MJ's little flock

[MaryJanet]

Not a topic many want to examine

Well, I can understand why. It's hard to confront oneself.

In theory the other ways of righting the scale are curtail the lives of hens or keep every cockerel going until nature takes its course. But neither of those are going to be fruitful. It's too disrespectful of hens and nature will deliver an unnecessarily very harsh death to roosters.

The other elephant in the room is the delivery of day old chicks be courier.

Yeh, that's a hard no from me, same as courier delivery of any sentient infant - I was troubled by my own decision to drive 3 day old incubator chicks back to my house and that was only 90 minutes in the car.

But lots of people find it convenient to shop for chicks online, so shipped chicks are going to be a reality for the foreseeable future.

 

[BDutch]

What I am struggling with is the cognitive dissonance arising from killing a perfectly healthy and nice cockerel while going into debt to save the life of a hen with a reproductive disorder. It doesn't make sense.

The only way I've been able to find any resolution to this is to eat the males and at least pretend I'm farming.

I suppose we all choose whats fits best for us caretakers. I had many cockerels to rehome because I rather let my broodies hatch their own chicks than buying from a trader/ hobbyist who has other standards in raising chicks. Buying pullets from traders /hobbyists involves a risk of bringing a disease into the flock, which I like to avoid. And I know traders / hobbyists often want to make a profit with selling pullets and don’t mind killing the cockerels.

I never killed/euthanized a cockerel or brought one to a vet to euthanise. I always try to rehome the cockerels before they become too loud and annoying. I didn’t always succeed in time. But my neighbours understand and know I try to give them a good place to live with a flock of hens somewhere else. Of course there are no guarantees the cockerel will live until he dies old or in natural circumstances. But he has a few months more at least and many times he gets a new life in a new place where he can stay as long as he’s a good rooster.

Im not saying whats better or best, just what my choice is and I feel comfortable with.

My cockerels in 2024
Whisky

Tintin

 

[MaryJanet]

I suppose we all choose whats fits best for us caretakers. I had many cockerels to rehome because I rather let my broodies hatch their own chicks than buying from a trader/ hobbyist who has other standards in raising chicks. Buying pullets from traders /hobbyists involves a risk of bringing a disease into the flock, which I like to avoid. And I know traders / hobbyists often want to make a profit with selling pullets and don’t mind killing the cockerels.

I never killed/euthanized a cockerel or brought one to a vet to euthanise. I always try to rehome the cockerels before they become too loud and annoying. I didn’t always succeed in time. But my neighbours understand and know I try to give them a good place to live with a flock of hens somewhere else. Of course there are no guarantees the cockerel will live until he dies old or in natural circumstances. But he has a few months more at least and many times he gets a new life in a new place where he can stay as long as he’s a good rooster.

Im not saying whats better or best, just what my choice is and I feel comfortable with.

My cockerels in 2024
Whisky
View attachment 4023503
Tintin
View attachment 4023505

As you know, I also prefer to hatch over buying, but so far this has not worked out.

I was thinking of your choices when I reached out on the Aussies thread to try and find a home for the Vulture. No answers yet.

The sparsely populated long distances between cities in Australia mean that people who live in rural locations where keeping roosters is feasible don't drive to the city all that often. I have a cousin who lives in such a location, so I asked her about it when I saw her for Christmas and she said if she wanted a rooster she would get one from a neighbour. There are plenty around.

If someone responds on the Aussies thread before the Vulture's appointment on Tuesday, I will gladly take him to their house.

 

[RoyalChick]

Tough decisions MJ.

I totally understand the cognitive dissonance and of course there is no right answer.

I have given my own position on these questions a lot of thought, but I suspect a discussion of our individual views is probably not the most helpful to you right now, so I simply want to acknowledge that it is tough to know what to do for the best.

 

[BDutch]

As you know, I also prefer to hatch over buying, but so far this has not worked out.

I was thinking of your choices when I reached out on the Aussies thread to try and find a home for the Vulture. No answers yet.

The sparsely populated long distances between cities in Australia mean that people who live in rural locations where keeping roosters is feasible don't drive to the city all that often. I have a cousin who lives in such a location, so I asked her about it when I saw her for Christmas and she said if she wanted a rooster she would get one from a neighbour. There are plenty around.

If someone responds on the Aussies thread before the Vulture's appointment on Tuesday, I will gladly take him to their house.

Yes, you are right. Living in Australia is very different and you need to make other decisions.
I had both cockerels on a kind of Craig list (online Marketplace) for 1-2 month months before someone reacted that I felt comfortable with. I was lucky that they didn’t start to crow before 12-16 weeks old. And my neighbours didn’t mind Whisky’s crows bc it was dark until 7.45 am and he wasn’t crowing too much.

A friend of mine was in another situation with 2 hatches and ended up with way more cockerels than she could ever rehome. She decided to bring / could bring the cockerels to a friend of her who lives in the country. Build a temporary bachelor setup and harvest the cockerels when they reached the age of 20 weeks old.

Don’t get me wrong, I highly respect your decision to euthanise poor Vulture. We all do what we can within our own possibilities and what suits best to our feelings.

 

[MaryJanet]

Tough decisions MJ.

I totally understand the cognitive dissonance and of course there is no right answer.

I have given my own position on these questions a lot of thought, but I suspect a discussion of our individual views is probably not the most helpful to you right now, so I simply want to acknowledge that it is tough to know what to do for the best.

No right answers, but some answers are better than others.

Giving up eggs and hens altogether is the best answer (not the answer I'll be choosing though). Buying pullets from breeders who use technology to hatch only pullets is second best. Donations to appropriate charities to offset the eradication of cockerels is third best but a long way back.

Taking all three of those actions might actually accumulate some good. I can't see anything else that reduces harm to cockerels.

Coming back to personal terms, at least The Vulture will have a humane death and he's already among the very small number of cockerels with a wonderful childhood.

 

[MaryJanet]

Yes, you are right. Living in Australia is very different and you need to make other decisions.
I had both cockerels on a kind of Craig list (online Marketplace) for 1-2 month months before someone reacted that I felt comfortable with. I was lucky that they didn’t start to crow before 12-16 weeks old. And my neighbours didn’t mind Whisky’s crows bc it was dark until 7.45 am and he wasn’t crowing too much.

A friend of mine was in another situation with 2 hatches and ended up with way more cockerels than she could ever rehome. She decided to bring / could bring the cockerels to a friend of her who lives in the country. Build a temporary bachelor setup and harvest the cockerels when they reached the age of 20 weeks old.

Don’t get me wrong, I highly respect your decision to euthanise poor Vulture. We all do what we can within our own possibilities and what suits best to our feelings.

Circumstances matter too. Next doors and I are both in family homes. She bought her grandfather's home when it came on the market. I inherited what I own of my place. Neither of us will move out voluntarily. As we're going to live next door for another 40 years or so, I need to look after that relationship. And I need to look after the relationships I have with the neighbours on the other side, across the street (except for that odd lady), and over the back fence. If it were an option, I would consider moving out to a rural location.

 

[MaryJanet]

@ManueB I haven't found any poultry insurance policies in Australia for pets as yet. The only policies are for meat and egg farms and these seem to focus on loss of livestock assets due to things like floods etc. They don't cover expensive veterinary procedures for a pet chicken. There's a policy available in the US for pet chickens, but it's not available in the Australian market.

So I'll begin my own "insurance" and simply start saving in a separate bank account for vet bills.

 

[LozzyR]

So I'll begin my own "insurance" and simply start saving in a separate bank account for vet bills.

I thought about doing something similar with our health insurance, until I saw how much my son's birth cost.

I also looked for chicken pet insurance at one point, but couldn't find anything with decent reviews.

 

[MaryJanet]

I also looked for chicken pet insurance at one point, but couldn't find anything with decent reviews.

Wow! I couldn't find any at all! Where were you looking?