Illinois...

[MeepBeep]

I'm unloading a bunch of my roos next week, a friend is driving up from TN to take them off my hands...

What is your friend going to do with them?  Crockpot?

He just wants a bunch of free range chickens running around his property... I would crockpot them myself but my daughters are not ready to accept them as food, to them they are still 'pets'...

 

[jerryse]

My last Orpington roo took 5.5 months. He was the only male. I kept him around for protection, but he wasn't good quality for breeding.

This season, my biggest orp started crowing between 12-13 weeks. He started mating the hens about a week after his 1st crow. Now at age 5 months, the 2 orps have very strong crows & all my eggs are looking fertile. The breeder said their daddy was also an early bloomer. My Bielefelder (same age) has yet to crow & is not mating. It's funny, but all 3 males show no interest in the pullets their own age. They care only for the older females.

Hatcheries try to get rid of the cockerels and avoid bad press. The facts leaked out about how they destroy the cockerels .I remember a few years ago a friend was upset about this . I told her she was part of the problem because she would not buy skinny Leghorn cockerels for frying .

 

[ChicagoClucker]

Rooster idea:
To prevent my roos from crowing in the early am, I brought them into the house last night. I put them in a large plastic storage bin with a home-made mesh top. I read that if a roo can't stretch up, he can't crow. FALSE. My roos can crow laying down.

PRO: I'm very sure the neighbors didn't hear any crowing at 6:20am.
CON: I heard crowing at 6:20am. I put them outside around 8:30am & they felt like they needed to make up for lost time. (Lots of crowing & mating!)

My next trial will involve covering with a blanket or moving the box to a very dark area. Anyone else have an idea to share?

* My neighbors never complained, but I do not want to give any reason. Once the winter windows go up & the days are shorter, There won't be any crowing heard before 8am.

Well I am going to follow your progress and see if you find something that works. I am going to try and keep 3 for sure and perhaps a 4th because I feel sorry for him. He has bad toes. The only one crowing right now is the bantam cochin and it is adorable, not loud at all. But once the Orps begin, I am hoping for a miracle!

 

[cavemanrich]

Hatcheries try to get rid of the cockerels and avoid bad press. The facts leaked out about how they destroy the cockerels .I remember a few years ago a friend was upset about this . I told her she was part of the problem because she would not buy skinny Leghorn cockerels for frying .

I'm not sure what is the fate of these cockerels from the hatcheries, but this is my observation ::: I eat fried chicken often. ( not mine as they are only pets. ) I have had it at different establishments. I can name them but it is not all that important. What I get are some pretty small pieces of chicken and it comes as a 3 or 4 piece meal. These places must be buying up these small roosters while they are still young and tender, ( PIECES ARE SMALL ).. I'm sure the establishments are paying by the pound. Smaller pieces equal less pounds and a fatter bottom line for them.. When I buy grocery store chickens to cook at home, the pieces are normal size. I'm sure wholesale distributors have for sale what suits your needs. ... NOTHING GOES TO WASTE. Even the spent battery hens find themselves as pet food or animal protein for feed. In developing countries, even the oldest and roughest chickens get consumed by people there. These are the realities of our world.

 

[MeepBeep]

I'm not sure what is the fate of these cockerels from the hatcheries, but this is my observation :::

Most dual purpose and/or heritage roo chicks are sold to animal food companies and processed that same day for cat/dog foods, those breeds are not cost effective to feed and raise to a larger size for food due to their slow growth rate...

Cornish X or other rapid grow high bred meat roos are possibly sold to farms to raise for meat, that assumes the hatchery has a deal with a local farm or else they just go to the same animal food processing plants...

The reality of it is that it's simply not cost effective for chicken farms to raise dual purpose or heritage breeds for meat except for niche markets... A chicken farm can raise a Cornish X to fried chicken venue size in about 5 weeks, while it would take about 5 months to raise a dual purpose or heritage bird to that size... And they can raise Cornish X to the big fat store sized portions in 6-7 weeks time, when it would take 6 months to a year to get a dual purpose or heritage chicken to a similar size, and even after that long of time the dual purpose/heritage bird would have significantly less white meat and that is where the money is at...

This is the reason that Cornish X birds account for over 80% of all chicken meat in the US, traditional breeds simply cost too much and take too much time to raise for meat thus the reason those roos are processed as day old chicks for animal feed...

 

[MeeMa Brown]

What 5:30? I've heard ours crow at 2:30 am and he always starts at 4 - 4:30 am for at least 10 crows every 5 seconds. Neighbors say the don't mind or hear them. Well I do, and would like to ring a neck somedays. 

Mine starts crowing at light by 5:30-6:00 so we're fortunate. He go to coop early, about 30 min.before fully dusk.

 

[cavemanrich]

Quote:
Well, I'm not going to disagree with what you are saying, Now lets say we meet somewhere , ( THIS IS ONLY A SCENARIO,) like the Kankakee swap meet , and both our groups were hungry.. So I suggest that we chicken out . LOL, You would see what I am suggesting.. Those white meat pieces hardly have any meat to them. and the drum sticks look as big as some of the wing pieces at the GOOD WING JOINTS... JUST MY OBSERVATION.
I often stop by the live poultry store near my home. They sell whatever you want. They have the Cornish X of course as well as many other types. ( including banties,) These chickens did not just appear from outer space. A farmer raised them and the butch purchased and processed and sold them. There is a profit in this as well , otherwise it would not be happening. So maybe this is the 20% I am seeing..

 

[MeepBeep]

So maybe this is the 20% I am seeing..

Yes, you are seeing the give or take 20% niche market, where prices and profits are drastically different then big commercial chicken farms...

Consider the amount of birds hatched every day by a single big 'pet chicken' hatchery... Take for example Meyer Hatchery in their video on the front page says they hatch over 900,000 a year, that means they maybe have 400,000 baby roos a year to get rid of, or seven thousand a week? That would likely flood any local niche 'meat' market beyond saturation at that rate if every one was sold to be raised for meat...

We are price driven society, only niche markets will pay a premium the masses won't...

 

[Faraday40]

Interesting discussion topics.

So here's a question: How do I find a business to process my extra chickens/roos? and What is a good price? Do these places handle 2 birds or only larger orders of 10+ chickens?
Although I have no problem eating chicken, I would have difficulty butchering my own. A drop off/ pick up is more our speed.

OR

If someone is planning a processing party, I would be willing to help & learn. (Just not on my own birds yet.)

 

[ChicagoClucker]

Interesting discussion topics.

So here's a question: How do I find a business to process my extra chickens/roos? and What is a good price? Do these places handle 2 birds or only larger orders of 10+ chickens?
Although I have no problem eating chicken, I would have difficulty butchering my own. A drop off/ pick up is more our speed.

OR

If someone is planning a processing party, I would be willing to help & learn. (Just not on my own birds yet.)

I know they have places in the city. I found this place on Yelp, they stock live chickens to be butchered, but there is a review from a man in Brookfield that brought his birds in to be butchered. http://www.yelp.com/biz/alliance-poultry-farms-chicago