How to rehome roos...???

[N&MSchroeder]

You may also want to contact your local 4-H extension office. There may be a group where someone needs a chicken to raise and show. It wouldn't hurt to try and would allow a younger person to learn animal husbandry.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

Consider this -- in a mixed flock the ideal ratio is 1:10-12. Many flocks have no roosters. If you balance that with the rare "rooster sanctuaries" that still leaves job openings for a mere 10% of all roosters hatched. The reality for roosters is that 90% of them have their purpose on a plate somewhere. There really are worse fates for a rooster than to live a good but brief life and then provide nourishment for a grateful human family.

Certainly it is possible to find a good home for a rooster with someone who will keep him for a pet, yard ornament, breeder, or flock husband. But it's not always likely. You have to do what so many suggested, give them away & don't ask questions. Or do not buy straight-run chicks or hatch chicks from eggs.

 

[NYREDS]

the best policy is to offer free roos to a good home and when someone comes to get them don't ask questions, thank them for taking them, wish them a good day, and tell yourself that they went to a good home where they will be treated wonderfully.

This is the best solution. Nature gave us denial, it's up to us to use it as needsed. Remember that most people have just as much use for a lot of extra males as you do.​

 

[drdoolittle]

I agree with Teach97. That's what I did with some of mine-----I gave a few to a co-worker who also has chickens, in trade for 1 pullet. He tells me they are loving it at his place as he put them each in with their own hens------but I take that with a grain of salt, as he knew I couldn't bring myself to butcher them and my son was with me when we dropped them off at his place, and asked, "You're not going to kill them, are you?" But remember, death is a part of life.

 

[Fred's Hens]

Quote:
Agree, folks who live in rooster restricted areas, cannot allow butchering or eating chickens themselves simply must avoid putting themselves into this position. It is a must. There will never, ever be enough "rooster sanctuaries". It simply isn't possible.

Do not buy straight-run chicks or hatch chicks from eggs must be more than mere advice, but a strong principle of self discipline.

 

[michickenwrangler]

If you have excess pullets, try selling them in pairs. I had an extra cochin rooster and sold him with a cochin hen and we had a lot of paying offers on them.

Now I just have EE roos to find something to do with ... I'll probably just eat them at the end of the summer ...

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I had 54 straight run chicks. I thought I'd have to eat all the boys but I have been very successful selling many on craigslist.
They were all quality sought after breeds. I was able to sell Jersey Giants, Polish, Jaerhons, Partridge Rocks. One woman even bought 2 Gold Laced Wyandottes because she wanted new blood in her flocks. They all brought a high price so I know they havent been eaten - yet.
One trick I use in my ad is to describe the breeds, the breeder that bred them, the way they were reared, how they were fed and watered and the amount of free range. This technique works better than an ad that simply says 'roosters available'

The rest of the males, even though I liked them, I processed them myself. I certainly wasn't going to give them to someone else to eat after buying, feeding and caring for them.

I understand the desire to buy sexed chicks, especially for urbanites. But my belief is that by doing so it contributes to the practice of pulverizing day old chicks just because they happen to be boys. Doesn't seem fair. At least all my 'extras' got to be chickens. Play and forage with their friends.

The facts are:
There are 24 billion chickens in the world. The most common vertibrate.
Over 20 million are killed for food every day in the US alone.
Roughly 50 % of chicks are male.
90 % of eggs come from battery hens. In Connecticut alone there are 4.7 million battery hens. Battery hens come from hatcheries that don't save males, it's not in their financial best interest to spare any. So in that small state an equal number of cockerels had to be destroyed.
If we eat chicken, and many of us do, just because we didn't do the deed doesn't mean we didn't cause it to be done.
I'm not perfect and I eat chicken but since I started raising chickens I have never had to eat fast food, restaurant or grocery chicken.

 

[schellie69]

I think the best thing to do is when you decide to keep chickens and you pick from the straight run bin or hatch eggs you need to have a plan to deal with the extra roosters. I have a plan that when my broody hen hatches her eggs extra roosters will be used for dinner. I know that some will be bantam mixes but they will still be used for food. I am sorry but there are just to many roosters and not enough hens for them. Extra roosters become dinner or are destroyed at hatch. It is sad but that is the way it is right now. But I know that the roosters that I raise will have a great life until they become dinner and that is something I am proud of.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I agree, I didn't really relish the idea that some of the birds I would be eating were leghorns, anconas and polish but that's just the way it is.

There is one other option no one mentioned. Kind of like the rooster retirement home.
Find a farm or someone else who CAN keep roosters and offer to pay his feed and housing bill for the rest of his life. That shouldn't come out to more than $400.

 

[Montana-Hens]

I think you need to accept that your birds will be eaten. I think you should pray for a swift humane death. There are not enough retirement homes for all the "unwanted" roosters. This is part of understanding how the food cycle works. Butchering is never fun or easy, but both my city husband and I agree, that by doing it ourselves we know it was humane, and fast. Eating the bird is much more honorable than some of the other choices.