Maine

[Paulajon]

They are on craigslist, on freecycle, facebook. you name it.

So in essence, we have to kill these birds who we hatched from eggs? Anyone want to tell my son that? I don't. And exactly how do we kill them?

Try calling animal shelters, sometimes they may have people that have asked about chickens or people that work there that have farms to take them, the shelter where I worked did take in chickens when they had room or people working there could take them home, worth a try....or they may know of some help to rehome......hope it works out for you....

 

[Paulajon]

Quote: I have tried the pellet and some of my hens had trouble adjusting to it and I have silkies so pellet doesn't work for me.

 

[hoppy]

I'm sorry, it is a part of having chickens, dealing with the extras. if you are getting rid of your entire flock, I've never had a problem finding free homes on CL for all the birds but when I'm only offering boys, good luck.
here is a thought, usually at the augusta swap we have someone that comes and picks up all the free roosters in the fall swaps. you might think of bringing them there. you can pm me and i can give you his direct phone number, sometimes there are more then one person that collects the boys, some only take large fowl, no bantams.

I have posted here, I have begged people here for advice.

I will have to chop their heads off myself. I am a single parent. I will never, ever have chickens again.

 

[Widget]

Does this mean I don't get the duck now?? What about the matchbox car!?


I lost two chicks to a Northern Harrier. Good news: I deterred it to the degree that it decided to take me neighbor's noisy bantam rooster.

Nope. Sorry.

Actually the duck I was trying to identify went to dinner the last time Mr. or Mrs. Renard came calling and had a successful hunt.

 

[Paulajon]

sadly I lost one of silkies last night. he was living with my turkey since they were both chicks and the turkey is quite large that the silkie could walk under him, i think they snuggled a bit to close last night and the silkie was crushed. poor turkey, you can tell he's really sad.

Sorry to hear that.

 

[kinsey228]

Anyone know where I might find a decent white leghorn rooster? I am thinking of breeding white leghorns for spring chix.

Let me know if you have any leghorn pullets in the spring. 2 of my 3 leghorns decided that they wanted to play tag with the fox, and had so much fun they never came back.

 

[superchemicalgirl]

Is it me, or did the price already go up? I could have sworn we were paying $15/bag for Layena crumbles, but it was $18 when we went to pick some up this weekend!! Blue Seal laying pellets are $15/bag, I'm thinking about switching. Has anyone had good results with these? Is it hard to switch from crumble to pellet?
Any other ideas on cutting back on feed costs? We'll have 15 birds here, which of course is more than we had planned on.

Plus we have a new baby coming in March/April, and have NOTHING as far as the costly gear, so trying to find ways to cut back on all costs where we can!

I love Blue Seal but don't count on the price staying 15$ a bag. I just bought 4 bags and it was 70$. That's about 18 bucks a bag. It's coming.

They are on craigslist, on freecycle, facebook. you name it.

So in essence, we have to kill these birds who we hatched from eggs? Anyone want to tell my son that? I don't. And exactly how do we kill them?

I have posted here, I have begged people here for advice.

I will have to chop their heads off myself. I am a single parent. I will never, ever have chickens again.

I'm so sorry you haven't had much luck getting rid of your roosters. There's a Maine/NH Poultry and Waterfowl group on facebook. Have you tried them? Uncle Henry's Online? Local paper? I actually sell more birds through the local paper than through BYC or freecycle and craigslist. Sometimes you have to be persistent and post them a few times. Unfortunately there's a lot of extra roosters out there but fortunately there's a lot of people who eat them, too. Are you planning on just killing them or do you want them for meat and stock? Find a butcher near you that will do it if you drop them off and come back later. If you just want to kill them you will need an axe, a stump and 2 nails or screws (and a babysitter and clothes you don't like). Screw or nail the stump so that there's about an inch between the screws or nails so you can slip the neck in but the head gets caught. Stretch the bird out by the legs and whack the neck off with the axe. It will bleed and the bird will flap for about 30 seconds. It's not pretty, but it's quick. You can put a sock or towel over the face if you need to. It helps calm the bird down, too.

I was worried when I first started hatching what I'd do with the roosters, too. I thought I couldn't kill something I hatched and raised. Plus I was a vegetarian. I now only eat meat that I've raised myself (chicken and duck, soon to be turkey) and kill and butcher humanely. It helps that roosters start being little jerks about 12 weeks of age. They're no longer sweet and cute. My next door neighbor just started doing it too, with her son, teaching him where his food comes from. He helped hatch them, and was quite attached. He didn't really seem to care for long that they were gone. He's 3. I think. He might be 4. He kept going outside to look for eggs in the rooster pen. He definitely was too young to get it, but hopefully he'll get used to it as he ages.

 

[klf73]

Weird double post

 

[Clover Run]

Let me know if you have any leghorn pullets in the spring. 2 of my 3 leghorns decided that they wanted to play tag with the fox, and had so much fun they never came back.

Oh my - so sorry! I will def let you know.

 

[hoppy]

another thought for your extra roosters, is the fairfield auction on mondays.

I'm sorry, it is a part of having chickens, dealing with the extras. if you are getting rid of your entire flock, I've never had a problem finding free homes on CL for all the birds but when I'm only offering boys, good luck.
here is a thought, usually at the augusta swap we have someone that comes and picks up all the free roosters in the fall swaps. you might think of bringing them there. you can pm me and i can give you his direct phone number, sometimes there are more then one person that collects the boys, some only take large fowl, no bantams.