise on my finger and it left a good scar. The 2nd swing partially cut his head off. I let go as I thought the ax went completely through. The poor roo flopped around from the nerves with his head hanging on by the skin at a horrifying angle. His blood went all over the work area and on me.

It took me a long time after that to harvest another chicken. I also raised meat chickens but couldn't bring myself to kill them. The meat chicken in the video below grew so big that he weighed 23 pounds. I finally had to harvest him and his sisters after one broke a leg.

oof. Yeah when you cull animals you do tend to have some bad experiences. I do the same thing just about, hatches I don't tend to like, I've had too many instances where I had to go a second time to go all the way through and I just don't like that. So, I lay them down, gently place my boot on their legs, and .22 hollowpoint the brain. I've had bad instances with that as well though, like one I hit in the jaw, don't ask, I didn't lay this one down as I couldn't catch it, I know I know, anyways I'll never do that again.

 

[ForTheLoveOfSilkies]

oof. Yeah when you cull animals you do tend to have some bad experiences. I do the same thing just about, hatches I don't tend to like, I've had too many instances where I had to go a second time to go all the way through and I just don't like that. So, I lay them down, gently place my boot on their legs, and .22 hollowpoint the brain. I've had bad instances with that as well though, like one I hit in the jaw, don't ask, I didn't lay this one down as I couldn't catch it, I know I know, anyways I'll never do that again.

I have only done it once for a sick hen, and did it broomstick method. Dislocation of the neck. All worked well thankfully. I would be deeply distraught if I went through a situation like yours.