Too many cockerels.....

[ShannonR]

I am almost 60 yrs old.. been down here from Ohio since I was 12. All those yrs I have NEVER SEEN OR HEARD SUCH NONSENSE!
First I''m told Florida has been over run with feral chickens on this thread and now we are Devil worshipers?
Wow. The intelligence of this tread is offending me so I must click the unwatch button. Stereotyping is offensive and ignorant.
Sacrifices... View attachment 1473327
I sold 4 cockerels this morning to another Farmer who processes his own food.. V.S. buying steroid/hormone injected chicken from Walmart.

I should ask their religious beliefs before the rest of the birds I sell fall into the wrong hands..

Good luck to the Original Poster of this thread! I hope you can sift thru the Geographical Disillusions and gross misconception.

Santeria isn't devil worship, it is a combination of native African religion with Catholicism. It has a very interesting history, please educate yourself before accusing a religion of worshipping the Devil. Like it or not, Santeria is certainly alive and well in Florida.
http://www.religioustolerance.org/santeri3.htm
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santería
https://miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article131983429.html

Also, feral chickens really are a thing in Key West and possibly other parts of florida.

 

[keesmom]

I sold 4 cockerels this morning to another Farmer who processes his own food.. V.S. buying steroid/hormone injected chicken from Walmart.

Another misconception - hormones and steroids are NOT allowed in poultry production in the US, and have not been allowed for decades. Nor are Cornish X genetically modified.

Sorry the conversation came to this, oh my gosh! I did a double take at first but....it seemed to have taken a turn which I have no control over, so sorry....
I enjoy going on BYC to get suggestions and there are some awesome folks here that have walked me through chicks hatching, brooding, etc since I am a first time chicken owner. So far, so good. The thread started as trying to see what other experience was for others trying to re home roosters. I am hoping to re-home my rooster chicks to someone, and from there its out of my hands.

Would you eat your extra males if someone else processed them? Is there a processor near you?

 

[Lazy Farmer]

Another misconception - hormones and steroids are NOT allowed in poultry production in the US, and have not been allowed for decades. Nor are Cornish X genetically modified.


Would you eat your extra males if someone else processed them? Is there a processor near you?

We have been processing for over a decade. We are farmers. We have over 300 birds eating right now. 3 hatches in the last 3 weeks.. We process 30 count -24 week old cockerels a season/summer (all the freezer space we can reserve because of our pork).
We hatch 100's of chicks. 48% are males. Sold as straight runs. half of the suburban chicken keepers give back the males after the find out the sex. We quarantine them then put them in the BBQ group. They did most of the feeding for us. Our late season hatches are still around during the summer- slow season- it is our pigs season right now. We get the pick of the harvest with the cockerels starting now. The best get black,yellow & red leg bands, so they don't sell by accident. Slowly the rest are sold off to locals for breeding or BBQ- NOT SACRIFICES.. What is left in August goes to our annual call to a meat processor whom comes with a giant trailer designed for poultry transportation (Hurst) and he buys up the balance of the bulk for the traditional fee since we have been calling him of $5 each. A bunch of us more or less snatch hook them with extension rod hooks by the leg and start filling the plastic poultry crates. I think the most was 50+ two years ago, only 35-40 last season.
Then the farm is silent. Your ears ring from the awkward silence.
There might be high 40's of them right now (males).
We do not personally process our swine. That is done professionally. We don't have a walk in cooler to rest the meat. But plenty of refrigerators to rest chicken size meat.
Speaking of genetically modified. A farmer friend of ours has retired Tyson Sows & Boars. They are unlike any heritage breed pig you will ever see. She only sells the barrows (cut males) so not to spread the gene pool with the local yokels. We are happy with our many breeding stock of heritage pigs and poultry.
Thank you for replying, nice to have the conversation with you. Refreshing to say the least.
BTW I clicked "un-watch thread" and your quoting me alerted me... hmmmmmm.

Any-hoo, toot-a-loo!

 

[CPT]

I am almost 60 yrs old.. been down here from Ohio since I was 12. All those yrs I have NEVER SEEN OR HEARD SUCH NONSENSE!
First I''m told Florida has been over run with feral chickens on this thread and now we are Devil worshipers?
Wow. The intelligence of this tread is offending me so I must click the unwatch button. Stereotyping is offensive and ignorant.
Sacrifices... View attachment 1473327
I sold 4 cockerels this morning to another Farmer who processes his own food.. V.S. buying steroid/hormone injected chicken from Walmart.

I should ask their religious beliefs before the rest of the birds I sell fall into the wrong hands..

Good luck to the Original Poster of this thread! I hope you can sift thru the Geographical Disillusions and gross misconception.

Um, ok, I don't know how to respond to this as I was the original poster. ?????????

 

[CPT]

Thanks for all the information everyone, but no more discussion please.