Raising (surprise) Meat bird Rooster as part of flock

[StephanieRose44]

I was wondering for all you non meat eaters out there if anyone has ever raised a meat bird, obviously monitoring there food intake and letting him run around a bit to burn some calories helps, I know he has 2x going against him 1 the fact that he’s a meat bird
2 fact that he is a Roo not a hen !

I’ve been told that it’s just not possible to give them a healthy long life. But there’s got to be a way to cater to his specific needs . As of right now he’s 6ks and pretty big but he can run lol it’s pretty funny he can fly but not to high. I’m 100% against rehoming him just for him to be butchered and / butchering him /eating him myself

 

[Wezdin]

food intake MUST be monitored or they will get too heavy to support themselves. leg problems are common in meat birds also.

 

[aart]

I’m 100% against rehoming him just for him to be butchered and / butchering him /eating him myself

Probably better to post elsewhere than the MEAT BIRDS section then

 

[Acre4Me]

Curious how you came to own a meat bird covkerel. Curious ages/breed of rest of your flock. If you want to keep him and keep his food intake limited, you may find it easier to put him in his own space (wire cage inside run/nest coop) so that he’s not eating all the other food when they are fed. Feed him there and he can still interact with the rest of flock at other non-feeding times, when he can be let out to interact/range with them.

It will be interesting to see how old he is able to become and the kind of rooster he becomes! Good luck.

 

[Geena]

I’ve been told that it’s just not possible to give them a healthy long life.

It's not, no matter what you do, sooner or later there is going to come a time when either his legs or heart is going to give out. With careful management he might live for a year or two, but you have to consider the quality of that life as well. You can't override genetics.

 

[StephanieRose44]

He was sold to me as a white leghorn chick. I have 11 other chicks around his age 5-6 wks and they all get along but I do let him and the older birds eat out in the run right now while the younger ones (my smallest is a runt and two silkies, and a Isa Brown chick) I let them eat inside because I noticed just they were the ones just sitting around for him and the bigger older chicks to finish eating. After they’re all done I let them all out to run around together.

 

[StephanieRose44]

He’s a very sweet bird, he is the first one to jump out of the cage than he literally runs behind me because he knows I’m going to get his food lol

 

[llombardo]

I think what I would do is not feed out of the feeder. I would throw the food in the run and let them free range on that. That little boy will have to move to find food. I would also supplement with healthy greens. I would stay away from scratch and any other foods that can put on weight.

Keep him moving and good luck with the little guy.

 

[StephanieRose44]

Thank you thats a really great idea will definitely start doing that.