How to manage a rude rooster?

[Ridgerunner]

First, a link to the "sticky" section of the meat bird section on this forum. Lots of good information with photos on dispatching and prepping a chicken to cook. If you have any specific questions on any of this after you read it just ask. Many of us have experience with different methods.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/meat-section-sticky-topic-index.248648/

There are two basic ways to defeather a chicken, either plucking or skinning. Either one will be a learning experience for you but both work. To pluck, you should scald him. Dunk his whole body in hot water until the wing feathers pull out easily, then he is ready. I skin mine, cut the skin at the belly and pull and tear it off. A 22 week cockerel will probably have some connective tissue holding the skin on, especially on the small of the back and on the wings. The legs can be challenging also. A sharp knife can help if that connective tissue becomes a problem.

Don't be upset if it doesn't go perfectly. It won't, you haven't done it before. That's why I call it a learning experience.

Try to not cut the intestines but if you do it is not a problem. Just rinse the meat off. I use a lot of water from a hose with a spray head to rinse my hands, the meat, and the work station.

This link is to a thread on here. Read the whole thing, not just my post in it. You might get something helpful.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/processing-weekend-any-good-links.1671784/#post-28730279

Lots of people process excess cockerels. There was always a first time for all of us. Good luck!

 

[Mrs. K]

There was always a first time for all of us. Good luck!

A very good point, very tough at the time, but really rather funny when you look back on it.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Yeah... it was a lot of work. We don't even do it ourselves any more after trying it once on 4 cockerels on a hot fall afternoon. (We're old! And I'm an old city girl, so ...) We have a lovely Mennonite neighbor that does it as a side line at $2/head, can't beat that with a stick. If I was younger I might have been stubborn enough to have learned how, but ... meh.

 

[Nickpicsss]

If you do decide in the future that you want to have a rooster, aim for getting a breed of chicken that is known for being calmer. While it won't guarantee that the rooster isn't aggressive, I've found far better success in getting rooster from a calmer breed.

There are likely some good videos online for dressing a chicken. I also tend to stay away from the culling side of chickens so I'm not too familiar. I usually get a family member to do that for me.

thank you for this! What calmer/more docile breeds do you prefer for roosters?

 

[Nickpicsss]

Yeah... it was a lot of work. We don't even do it ourselves any more after trying it once on 4 cockerels on a hot fall afternoon. (We're old! And I'm an old city girl, so ...) We have a lovely Mennonite neighbor that does it as a side line at $2/head, can't beat that with a stick. If I was younger I might have been stubborn enough to have learned how, but ... meh.

I need to find someone to help me! Haha I’d like to learn, but I’d like to help someone at least the first couple times - we would like meat birds at one point! I’m just so annoyed he decide to be mean randomly. He charged me when I was trying to get a snake out of my dogs pen. Thankfully I was next to their poop shovel and swung it at him a couple times and he backed off lol

 

[Nym]

I need to find someone to help me! Haha I’d like to learn, but I’d like to help someone at least the first couple times - we would like meat birds at one point! I’m just so annoyed he decide to be mean randomly. He charged me when I was trying to get a snake out of my dogs pen. Thankfully I was next to their poop shovel and swung it at him a couple times and he backed off lol

Never turn your back on a mean roo. I can't find my post on my experience with an Araucana cockerel, but he came to me as a 7wk ago and as part of breeder deal; meaning she would take back any chicks that turned out to be male. In the end he flooged me, leaving a nasty gash in my left calf, and this was through heavy denim. In the following days I could see him watching me when I was at the clothes line or doing other bits around the yard. At lock-up I kept my two dogs close to me until he was in the coop. I could see him watching this new tactic of mine. A few days later he decided to go for my dog as soon as she took her eyes off him. She instantly had him cornered. No one was hurt in the scrum, but I called his breeder to come get him. No way was I having that stress in my yard. When his breeder arrived, she told me she kept an aggressive roo because he was a good breeder. She was breeding aggression down the line. Not long after he left, one of his sisters ended up lightly flogging me on the way to the coop one afternoon. I sold them both shortly after that. The new owner added them to a flock of 16 birds and says they give him no issues.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Breeding aggression!? Wow.

 

[Folly's place]

I have two hens who are less polite than most, and neither will have chicks here, ever!
One is Speckled Sussex, who took real work on my part to stop her biting, at my jeans for anything she wanted. Serious biting, and I kept her rather than moving her on to someone less experienced, or with children. The other is a white Chantecler, who seriously bites (tries, anyway) when in a nest box, NOT broody, just wanting privacy for herself in the box.
Both are outliers, but won't reproduce here.
I don't keep obnoxious cockerels or roosters, and won't breed on human aggressive birds.
Mary

 

[Nym]

Breeding aggression!? Wow.

She is a tough Russian woman, and she meant business when she was here capturing him. She said he attacked me because I was afraid if him. I said I wasn't afraid of him until he gashed me, then went for my dogs.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

She is a tough Russian woman, and she meant business when she was here capturing him. She said he attacked me because I was afraid if him. I said I wasn't afraid of him until he gashed me, then went for my dogs.

I hate it when people say things like that. Like it's always the human's fault. Yeah right. You're well rid of him, and it was NOT your fault!