Illinois...

[Faraday40]

An interesting picture from my friend in Ireland. I think this is how the free range people are temporarily getting around the fact that they're chickens are not free ranging right now due to a i.
View attachment 3130867

I've been also telling people that my hens are not free ranging right now. (Boy, can I tell the difference!! My eggs still taste like winter eggs! Better than store, but certainly not cheaper.) Most of their food consists of pellets - which have increased in price. With the great weather, I've been working in the yard. I miss having my chickens with me as I weed. I was very tempted to let them out.

To top it off, the IL Dept of Ag decided today to keep safety measures in place for another 45 days, since AI was found as recently as May17. (We heard via 4-H that all county poultry shows have been cancelled.... also swap meets, auctions, etc The state fair in August will be decided in June.

 

[sarajo24]

Hi everyone, I am new to BYC and saw there is an Illinois thread. I have 6 youngins' that were born the first week of march. I am from the western suburbs of Chicago and unfortunately not allowed to have roos. I have tried to find our blue laced golden wyandotte cockerel a home in various chicken groups on Facebook. Any ideas on where else to look? Might have to resign myself to euthanasia. Our neighbors are not very forgiving so we have to follow DuPage County rules to a T. Local rescues I've found aren't accepting intakes because of avian flu.

 

[Molpet]

Hi everyone, I am new to BYC and saw there is an Illinois thread. I have 6 youngins' that were born the first week of march. I am from the western suburbs of Chicago and unfortunately not allowed to have roos. I have tried to find our blue laced golden wyandotte cockerel a home in various chicken groups on Facebook. Any ideas on where else to look? Might have to resign myself to euthanasia. Our neighbors are not very forgiving so we have to follow DuPage County rules to a T. Local rescues I've found aren't accepting intakes because of avian flu.

Welcome to byc and the Illinois thread.
Hoping you can find a home for your boy.
Several of us process our roos for food, I know that's not your preference though.

 

[SnootyHen]

They have such a nice way of saying things. Here we'd just stop selling eggs, make the farmers cull their flocks and claim it was for public health without eve checking if the birds were sick.

 

[SnootyHen]

Hi everyone, I am new to BYC and saw there is an Illinois thread. I have 6 youngins' that were born the first week of march. I am from the western suburbs of Chicago and unfortunately not allowed to have roos. I have tried to find our blue laced golden wyandotte cockerel a home in various chicken groups on Facebook. Any ideas on where else to look? Might have to resign myself to euthanasia. Our neighbors are not very forgiving so we have to follow DuPage County rules to a T. Local rescues I've found aren't accepting intakes because of avian flu.

Welcome! Unfortunately we can't have roos here in Tinley either. Depending on where you got him, some places will take back roos if you bought sexed pullets that turned out to be boys. Though I am not sure those boys don't end up in the freezer anyway. Have you contacted any small farms?

 

[Ananta]

Hi guys m, I live in the Chicago area and was wondering if anyone would be interested in taking in some chicks? Just send a message my way if your interested, unfortunately I can’t keep them at this time as planned.

 

[Justso]

Hi everyone, I am new to BYC and saw there is an Illinois thread. I have 6 youngins' that were born the first week of march. I am from the western suburbs of Chicago and unfortunately not allowed to have roos. I have tried to find our blue laced golden wyandotte cockerel a home in various chicken groups on Facebook. Any ideas on where else to look? Might have to resign myself to euthanasia. Our neighbors are not very forgiving so we have to follow DuPage County rules to a T. Local rescues I've found aren't accepting intakes because of avian flu.

Welcome to BYC!
Sorry about the cockerel. Unfortunately I have to "do the deed" here too.

 

[cavemanrich]

I was very tempted to let them out.

Did you feel like Homer????

 

[sarajo24]

Welcome to byc and the Illinois thread.
Hoping you can find a home for your boy.
Several of us process our roos for food, I know that's not your preference though.

I think I have come to terms with it. My boyfriend has done it in the past so he knows how, I'm just the emotionally attached one. Although he is kind of a jerk (the cockerel, not the bf ) so I might not miss him as much as I think!

 

[Faraday40]

I think I have come to terms with it. My boyfriend has done it in the past so he knows how, I'm just the emotionally attached one. Although he is kind of a jerk (the cockerel, not the bf ) so I might not miss him as much as I think!

Glad it's not the BF who may lose his head!

If someone is willing to take the rooster, it's always better. But this year has additional biosecurity problems due to the AI.

It took me a few years to be able to process a rooster and just making the decision to have someone else do it is difficult. Logically, you've spent time and money caring for the cockerel. Why throw that away? The bird had a better life than any commercial chicken. Yes, it's hard to accept emotionally. (If killing were easy for you, you'd have much bigger problems!) Throw the meat in the freezer after resting. You may decide to eat it later or give it away to friend/family

I tend to procrastinate when it comes to this. However, once I'm done and my backyard is peaceful and my chicken chores are lighter, I often wonder why I waited so long.