Rooster chicks - what to do with them

[Ren2014]

I was given 3 extra roosters that I couldn't keep because I already had a one with my hens, I advertised them on craigslist and got $4 a piece for them. I sold them when they were a few months old. I decided to keep one tho cause i divided my hens into 2 flocks. I personally would never kill them or give them to somebody who would.. I understand that there are too many roos for the amount of hens, but I cant stand killing animals! I love them too much

Craigs list is a thought but my fear would be they might not get a good home and then suffer a worse kind of demise

 

[sheetmetaltom]

unfortunately I got 2 roos in my flock of ten. they crowed all day. started in the dark at about 5am. some of my neighbors weren't very understanding. so in order to keep my hens the boys had to go. I still feel bad about eating them, but no one would take them to keep. hope I don't get any more the next time i get chicks.

 

[Ren2014]

unfortunately I got 2 roos in my flock of ten. they crowed all day. started in the dark at about 5am. some of my neighbors weren't very understanding. so in order to keep my hens the boys had to go. I still feel bad about eating them, but no one would take them to keep. hope I don't get any more the next time i get chicks.

I'm not going to order during the winter again just to be safe

 

[Laci7210]

Craigs list is a thought but my fear would be they might not get a good home and then suffer a worse kind of demise

I kinda had the same fear so I put on the ad good homes only, which probably didn't help a lot but the guy who took the only two that I sold said his son (who came with him) would use them for his FFA projects along with the hens he already had. I had one barred rock roo and one Easter egger roo and he said he already had barred rock hens and would start an Easter egger flock. I believe he told the truth so I think mine got lucky

 

[Ren2014]

I kinda had the same fear so I put on the ad good homes only, which probably didn't help a lot but the guy who took the only two that I sold said his son (who came with him) would use them for his FFA projects along with the hens he already had. I had one barred rock roo and one Easter egger roo and he said he already had barred rock hens and would start an Easter egger flock. I believe he told the truth so I think mine got lucky

That's great to hear

 

[ChickenLegs13]

I'm over run with roosters right now, but I'm down to 16 of them. They aren't meat birds so I have to feed them forever and at 8 months they still look like a scrawny buzzard and barely worth killing. The ones that get to be a nuisance meet the hatchet soonest.

My rule of thumb is "When they start to crow it's time to go" but they're usually a bit tough by then.

Great rule!  I like that, 'when they start to crow it's time to go.'  I don't want them 'bothering' my girls either.  Which comes first... the crow or the interest in females??

Mine start trying to mate when they're about 3 months old and start to crow at about 6-8 months when they are close to full grown.

 

[tnmommy]

Oh dear, Nonnie,,hope you don't mind having Roos. I suspected my Roo from the start. Then, he started running off with the treats and chirping loudly. Very loudly. I thought he was stupid to announce his treat like that.

Roosters find their hens treats and calls them over. Then, he jumps on one to mate. And they keep,falling for it lol. Now,,theses are my first chickens so I could be wrong. But I was right about my Roo, suspected him from day one.

 

[Nonnie195]

I did a lot of research before I ordered 8 pullets from a hatchery. I wasn't so much interested in the size of the egg, although after having my red stars lay such large eggs I wish I had gotten more of them. Well, to make a long story short, my husband and I kept suspecting one of the pullets to be a rooster. The funny thing is that when I placed my order, I had to wait until this particular "pullet" was available (they only had one and I really wanted it). After I kept the birds isolated for a month, I began the integration process (but only for four...that's another story). The four were kept in a separate area, divided by a door with chicken wire. They had their own outside door and their own run area. The two run areas were separated by chicken wire with a door. So, a couple of days after I put the four in their area, the "pullet" that caused me to delay my order, kept going up to the divider fence, pacing back and forth, and my rooster, on the other side did the same thing. I just happened to be out there one day sitting on a cinder block by the divider fence when they faced each other, neck feathers ruffled, and jumped toward each other. If the chicken wire was not there, I am certain it would have been a fight to the death. I was so frustrated. Dottie turned out to be Mr. Dottie. I ended up giving him to one of my students who only had a couple of hens.

 

[blucoondawg]

The best way to tell when they need butchered is simple to watch them, they will start to chase eachother around but not really fight horribly and cause damage to eachother til they are a little older, I butchered my extra roosters a few months after they started crowing, I waited a little to long because by then they were fighting and really obnoxious with the hens, I would wait until they crow for sure then see how long you can tolerate them after that, you may want to kill all of them right then to get rid of the noise, otherwise just keep an eye out and pick them off when you notice they become harmful to the others, don't wait for them to get big because they won't. I found some recipies for a simple brine on here, I mixed one of them up and when I butchered I cut my birds into pieces right away and threw them into a food grade pail of brine and left them sit in my unheated front porch for 3 days, which is colder than my fridge, then we ate one and froze the other 2, even though they were a little old for butchering at the time the brine and using a crock pot to cook them made them very tender, meat fell right off the bone. My roosters were NH reds and barred roc, I purposely threw in 8 more reds with my order for this spring along with some hens the wife wanted so I can butcher them for meat again.

 

[Ren2014]

Oh dear, Nonnie,,hope you don't mind having Roos. I suspected my Roo from the start. Then, he started running off with the treats and chirping loudly. Very loudly. I thought he was stupid to announce his treat like that.

Roosters find their hens treats and calls them over. Then, he jumps on one to mate. And they keep,falling for it lol. Now,,theses are my first chickens so I could be wrong. But I was right about my Roo, suspected him from day one.

O mercy, I see all of mine running around and announcing their treats. If they all turn out to be roos I will be one unhappy camper