Suspected cockerels in hatch

[OfWolvesAndHen]

A lot of "surprises" happened in my first few months of chickening too. Do the best you can, learn, and forgive yourself.

Where are you located? (You can add that to your profile.) Maybe post on your state's thread? Or put a notice up at your local TSC? Check out your local 4H group, maybe? You said there are farms in the area, so maybe a local FFA group could help. Just tossing out ideas.

I know you have learned from this. You will be wiser going forward.

Thank you, I appreciate it a lot. The family member I got the eggs from has had an established flock for several years now and is extremely knowledgeable about keeping chickens... I would have hoped she would have considered this before even offering me the eggs. She knows I don't have one coop, let alone a separate bachelor's coop for any extra roosters. Then again, she hatches all the time and she also doesn't have a bachelor's coop. Red flag, I suppose.

A buddy of mine hatches and sells fowl with good success. Maybe I'll see what his process is.

 

[OfWolvesAndHen]

So what have you decided to do with them?

Will probably sell as a straight run because I need to get rid of them asap. Now I'm less worried about the potential roosters, more worried about the fact that I don't have a coop built in the event that they don't sell before they're feathered. I may give them to a friend/family member who does have a coop just in case they don't get a buyer before 6 weeks, so at least they'll have an outdoor enclosure to transfer to in that event.

 

[Sally PB]

The family member I got the eggs from has had an established flock for several years now and is extremely knowledgeable about keeping chickens...

Can that person take them?

 

[OfWolvesAndHen]

Can that person take them?

She already has a pretty dominant rooster in her flock, so I don't believe so. She sells her chicks before they are feathered, so they stay in the brooder with monitored time outside on the property. This plan of action for rearing plus the lack of resources to sustain the chickens through their adult lifetimes is my exact circumstance, so transferring to her would pretty much make no difference.

 

[PlentifulPrairie]

Do you live in a rural area? Maybe just contact your local feed store and ask them if you could put up a sign for 3 free straight run chicks. Or even at your local gas station/grocery store/library. 3 days is awfully early to determine the sex indefinitely. It's the season for chicks, I'd imagine they'd go fast. I'd take em!

 

[OfWolvesAndHen]

Do you live in a rural area? Maybe just contact your local feed store and ask them if you could put up a sign for 3 free straight run chicks. Or even at your local gas station/grocery store/library. 3 days is awfully early to determine the sex indefinitely. It's the season for chicks, I'd imagine they'd go fast. I'd take em!

I live in a very rural area, no shortage of coops for them to go to. I think their puffy little ameraucana cheeks are pretty hard to resist, too. I've joined some local poultry groups on Facebook and plan on visiting TSC this weekend, maybe I'll see about putting up an ad. I'm actually learning that house chickens are a thing as well... so I feel a bit less bad about brooding these guys indoors until they find their next home.

 

[PlentifulPrairie]

I live in a very rural area, no shortage of coops for them to go to. I think their puffy little ameraucana cheeks are pretty hard to resist, too. I've joined some local poultry groups on Facebook and plan on visiting TSC this weekend, maybe I'll see about putting up an ad. I'm actually learning that house chickens are a thing as well... so I feel a bit less bad about brooding these guys indoors until they find their next home.

I brooded my chickens last summer in the garage.. I basically made a very very simple chicken tractor and in fear of bear/raccoons and whatnot, i would bring it in my garage at night. I was building a coop in this process from salvaged/repurposed wood on my property. I let them free range during the day and they quickly learned they went to the garage at night and would wait by the garage door. Honestly chickens are really easy to keep. I did butcher most of them and that was my end goal when getting them.

 

[PlentifulPrairie]

I brooded my chickens last summer in the garage.. I basically made a very very simple chicken tractor and in fear of bear/raccoons and whatnot, i would bring it in my garage at night. I was building a coop in this process from salvaged/repurposed wood on my property. I let them free range during the day and they quickly learned they went to the garage at night and would wait by the garage door. Honestly chickens are really easy to keep. I did butcher most of them and that was my end goal when getting them.

Oh also you could contact your local humane society. Kinda odd but the one near me actually takes chickens and helps re-home them. So you could look into that! You'd know at that point they'd go to a good place.

 

[Brooks_]

This is true, but it's the same issue as cockerels who are given away for free: I have seen more than enough information to suggest that straight run males are culled anyways, and if that is the fate that awaits them anyways I would much rather just do it myself to be absolutely sure it's at least humane.

It may be wishful thinking, but I think anyone that would buy straight run (even for the freezer) will do it humanely.

 

[OfWolvesAndHen]

I brooded my chickens last summer in the garage.. I basically made a very very simple chicken tractor and in fear of bear/raccoons and whatnot, i would bring it in my garage at night. I was building a coop in this process from salvaged/repurposed wood on my property. I let them free range during the day and they quickly learned they went to the garage at night and would wait by the garage door. Honestly chickens are really easy to keep. I did butcher most of them and that was my end goal when getting them.

That's what I'm doing too, only I let them out in a controlled environment since people often walk their dogs around here. I have the space for an emergency... just not a coop. Regardless I still think it was wrong of me to hatch chicks that I don't have the resources to care for through their adult lives.