I feel horrible...dont make the same mistake.

[rcentner]

I am sorry you had to see that, I got all teary eyed just reading it. It's hard to know they will likely be killed, but to see them screaming breaks my heart. My DH was talking to me about breeding and selling some pure bred birds, and made the point that I might have to deal with the same sort of thing, we won't be breeding just for that reason. I hope that is the last time you have to do that.

 

[Chickenaddict]

Like most have stated already its a tough life for a rooster. I frequently go to swaps to sell a few birds here and there and see how people carry them around by either their feet, wings or just one wing. I feel like people should respect the animal even if it is intended for the dinner plate. It drives me CRAZY to see people mistreat them like that. In fact I have a hard time keeping my mouth shut when I see that. I am so sorry you had such a bad experience

 

[lockedhearts]

I am sorry you had to learn a horrible reality, but even if you sell them privately, once money changes hands, the buyer can do as they want. I have sold horses all my life, a friend of mine told me one day "sell them and forget them" hard, absolutely but I kept in touch with the people that bought one horse and I looked them up one day, the horse was in awful shape and it broke my heart. I have never willingly looked up another horse that I have sold since. What we perceive as the right way to treat a chicken and what someone else perceives is likely different.

The fact that you were able to sell roosters is amazing, I just gave 6 away and in the back of my mind I know their destiny.

 

[attached_mama]

I'm so sorry! I'd be upset too.

 

[thndrdancr]

Some of you all are harsh. I have a very tender heart and it also breaks my heart to see them screaming. I have had my hubby cull a very few over the past couple years, and we even eat them, but I usually give them a hug first, tears are shed by me anyhow, but even the worst meanest rooster gets a wish for them happy flying over the bridge.

I have taught my hubby this as well, its a totally new school for him to think of other living things as having some type of spirit to wish on their way. You can still have the cycle of life without it being so callous.

These were pure bred, so she didnt think they would end up on the meat table, and it does depend on the type of auction you go to. I have some pure bbs orp roos that are gorgeous, but I fear selling mine at the auction, would rather eat them myself than to see them go for a song where they will be on someone else dinner table after being scared, etc.

I realize its a sad fact of life, I am 46 and still cant accept it. Resigned to it, yes, but I believe everyone should have a heart when it comes to other living things.

 

[greathorse]

I want to be clear, I have been a butcher for my entire life, my father ran a country slaughter house and I was there helping every day. The animals on our farm got the very best of care and on the day they "went across the bridge" they went in the most humane quick way possible. I was taught that we should have reverence for those things we harvest. There was a similar reverence for when we went to pick corn or harvest beans, a reverence for the life we will maintain as a result of these harvests.

I don't have patience for those that fuss about the fact that someone bought their chicken and intend now to eat it. I find a completely inconsistent philosophpy to keep and breed chickens but fuss about the final result of most of the roosters. If you keep chickens in your back yard and you don't have a one on one ration of hens or roosters, then in my opinion you have created the end game for that rooster just as surely as if you had the hatchet yourself. I for that matter have a lot of respect for those that can and do use the hatchet to take that bird to its final place.

I have no respect for the hand wringers that wish life was different than what it really is and hope blindly that they will not be exposed to the hatchet process.

 

[duck walk]

I hear you greathorse...I am a total softy BUT, I can do what must be done and I have in the past butured and filled my freezer...I just rather not kill things these days and factory farms are horrifying to me...it ain't like it used to be on the family farm...food animals were raised but they had a decent life and respect...they were appreciated for more than digestion or a fat wallet...

 

[acid_chipmunk]

While I feel bad for the OP and being only 16, it had to be hard to watch that, once you sell the birds, you have no say over what is done to them. Just the other day Hubby had to cull 2 of our layers for incessant feather picking that we couldn't stop. Last night they were dinner for Hubby and my son and daughter (I was at work). My kids know that eventually, the chickens (and ducks) will get eaten and even though they all have names and we love them, they accept this.



Hubby and I also raise Boer goats. We scour Craigslist and other sites looking for nice looking does to add to our herd. There are lots of ads for them out there, but the majority of them say "NOT FOR MEAT, PETS ONLY". IMO, if I am giving you money for them, you should be lucky that someone is and you have no right to tell me what I can and can not do with them. ALL of my animals are loved and cared for and treated the best they possibly can be, but eventually they will end up as food.

 

[MuranoFarms]

I'm so sorry that happened to you and your babies.

I am not a vegetarian. Your story, and many like it are the very reason that I am considering processing my own boys instead of selling them. For one thing, how much sense does it make to sell my roo's then spend money at the grocery store for chicken? Secondly, I've seen inside a commercial poultry facility and my animals are happier and healthier! I would feel worse if my boys were transported somewhere else, not treated the same way I would treat them, and still ended up on a dinner plate! At least if I process them here, they never have to leave home and I know they are treated humanely till the end.


KellyG, I like your idea for giving away the roos. If I had somewhere like that around here I would do the same thing.

 

[Alabama ee]

I think it is possible that he bought them to resell if they were pretty and Marens. 5.00 a piece is a lot to pay for a rooster you are going to eat. However, some people might do that if they could sell them and make 2-3 on the deal. There's a lot of folks around here that buy at an auction, then turn around and resell at a higher price.

Where we are, you see free roosters all the time. I know most of those that are free probably do end up in someone's dinner pot. However, on yours he paid a pretty high price for something he was going to eat. So, just maybe, they will find their way to a good home.