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

[edgarmongold]

Stuff in the freezer?
I would be curious to know if animals needed to be processed in USDA facility?

Not if you butcher for your own use.
Ohio not sure about other states.
I usually hatch 15 or 20 out of each pair.
Cull or butcher over half to maintain enough space to allow rest of chicks to develop to their full potential.
More males than females is never a problem if you pair mate.
Best male and female from mating are for my breeding program.
Some of the others I show and sell for breeding stock for others.
My chickens are raised first and foremost as livestock.
Showing is secondary.
We are having if allowed our New Hampshire Breeders Club of America in Knoxville TN Dixie Classic January 30 31 2021 if anyone wants to show or just visit.
Usually large fowl and bantam available to purchase.

 

[edgarmongold]

I didn't go to the shows in the spring because of covid. Our first show of the season is next month. I usually take birds to sell at the shows but not sure If I will go. I'm elderly with conditions so I'm being very cautious.

Can relate to picture of eggs with markings for breeding pens and small chick pens.
Surprising the different setups used by others

 

[edgarmongold]

This my opinion based on my experience others will have opinions that differ from mine and I am okay with that.
Rehoming unwanted poultry especially males seems like a wonderful concept.
Let me see if I can help you understand what really happens to your rehomed birds.
If they are fortunate in spite of what you were promised they were butchered and eaten.
I used to be tester for state of Ohio so I was testing in lots of backyards of small flocks both pets and exhibition poultry.
A lot of pathetic setups and filthy facilities.
The worst I tested were Rescue Operations.
Not saying everyone is like that just the ones I tested.
Too many males to females left the females being constantly harassed but the over abundance of males was not the fairytale ending you imagined in rehoming.
The type of operation of filth and eyesores that gives poultry a bad reputation and constant towns putting through ordinances banning poultry.
I don’t know how many males have been dumped without permission at my house because I have poultry and will give it a good home.
If you think chicks are cute or your females need to be a mother be realistic about what happens to the offspring.
Off soapbox just hopes this helps someone

 

[cmom]

Can relate to picture of eggs with markings for breeding pens and small chick pens.
Surprising the different setups used by others

My birds are livestock. I do show my birds at poultry shows and have them tested every year. I do selective breeding. I do have regular buyers for my birds. Some may be eaten (I raise mostly dual purpose birds). I do take pride in my birds. It's a labor of love.

 

[cmom]

This my opinion based on my experience others will have opinions that differ from mine and I am okay with that.
Rehoming unwanted poultry especially males seems like a wonderful concept.
Let me see if I can help you understand what really happens to your rehomed birds.
If they are fortunate in spite of what you were promised they were butchered and eaten.
I used to be tester for state of Ohio so I was testing in lots of backyards of small flocks both pets and exhibition poultry.
A lot of pathetic setups and filthy facilities.
The worst I tested were Rescue Operations.
Not saying everyone is like that just the ones I tested.
Too many males to females left the females being constantly harassed but the over abundance of males was not the fairytale ending you imagined in rehoming.
The type of operation of filth and eyesores that gives poultry a bad reputation and constant towns putting through ordinances banning poultry.
I don’t know how many males have been dumped without permission at my house because I have poultry and will give it a good home.
If you think chicks are cute or your females need to be a mother be realistic about what happens to the offspring.
Off soapbox just hopes this helps someone

Since most of the shows have been cancelled due to covid, I have been selling my extra males at our local farm swap. I do have regular buyers who know my birds and have been buying them for years. I have one main male for each of my chosen breeds and a backup male. I breed only the best. I have seen some pathetic birds for sale. Some people just breed to sell as more and more people are getting into backyard flocks. Some do flock breeding. People often ask me what I put on the birds to make their feathers so shiny. I tell them I don't put anything on them it's what I put in them. They are what they eat. Some of my RIR

males I had. One was a champion at a show. This hen was also a champion.

 

[ackie]

I just kinda raise whatever the universe gives me, keep the ones I wanna keep, have ads up for the other ones. If it comes to a point where I physically cant keep a bird and no one wants it (or gods, the annoying rooster that didnt crow - he HOWLED), I'd eat it I know the cockrells I sold this year were to be slaughtered and that doesnt bother me. Not meat birds but some people really like the gamey aspect of gamecock. A good life humanely ended is fine. It's abuse or mistreatment that would bother me. I just sold some chicks to a new chicken owner and told them to feel free to reach out if they have questions. I do want everything to have a good shot at a life - until it comes to a natural end... either via predator, soup pot or old age.

 

[3KillerBs]

If you think chicks are cute or your females need to be a mother be realistic about what happens to the offspring.

I wrote an article for a small local quarterly paper about backyard chickens and I made sure to remind people both to have a plan to deal with unexpected roosters and that "find him a forever pet home" is rarely realistic.

 

[docteurshepherd]

I try not to be judgemental, I really do. But this is the first I've heard of dispatching them as chicks.. I don't even know how you could bring yourself to do that. To each their own I suppose, I guess it makes sense, going through way less feed for a rooster you're just going to butcher.

 

[ariri30]

I have given them away in the past, but this year and into the foreseeable future I will be butchering close to 100% of the extras. I am tired of giving away the feed and time I put into those cockerels only to have someone else eat them.

I’m with you on this one. I’m developing the courage to do it myself and stop putting good food in someone’s else plate. I’m going to do it tomorrow I have 6 that I really need to dispatch

 

[BantyChooks]

I’m with you on this one. I’m developing the courage to do it myself and stop putting good food in someone’s else plate. I’m going to do it tomorrow I have 6 that I really need to dispatch

Good luck.