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

[lomine]

I butcher my extra cockerels around 14 weeks of age. I've waited till 22 weeks in the past but didn't find it to be worth it. Mine are all a mix of Ameraucana and other breeds so they aren't a meat breed/mix. At 14 weeks they don't have a ton of meat but it's enough for a meal for two. I also raise quail for meat and the chicken is way bigger and has way more meat.

 

[JDN]

Ok, I have some that are between maybe 13-16 weeks, do you get ANY meat? I'm looking at these little guys and thinking, it would be like a quail...maybe if that? Lol.

You might say the same thing about a wild turkey or a Pheasant. There is meat there, though, just not the enormous protruding breast meat. Think a rubber chicken from the joke shop.

 

[jewelsong]

rename them to Stew or dumplings and serve them with a smile. We hatch out about a 40% rooster batch each year so the cellar gets filled up with yummy fresh meat and soups thanks to the extras

 

[tuesdaylove]

I used to breed my chickens quite often. I can no longer do that, because I've learned I do not have it in me to easily get rid of extra roosters. I have three separate flocks right now because I have three roosters. They're all nice and their hens are attached to them, so I may as well keep them. I've stopped breeding and I will never have more than one rooster in the future.

I re-homed one cockerel online, only because I felt that the home he went to would actually take care of him. I once kept an extremely human-and-chicken-aggressive rooster for close to six years, because I knew anyone else would kill him and I didn't have the heart to do it myself.

If I ever do end up with more roos, I'll keep them until I can re-home them. I could never kill one or have one killed.

 

[Lazon]

Well and succinctly said!

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

Since my chickens are pets, none of my roosters are "unwanted". To make sure they don't injure each other or my hens, I keep most of my roosters in a rooster-only flock.

 

[quackingdom]

rename them to Stew or dumplings and serve them with a smile. We hatch out about a 40% rooster batch each year so the cellar gets filled up with yummy fresh meat and soups thanks to the extras

Exactly! I name them, because it's awkward to say "the black one with a spot on its chest" or whatever. I have a young boy named Steak right now.

The girls are pets and most of them will probably die of old age. But I eat all the boys. I just make a point of not getting attached to them.

 

[Mylied]

What do I do with unwanted roosters: sell them (haha, only ever got money once), give them away (people have come flocking if I post a free rooster), process them eventually, sometimes put them down and give them to the pigs for a meal if I'm not up to skinning and gutting, or throw them in the field with the other livestock until they annoy me and I process them. I only have one free ranging right now because the others I had out there started trying to flog me and kept fighting. His name is Bob the Dragqueen aka the Ugly Rooster. He's a showgirl and while he is a nice enough guy personality wise, I didn't want him breeding my girls and I didn't have it in me to butcher him.

 

[happyfrenchman]

If I have a nice one, I might put him on Craigslist, but mostly they go into the Chicken with Dumplings. Last hatch I hatched 6 hens and 4 cockerels, I kept one. I ate two and I Craiglisted one to a fellow that wanted to make Olive eggers, (for a bag of feed, my preferred currency.) I wound up giving him some eggs too so maybe he will have his own flock of BC. Marans. Roosters are a good opportunity to meet other chicken people and share stock and ideas.

 

[Chica'sChickens]

Thank God I was able to re-home mine. The Chicken Man, as I call him, came yesterday for 3 Roosters. I miss them a great deal. My ladies are now very quiet and have more room. If you live in the NYC or Hudson Valley area, let me know. He picks them up and brings to his farm in Long Island....that's what he told me at least. But I feel better knowing that they won't be killed.