I've been hatching our own chicks and butchering the extra roosters for meat. For the last 2 months, a Maran barnyard cross, that I've named Kurt Russell, has been the alpha rooster. I've been putting off butchering him because I like him. He's 23 weeks now. I put him in the shed yesterday with water. I went to get him today, and picked him up. He struggled so much more than the others when I went to get them. The desire to live-the fight in him was incredible. I decided he's just too healthy, too strong, too well-formed, too beautiful, and too well-behaved to kill. I never had intentions of keeping a mutt over my flock, because I intended to breed. I'm curious if anybody else has mutt roosters over their flocks that they never intended to keep?
He is a strong and vigorous looking rooster - a real beauty. He would make a great flockmaster for an egg producing flock.
He's a beautiful guy! I don't blame you, he's a keeper! But then again, I'd have to keep them all! Thanks for sharing.
Sure have! So long as they are nice to me, I've been known to keep mutts roosters. You don't have to raise chicks from him, just enjoy having him around.
I have a mutt roo( I hatched myself) I might keep he's so pretty He is a BO roo over a BR hen The older he gets the prettier he gets.
Kurt Russell is a very handsome fella! Most of my fairly large flock is "mutt" or "mutt stock" because I let broody hens hatch and raise chicks willy-nilly. About twice a year, I break out an incubator to hatch pure-bred birds from purchased eggs so there are different genes to add. So, I have never really intended to butcher this or that rooster..... I can still appreciate someone's stay of execution order for a particularly fine example of Roosterness.
I saw him chase a big tom cat from the chicken yard the other day. I definitely made the right choice. I lost a few hens to a nasty red-tailed hawk (that thankfully has moved on) so I threw 7 BO eggs fertilized by Kurt Russell in the incubator. I'm curious to see what I get.