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Poultry hoarder? Ummmm, no, sorry that term doesn't apply.

@Latestarter there is a big factor that plays a roll in why I keep so many cockerels. It can be described in a single word.

Marek's.

In the past I have gifted my extra cockerels to our Amish neighbors. Some used them for breeding their own flock some used them for food. I don't mind that they do that and am fine with it. But last summer I discovered that I have Marek's disease in my flock, ocular, viseral and neurological. I lost at least 18 of my birds in less than a year's time to the disease and still have three large fowl with ocular Marek's. That was the end of birds leaving our property and an end to my plan of getting rid of the extra cockerels. My only option is to butcher and frankly I do not want to do that. I have no trouble with using the birds for meat, I just do not want to personally butcher them.

I am considering the option of asking around for an Amish neighbor who would be willing to butcher for me. I'd really like to reduce my numbers but figuring out how is the problem.

Keep in mind that in order to get birds butchered, they have to leave the property and I am very concerned about doing that given that the strain of Marek's that I have been dealing with has a high mortality rate and all Amish have flocks that would be exposed.

I'm open to ideas! Right now I have a surplus of roosters mainly because the roosters were the hardest hit sex and frankly I expected them to die....and they didn't. All I can think is that I switched food and tried a suggestion that one of our Amish neighbors made and added hog pellets to their crumbles. Hog pellets contain copper which is a proven anti-fungal preventative that has been studied as being beneficial to chickens. Since Marek's is known to weaken the immune symptoms, the logic is that the copper helps prevent infections.

So far it seems to be working.

The other factor is that I really do love my roosters. They are, while behaving themselves and not being hormonal idiots, fun to be around and watch. They are all tame with me, show no aggression towards me and only cause problems with one another.

Would I like to reduce my numbers? Sure I would. I have babies from recent hatches and count on half of them being boys also. The big problem is figuring out how to deal with the Marek's problem and safely do that reduction in numbers.

Any ideas? In the mean time I am feeding and caring for my boys and giving them a good home. Soon I will be able to turn them out and let them free range for us and deal with the bugs around here. At least they will be earning their keep that way.
 
Micro,
You could ask and see if someone could come to your property to butcher them. You could burn the feathers and entrails.

That is an option. We know one Amish family a short distance away that I got my bantam cross eggs from who's son butchers rabbits. I plan to talk to him the next time I stop by to buy scratch grains to see if he would be interested in butchering birds for me and I could ask him if he would come here to do it.

Like I said, I have no qualms about eating the boys or feeding them to our dogs. I just do not want to butcher them myself. No, I'm not that much of a softy. I've culled dying birds and recognize that due to the Marek's I'll have to put a bird down from time to time.

The problem is that I can still remember helping my mom butcher when I was a 9 year old girl. I can still remember the smell :sick.

@CapricornFarm thank you. I know you are dealing with the same problem and understand the dilemma
 
good-morning-friends-its-a-52650-18181.jpg
 
glad i checked the rice, it was boiling over. See how you good people distract me!:barnie:cool:
I set eggs to pressure cook for 5 minutes. They were supposed to go off for 5 and the release pressure. I forgot and left them too long...Eggs were still perfect!
 

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