Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[jconst]

Hey everyone! I'm new to BYC and am hoping to find new home(s) for some roosters in SE Michigan (Livonia). My girlfriend and I have been raising 11 chicks (all half-brahma) we got from a friend and unfortunately 7 of them turned out to be boys. We picked the one that we'd like to keep and I've posted the rest in the BST section here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...ved-brahma-mixes-in-livonia-michigan.1333655/

They're all really wonderful but they're getting to be the age where I'll need to start separating them, or at least the more assertive ones like the leghorns. Thanks for looking!

 

[aart]

Welcome @jconst !
Good post and link...
...but gonna be hard to get rid of that many cockerels.
Have you tried posting on your local craigslist?
Best of cLuck!

 

[Folly's place]

Welcome!
It is hard to place cockerels, and craigslist is a good idea. Also signs, with photos, at your local feed stores.
The nearest auction that I'm aware of is near Webberville, a long drive for you, and likely a meat buyer.
This is the reality of raising chicks; many cockerels, mostly meant to be dinner for a family. That's not a bad thing, and they will have had a much better life than those poor commercial meat birds at the grocery store.
Mary

 

[1muttsfan]

I just did in the 12 cockerels from spring chicks. All pure bred, really nice boys, but were eating me out of house and home with no takers either for meat or as flock boys. It was tough to have to do it, one of my least favorite chicken chores. And it was warm and muggy yesterday, so mud and sweat the whole time. No one up here processes birds, and I don't care to eat birds I have raised, so they went for some wildlife creature's dinner in a field nearby.

At least they had a great life until the end, lots of room to run and plenty of good food. A short life but a happy one.

 

[aart]

and I don't care to eat birds I have raised, so they went for some wildlife creature's dinner in a field nearby.

Just curious, why you don't want to eat your own birds?
So you kill and toss into field?
Have done that with sudden deaths and euthanized(broomstick CD) birds.
Always interesting to go back and see if they've been eaten/taken.

 

[Folly's place]

If there's a raptor rehabber somewhere nearby, they might take excess cockerels too.
Mary

 

[1muttsfan]

Honestly I just loose my appetite when I try to cook and eat them, I would happily have passed them on to someone else to eat.

I'm sure the profuse wild critters around here are happy to get a free meal. And I don't have to uselessly send them to a landfill. I have no concerns regarding wild animals - my coops and pens are solid, so I can enjoy the hawks, owls, eagles, foxes, raccoons, etc. that grace my land.

 

[jconst]

Thanks for the advice, everyone. Yeah, we've posted on Craigslist and are trying some Facebook groups too. It's a shame we got so many boys because we're vegetarians and never intended to slaughter our birds for meat, but our friend who has done it before can help us do so assuming we can't find homes for them. We'll likely try to keep the nicest ones at first and do another pass if we need to.

 

[Folly's place]

Today the equine vet was out, doing dentals on the four horses at home. All fine, although chubby, just on pasture. Easy keepers!
Then we went to see my fifth mare, only 23 years old, and doing badly at a friend's house. It was time to say 'goodby', sadly. She was a very sweet mare, who left too young. Many medical issues, not fixable.
Mary

 

[Folly's place]

Sonshine, registered Thoroughbred mare, Trakehner approved, RIP.
Mary