Rooster Chicks!!??!!??

amjamm

In the Brooder
Nov 16, 2020
7
66
33
Hey Everyone,

How are you all? Thank you for reading this. I was thinking of getting some fertile eggs for my broody hens. I am not allowed to have roosters where I live and so would have to get rid of any roosters that would hatch. I was wondering if people actually would want to take roosters (if I gave them away for free) or if we would end up having to cull them? We live in Melbourne in Australia, if that helps.

Thank you for your time!
 
Rehoming roosters is hard. A lot of roosters that end up getting given away for free end up as food. Rarer/beautiful/and highly desired breeds have an easier time in my experience getting rehomed, but they also tend to be more expensive.
 
If you can’t have roosters and are not ok with culling, then I wouldn’t do it. you could order 12 fertile eggs and get 12 roosters, there’s always that possibility. If you really want chicks I would wait until the spring and get sex linked birds. As far as the broody, I would break her. Or order sex linked pullet chicks and try slipping them under the broody at night, but you still have to have a brooder setup in case she rejects them.
 
Each rooster I have received I got for free from a home that had too many. I haven't been fortunate enough to hatch roosters or to purchase chicks that were roosters.
If you are okay with giving them away and people culling them, I would do this. Or you could cull them if you are okay with that.
 
You are right to have a plan for the boys if you hatch. Too many people don't think that far ahead.

How hard is it to give away young cockerels in Melbourne or anywhere else? In the middle of the city it may be more challenging than in a more rural section. The more restrictions or qualifications you put on them the harder it is. If you advertise them as "must go to a good home where they only eat organic food and are each given their own flock of hens" you might have problems getting anyone to take them. If you say "free cockerels" you may generate more interest.

How would you go about giving them away? First I suggest chatting with your neighbors. I don't know if Melbourne has its own thread but maybe post on the Australia thread and see what happens. I'd start ahead of time. Maybe you can find hatching eggs or find someone willing to take any boys. You may even find someone with day-old chicks you could give to a broody. Maybe you could split an order for day-old sexed chicks from a hatchery that you could give to your broody hens to hatch. Good things can happen if you chat with your neighbors.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...and-that-funny-little-island.598568/page-3476

I imagine Australia has an equivalent to Craigslist if you don't have the Craigslist. That's an online site you can buy-sell-trade with you neighbors.

Talk to the people at your feed store. If they don't know someone maybe they have a bulletin board where you can post a note.
 
The more restrictions or qualifications you put on them the harder it is. If you advertise them as "must go to a good home where they only eat organic food and are each given their own flock of hens" you might have problems getting anyone to take them. If you say "free cockerels" you may generate more interest.
I have seen a ton of 'free to a good home not a soup pot' or even for sale with the qualification of not a soup pot. I ended up with 20 cockrells this spring. Sold all of them to a large family with a soup pot. Cheap because I didnt want to feed them anymore, but I still got $5.50 a bird. And I hope they come back to get my new cockrells! haha.
 

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