How to ensure your cockerels are going to a good place.

[subhanalah]

Okay, I'm at the point now where the EE roos are making themselves known.
I don't have the time or patience to grow them all out to eat them and plan on giving them away (or selling them?) For someone to eat.
However, I am concerned for the same reasons one would be concerned about giving away a pit bull. There are people out there who want them for *unspoken* reasons.
Any questions I can ask or signs I can look for to indicate that a person has nefarious intentions with my chickens? I just want them to be fat and happy and humanely dispatched.

If all that is asking too much from another person, I can always make the time and practice my patience to keep them until they are ready to be eaten, but short of caponizing, I'm not real sure how I would convince the neighbors!

 

[osbmail]

Unless you are raising breeds that are for that intended purpose. I don't think anybody would care to use just regular dual purpose barn yard chickens for that .I don't know anything about these people but the image have is that not only did they want a special breed they certain parents too .

 

[SIMZ]

I don't know...........I've read that any rooster can be used as a bait bird.

That's the problem, as I see it. It's a chance you either have to take, or dispatch them humanely yourself -- maybe even now at this age. You could try to sell them first, and kind of get a feel for who contacts you. I would put a price on them, though, not just give them away. If someone is willing to pay, you can talk to them and give them a deal after you test the vibes a bit.

 

[ChickenLegs13]

It's of little concern to me what the new owner does with my chickens. But on the rare occasion that I do get rid of a chicken instead of killing it myself I usually know the people and that they they are backyard chicken growers, farmers, hobbyist etc and what their intentions are.

 

[bobbi-j]

Do you live in an area where cockfighting is common? Where I live, I wouldn't think twice about giving away or selling extra roosters, because I know they'd either become part of a flock, or be eaten. Either one would be fine with me. But cockfighting just doesn't happen around here, so it would never even cross my mind. (Actually, we butcher and eat all of our extra roosters, so giving them away or selling them isn't really an issue. Just wanted to make the point that how your roosters may end up depends a lot on where you live).

 

[subhanalah]

I'm not really aware of the goings ons of where I live as far as the underworld is concerned, but I do know that dog fighting is pretty common.

 

[Whoops]

I'm not really aware of the goings ons of where I live as far as the underworld is concerned, but I do know that dog fighting is pretty common.

You could ask a set of questions: What do you feed them? At what age do you plan to slaughter them? What is your technique?

People lie, of course, but they would have to think up believable answers, which would clue you in.

Or ask them to show you a picture of the pen where they plan to keep them until they are of a reasonable weight to slaughter.

Or, only give them to people who already have chickens.

 

[RogerShoaf]

Do you have such a concern when you sell a used car?

How do you know that it will not be used to run down a person or used in a bank heist as a get away car?

What if a pervert wanted one because if he parked it in his targets neighborhood it would not look suspicious as he lurked.

 

[Whoops]

A car isn't a living thing. If someone takes it to a bumpercar rally or pulls off its bumpers and uses it to teach their monster truck how to roll over stuff, or sets it on fire and videos it for youtube, nothing suffers. There will always be an excess of roosters, and I don't have a problem with people eating them. Mine is destined for the chilly white coop in the kitchen. It sounds like the original poster doesn't object to that plan, either. But, that doesn't make cockerels trash to be tortured for entertainment. If you take on responsibility for them by hatching them out or getting them with your chick order, then you need to pay some attention to what happens to them after they leave your care. At least, that's my philosophy. Other people have different views.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

A car isn't a living thing. If someone takes it to a bumpercar rally or pulls off its bumpers and uses it to teach their monster truck how to roll over stuff, or sets it on fire and videos it for youtube, nothing suffers. There will always be an excess of roosters, and I don't have a problem with people eating them. Mine is destined for the chilly white coop in the kitchen. It sounds like the original poster doesn't object to that plan, either. But, that doesn't make cockerels trash to be tortured for entertainment. If you take on responsibility for them by hatching them out or getting them with your chick order, then you need to pay some attention to what happens to them after they leave your care. At least, that's my philosophy. Other people have different views.

Very well said - and quite in line with my own philosophy! Being destined for eating after humane butchery is one thing - being destined to be used for nefarious activity is another. *I*, personally, will never knowingly send ANY animal (chicken, cat, dog - the latter two we get several of each year courtesy of others who choose to dump them on our property) to a living situation in which they will be treated cruelly.