I have a serious rooster problem.

[missnu01]

I love them all for one reason or other...but then I end up with a flock made mostly of roosters. Right now my adult flock is 4 hens and 4 roosters. I have a rooster addiction. Doesn't help that you can't usually sell them...and if you ask me they are all already too old to eat. I have a buff orpington, a blue copper Marans mix (my favorite) an easter egger--good looking guy, nice beard but he's got the same coloring as my favorite rooster red body black and gray on wings and tail, and a salmon faverolle, because who doesn't want a rainbow chicken... I don't like the look of the buff orpington, but he's the head rooster and does an excellent job...so I can't really see myself letting him go just because I find him boring...so basically I'm just wondering how you guys do it, thinning the flock? I can't seem to let any roosters go.

 

[missnu01]

I wouldn't be sad to see the ee gone. And I've got 4 ee Cockerels that I know I want to keep 2 of them...so I've got to get rid of some. Maybe process them and just filet them really thin and put them in the dehydrator for dog treats...? I won't eat them being all touch and chewy...that is exactly what I will do. Dog jerky. Lok

 

[Stiggy]

ok so as long as they all get on it shouldn't be problematic in that sense however you will need more than 4 hens if you are to keep them all....
they advise around 6 hens per rooster unless its a breeding trio. if you are breeding then I would keep the best breeding ones, as hard as it maybe to let the other ones go. although sometimes keeping a pet one is nice also ( I try to keep pet hens but I do have a pet rooster) . chances are that if you advertise them then someone will want them for eating, but you would have to state that they are for eating/ breeding rather then the usual pets only. although chances are you wouldn't get anything for them, but at least they would be out of your hands.

 

[missnu01]

And sometimes I'll let them go for free, but it hurts my inner wallet. Because I've been feeding them and then getting nothing. Lol. I've had some people buy some of the roosters when I do my big winter chicken sale each year, but that is rare. Then again I've had some really nice looking roosters. Anyway. I want some use for them, but know I can't keep them all. Any that are really awesome looking usually I can sell, I just find myself wanting to keep them all. Because this one is pretty, or that one is really nice or whatever. The reason I have the ratio I have now is because last winter I had a hard time telling people no and all my chickens got sold. More than I had planned on selling. So all my hens were just about gone, and my roosters were left. Lol. I'm hoping to get enough chicks hatched this year that i can start selling some chick's.

 

[Stiggy]

I know the feeling but that comes with having chickens, my mother was breeding and ended up with over 500 chickens of which she had to get rid of 99% of the roosters so she made a loss, but she did have all the pullets which kind of made up for it, though chickens were just a hobby, so its expected that you will make a loss. have you tried a 'curry farm' as they are knowen, some people will buy healthy roosters for a few bucks each, it doesn't give you much but its better than nothing. I know what you mean about fave roosters, I had the nicest Silkie boy called Little man, even though he was a great rooster I knew I couldn't keep him forever and I kept his son who was genetically better, but I did find Little man a nice home with a show breeder. So if they are pure bred then you may be able to find a home for them

 

[LindaB220]

And sometimes I'll let them go for free, but it hurts my inner wallet. Because I've been feeding them and then getting nothing. Lol. I've had some people buy some of the roosters when I do my big winter chicken sale each year, but that is rare. Then again I've had some really nice looking roosters. Anyway. I want some use for them, but know I can't keep them all. Any that are really awesome looking usually I can sell, I just find myself wanting to keep them all. Because this one is pretty, or that one is really nice or whatever. The reason I have the ratio I have now is because last winter I had a hard time telling people no and all my chickens got sold. More than I had planned on selling. So all my hens were just about gone, and my roosters were left. Lol. I'm hoping to get enough chicks hatched this year that i can start selling some chick's.

It's easy. Low and slow. Crock pot overnight. They will get tender.

 

[missnu01]

Even when processing them they are nothing but tough muscle, and the one with a target on his neck is a young easter egger....He doesn't look too tasty. My head roo though looks like a meal. Lol. I even have a plan for making my own chicken breed sort of. Some mix that is perfect for me, but I have a really hard time getting rid of the chickens I don't want. I'm not sure why I got salmon faverolles in the first place, other than I really like the look of the roosters, and I like their little feather feet and beards, but they aren't a purposeful bird, too small to eat, don't lay very well, so on and so forth, but I keep them still. Once I have more hens though I'm going to have to make some serious switching. I want all large fowl, none that are white. No ornamentals, I want birds that lay and I can eat. I've already got a really big very virile buff orpington, and some huge easter egger mix hen. No beard, green legs, brown eggs. I bought her as an easter egger, but she's definitely even more muttley than your average ee. I'll get it. But I always make the plan, and then don't stick to it. But I have quite a few up and coming production reds of some sort or other, and a couple more easter eggers, and a whole batch of my own mixes, which I somehow managed to get bantam buff orpington mixes...not sure what they will turn into. But I'll get it. I just get so attached to the roosters. I see the hens as money. Money in chick's, money when I sell them, but the roosters are just I don't know. Beautiful. I'm going to end up a backwards farm...nothing but roosters...no no no. I won't let it get that bad. Like OK my salmon faverolles rooster isn't very good I don't think. Then again I don't know too much about breed standard, but it's like he's just too squat and wide, his stance looks wrong. I have one rooster with the most beautiful tail, and I would love to have more like him, but he's the second rooster. The big orange roo is one of the best I've had. He's big and attentive to the hens. Always watching and taking care of them, but he has a super wrong comb, everything else is good, except the comb. But I also never planned to breed to any standard. I just need to get a grip on my addiction to roosters. lol

 

[donrae]

I butchered a 4 year old rooster. 45 minutes in the pressure cooker and the meat fell off the bone. Might give that a try if you need to thin them out.

When you hatch chicks you always need to have a plan for the roosters, and stick to it!

 

[missnu01]

This is true. Maybe I will try and eat a few of the ones coming up I have. 2 are bound for the chopping block already. I will eat young roosters. No problem. Might even try eating an older one one day. Last time I tried it was actually a teenage rooster. Had just matured. Thinking maybe trying to eat one at its hormonal peak was the issue all along.

 

[missnu01]

But I've got 13 chick's that hatched Monday, so I'll have more roosters to figure out. And I've got another 18 set again on Monday, so I'll have to get good at ridding myself of the roosters. I just can't eat a pretty rooster. Lol abs they so often are pretty