Roosters? What's wrong with them?

[BrittnyChicks]

I love roosters, but keeping them isn't always as simple as most think. They aren't really anything like hens.
I have one rooster who is super lovely, never gives me issues, another who's not a fan of me but we make it work. And a bunch of cockerels who are still developing their personalities!
Did you chick actually reach maturity? I just get the feeling your "rooster" was still a young cockerel, they can be quite different to roosters...

Ah I see. The one I was talking about, my first one, he is over a year old now. I had male chickens that were 8 years old, males, that were really kind. I've never fully owned a Hen before, and I'de love to so much

 

[Tired old Rooster]

My first chicken was a rooster. I was seven when I helped him out of his egg because he was too tired to break out of his egg. My Dad wanted to kill him because he was small and weak. I had big blue eyes that would make you sell your car, your boat and even your coat to avoid seeing tears in them. Dad lost.

So, I got to keep him in a towel with a hot water bottle to keep him warm while I was at school with Mom to keep an eye on him.

A year after, he was enormous and tall. Dad made the mistake of buying a young meat roo to fatten up and put him in the yard. My roo slimmed him down to a corpse right there that same day. Dad was mad and the week after he bought two bantam size chickens of the type used for fighting, figuring they would put the roo in his place. Came out the next morning to the Texas chainsaw massacre. Apparently, one was slightly decapitated and one was flat and full of big holes. Spurs my boy had were really big and sharp.

After that, we all agreed that he owned the barnyard and the two geese seemed to be fine with that arrangement, since they never much did anything but greet in passing.

What I learned from that, is that chooks are awesome, but can be just as violent as any human can. They also get along fine with ducks and geese if they have enough space to spread themselves.

 

[BrittnyChicks]

This was my first rooster <3 Any idea what breed?

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Wow, I could never have the guts to do that!

Just a questions- do you put the cockerels alive in the freezer?

Oh mercy, no. And guts got nothing to do with it. We have a neighbor, lovely Mennonite lady, who butchers them for us. I take them to her live in the morning and pick them up in the afternoon, looking just like the ones you buy at the grocery store. Clean and plucked and in a ziplock bag. I put them in my fridge for three or four days to let the meat rest and relax, then they go in the freezer. I'm a city girl, never learned how to butcher and clean when I was young, and she does this all the time and only charges $2 each so it's just easier to let her do it. I know my birds had a good life, they're happy and healthy, and that's the kind of meat I want to feed my family.

 

[BrittnyChicks]

Oh mercy, no. And guts got nothing to do with it. We have a neighbor, lovely Mennonite lady, who butchers them for us. I take them to her live in the morning and pick them up in the afternoon, looking just like the ones you buy at the grocery store. Clean and plucked and in a ziplock bag. I put them in my fridge for three or four days to let the meat rest and relax, then they go in the freezer. I'm a city girl, never learned how to butcher and clean when I was young, and she does this all the time and only charges $2 each so it's just easier to let her do it. I know my birds had a good life, they're happy and healthy, and that's the kind of meat I want to feed my family.

Alrighty!

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Your question is, what's wrong with roosters? The answer is, for the most part, nothing. You just don't need very many. In fact, unless you wish to hatch eggs, you really don't need a rooster at all. If you DO want fertile eggs, one rooster can service ten or more hens: you certainly don't need a rooster for each hen, just as you wouldn't want a bull for every cow in a herd. Too many roosters would cause problems not only for each other (fighting) but also for the hens (injuries caused by overbreeding). So it's a matter of management. You're going to get about 50% males out of every hatch, so what are you going to do with all those cockerels? Well ... what's good about them is, they taste like chicken.

 

[sdm111]

There's a lot of misinformation in this thread about game fowl. Pretty much everything that was said except big Tom's posts. He's right please don't spread the wrong information because you don't know what you're talking about and are very wrong.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

The main thing is that roosters are only good for making more birds. They don't lay eggs, and nearly all aren't worth the feed to grow to a decent processing size. They're just lawn ornaments with a need to breed, which means that they're in competition with every other male that they have access too

 

[BrittnyChicks]

There's a lot of misinformation in this thread about game fowl. Pretty much everything that was said except big Tom's posts. He's right please don't spread the wrong information because you don't know what you're talking about and are very wrong.

Im just going to say this, look, sorry, I did not know this offended you, but I wasn't really trying to spread it everywhere, I was just stating the facts I knew, and imo theres bits and other bobs with miscalculation and information, but its not entirely very wrong, but I support and appreciate your help and views, so thank you, I wont say anymore in this thread.

 

[McChooky]

Stallions,bulls and billy goats are a lot more trouble to keep than mares, cows and does. The male is naturally a more aggressive animal than a female. People usually keep males for breeding purposes (not pets) That goes for chickens too.