Topic of the Week - What do/can you do with unwanted roosters?

[aart]

Since you can't really eat Silkies,

Sure you can.
There was a guy on here years ago had a booming business for silkie meat in the asian market.

 

[1muttsfan]

Yes, black skinned birds can be very popular for Asian cooking and medicine.

 

[STACEYH]

Silkies are good eating. I do homemade chicken soup.

 

[GigitheBackyardHerbilist]

Currently we've only ever had 1 unwanted cockerel who went to a breeding farm. He was human friendly but was too much for our hens.

In the future, I plan on doing a rooster flock to keep breeders while unwanted or aggressive ones will be made into stew.

Chicken and dumplings, for us and my husband is a fisherman who ties his flies. He was kinda hoping Betty was a Bert.

 

[Mom2FluffButts]

I plan on keeping all of mine. While I love my hens to death, Im not a big egg eater (my family members are) so I just enjoy keeping them and having eggs to bake and make pastas with. Roosters are honestly my favorite, their colours always captivate me. I have one little bantam rooster, who is the most complemented chicken I have. When people come and visit they always tell me how pretty he is, and I agree with them. So I have two main flocks, and then the bachelor flocks. Some I use for my breeding projects and the others are just my noisy little pets. Friends and family members will occasionally ask for a rooster to borrow, but they always come back lol

 

[cssilkies]

Sure you can.
There was a guy on here years ago had a booming business for silkie meat in the asian market.

Wow! I didn't know that. Thanks y'all!

 

[Lee family flock]

I never kill my roosters. They are very welcome on my property.
My Main flock has 6 roosters in it, they keep the hens protected at all times. With enough time and work put into my main flock, all roosters get along and aren't overmating.
I haven't lost one hen to a wild predator in almost a year now. (Will be a year in mid July) My property is big enough that when free ranging, most roosters are out of sight from each other. They each take a group of hens and go scavenge for food, then bring them back at night. At roosting time, the roosters let the King have the ladder, while the rest roost on the nesting boxes together.
I also have a Rooster flock, they get along great. While free ranging, they leave the girls alone and keep to themselves. But they're an extra set of eyes I like to have over everyone. They don't fight with Main Flock roosters either, they keep a respective distance.
On top of that, I have a bantam rooster flock WIP. It's going to take time, I've just began separating them today.

On top of that, Roosters are gorgeous. I take great pride in them, they're wonderful companions. I've never failed at disciplining a problem rooster, I don't give up on them. Just like some people never give up on a dog. It takes patience and time.
Roosters are loving pets too!

If I find a rooster is beginning to cause an issue, it goes to the integration kennel in the Rooster House. A couple weeks later, the Rooster flock has a new accepted member.

I love Roosters! I will always choose life

Would love to hear how you get your roosters to behave so well? You say it’s lots of training etc, that is something id be happy to do with the roos I may end up with when my eggs hatch. I have lots of space at our place too, and if I can keep roosters by trying to get them to be manageable and not troublesome id happily put in the work! Thanks in advance for any advice/training tactics info you can share!

 

[ElizaMay]

I had a red rooster who would mate with anything, even my tiny hamburg hens who would vanish beneath him (hence he was given away). Today I found his cockerel son doing the same thing - he jumped on a tiny hamburg and squiched her beneath him while she squealed. I kicked him off of her and put him in a stall. He won't try this with my mature hens, he tucks tail and jumps and runs when they so much as look at him, but he's hauled on the neck feathers of his immature pullet hatchmates, who scream and pull their own feathers out to get away since they are not ready to lay for several months yet. The old rooster doesn't even look at the pullets he knows better. This young red rooster makes no attempt to tidbit or even cut a wing, while my othets do. I have 40 acres and loads of room My main head roo Rudy, has a son born this year and a hatchmate of the red cockerel, along with 4 other hatchmate cockerels that are standard and bantam size. I will not confine my pullets and bantam hens because of one cockerel, when none of the others do this. It's a trait that seems passed from his arse of a father.

He will be culled.

 

[Annyolive]

I think it's higher than 50%
Seem to hatch more roos
Last year was 4 pullets and 5 roos - LF Buff Orpingtons
And this 4 Black LF Orps - keep kidding self one might yet be a pullet, but think it's maybe just in touch with it's feminine side! 2 Welsummets and 1Lavender LF that I think will be roo ..

Rehomed 3 last year. 1 was a git so doomed self and other was lovely but stripping fave hen and limpy plus then discovered eggs infertile

I'm useless and can't kill anything, so got my farmer neighbour to take them. Hopefully they got good chicken dinners out of it

This yesr traded the Welsummer roos back to place got chicks from ... as they should really have been able to sex them. Friend wants one of the Black roos. And thought I'd take another to Smallholders Show. He's quite smart and someone might fancy him

If Lavender is roo keeping him ss only one I got from the hatch and needed a bit of tlc

Other blacks roos can stay as roo flock as long as behave

The joys

 

[Ridgerunner]

I think it's higher than 50%
Seem to hatch more roos

You do seem to have that luck. Some people do, especially if they don't hatch a lot of chicks. I typically hatch 40 to 45 chicks a year. Some individual hatches may be 3/4 boy or 3/4 girl, especially with relatively small hatches. Some years 2/3 of the chicks hatched that year may be boys or 2/3 may be girls. The odds are 50% for each egg but the nature of odds means that some of the hatches are going to be wildly distorted. I hardly ever get a 50% split with one individual hatch and often do not with a year's hatch.

But every time I total up my two-year result I come really close to 50%. You have to hatch enough for the odds to mean much. So, yeah, every time you hatch you have to be prepared to get boys, sometimes a lot of boys. Here's hoping you get better luck next time.