Official BYC Poll: What do you do with your roosters?

[Boccom]

If I dont have a adult rooster which I do I would keep one and give the others away

 

[DogAndCat36]

I cuddle them all!

 

[Hidrainja4]

Fascinating. Let us know total costs, design feasibility, and whatnot.

I found the video interesting if it was not cut and edited , It appears to be a humane quick kill.

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

I keep all my roosters, and all but one of them lives in a rooster-only flock.

I’m going to elaborate on my earlier answer.

I’ve always kept chickens as pets. So it wouldn’t make any sense if I treated my roosters different from my hens. I keep all my roosters. And, because I usually bought straight run chicks or hatched eggs, I ended up with a lot of them. At first, I didn’t know what to do. Then I read about bachelor pads. I started keeping a rooster-only flock. And I started taking in roos from people who couldn’t keep them or just had extras. These I added to my roo flock.
But now I don’t have any roosters. Most of my boys were killed in a predator attack, and the last died of suspected Marek’s disease. After Cheeto died, I realized just how many unknown deaths I’ve had in my flocks over the years. So I haven’t gotten any more chickens, since I don’t want to lose more pets to Marek’s. However, if I come across a rooster that really needs my help, maybe I’ll get another one. But, for now, I’m rooster-less.
I just wanted to say, to everyone that has roos, whether you keep your flock for pets, eggs, meat, breeding, or a combination of those factors- appreciate your roosters.

 

[Artemis_MA]

Right now I have 8 chicks I hatched in an incubator back in mid/late June. And a batch of straight run Plymouth Rocks from a hatchery , hatched at the same time. Total chick number is currently 22 chicks (lost one this weekend). I plan to breed the barred Plymouth rocks, and may do so as well with the buff Plymouth rocks. Since I ordered straight run, about half will be roosters - and of course, what I hatched here from my mixed heritage lot, half of those will be roosters as well.

MOST of the roosters will end up in the freezer. That's life (er, death). I plan to offer some of them to local folk, free. At their decision, they may use them with their flocks or they may also consign them to their own freezers. Selling roosters in this area will get people Laughing At You.

In addition, this past week I got in 9 new straight run Cornish hybrids. They are ALL intended for the freezer, gender non-withstanding.

(In case you think me totally heartless, my first year here - 2018 - I ordered red and black broilers, straight run. One of the lady black broilers was so sweet I had no desire to put her in the freezer - and she is still out there, laying an occasional egg, and being friendly... Her name is Celeste.)

PS, collectively the Cornish hybrid chicks this week are named "Little Nublets". They'll get a new name each week.

 

[Beachcomber]

I accidentally ended up with a rooster with my all female chicks. I thought he was gonna be a good one, but at 20 weeks old he decided to attack me. I'm keeping him anyways! I've built him a small bachelor pen next to the girls & he seems ok with it. I've gotten used to his crow & he's pretty. He may be a jerk, but he's my jerk.

 

[Flockincrazy]

Right now I have 8 chicks I hatched in an incubator back in mid/late June. And a batch of straight run Plymouth Rocks from a hatchery , hatched at the same time. Total chick number is currently 22 chicks (lost one this weekend). I plan to breed the barred Plymouth rocks, and may do so as well with the buff Plymouth rocks. Since I ordered straight run, about half will be roosters - and of course, what I hatched here from my mixed heritage lot, half of those will be roosters as well.

MOST of the roosters will end up in the freezer. That's life (er, death). I plan to offer some of them to local folk, free. At their decision, they may use them with their flocks or they may also consign them to their own freezers. Selling roosters in this area will get people Laughing At You.

In addition, this past week I got in 9 new straight run Cornish hybrids. They are ALL intended for the freezer, gender non-withstanding.

(In case you think me totally heartless, my first year here - 2018 - I ordered red and black broilers, straight run. One of the lady black broilers was so sweet I had no desire to put her in the freezer - and she is still out there, laying an occasional egg, and being friendly... Her name is Celeste.)

PS, collectively the Cornish hybrid chicks this week are named "Little Nublets". They'll get a new name each week.

Where are you

 

[RoseHawke]

Very timely that this thread popped up now. After passing on a trio (at least as best I could tell) of the Legbars, that left me with 3 definite roos. They just started trying to crow this past weekend. Since we're not supposed to have chickens of any gender it became imperative that they be on their way. I put an ad on Craigslist for Free roos and they've just been picked up which I feel is the best outcome. The ad wasn't up even 24 hours. I honestly thought I might have to slaughter them (I've done it before, although it's been many years and I don't like doing it,) as I've seen ads on Craigslist for free roosters going begging. I think the difference in this case was the breed.

 

[Mimi13]

Since I ordered straight run, about half will be roosters - and of course, what I hatched here from my mixed heritage lot, half of those will be roosters as well.

Theoretically speaking the 50/50 rule should hold true. However, in chicken terms it’s more like 60/40, or even 70/30, males/females!

Just sharing my experience!

 

[Pinklink5]

Unfortunately where I live I can’t have rooster right now. So when I get little Roos ,which I hatched at least five this year, I give them to people that would like them that I know or sell them on Craigslist. When I have more acreage I will keep a few but will cull the ones that don’t have a good temperament or are aggressive with the girls. If they show any signs of aggression to people they don’t get a choice of finding a new home. right now if it wasn’t for the fact that roosters crow I would raise them to butcher age but unfortunately there will definitely be a lot of crowing and my neighbors will not be thrilled. The girls already make a lot of noise. Don’t need to add morning wake up call to that.