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

[Henrik Petersson]

I murder them.

 

[oregonkat]

I've been able to sell one, gave a couple to folks who needed or wanted them.
But there are way more people who are also trying to get rid of them,
it's not worth the trouble(IMO) to post an ad then deal with all that.

I keep chickens for food and hatch yearly for replacement layers and don't have the resources to house and feed a nonproductive bird.
So.....
View attachment 1386181
I slaughter cockerels at 13-16 weeks, before they start causing chaos and while still tender enough to grill for that crispy skinned deliciousness. Not much meat but the grilled bones make for some excellent stock. Anything older than that I pressure cook until meat is done and is saved aside then a couple more hours to get that bone broth.

Resting the cleaned carcass in fridge for 48-72 hours for rigor to pass is essential for chewable meat from any bird(except maybe CX?). Tho no homegrown bird I've eaten, layer or meat breed, is as soft as a grocery bird, they are more 'toothsome'.

I know you have probably answered this a thousand times, but what is your preferred method for culling?

 

[Ahavati]

I've been able to sell one, gave a couple to folks who needed or wanted them.
But there are way more people who are also trying to get rid of them,
it's not worth the trouble(IMO) to post an ad then deal with all that.

I keep chickens for food and hatch yearly for replacement layers and don't have the resources to house and feed a nonproductive bird.
So.....
View attachment 1386181
I slaughter cockerels at 13-16 weeks, before they start causing chaos and while still tender enough to grill for that crispy skinned deliciousness. Not much meat but the grilled bones make for some excellent stock. Anything older than that I pressure cook until meat is done and is saved aside then a couple more hours to get that bone broth.

Resting the cleaned carcass in fridge for 48-72 hours for rigor to pass is essential for chewable meat from any bird(except maybe CX?). Tho no homegrown bird I've eaten, layer or meat breed, is as soft as a grocery bird, they are more 'toothsome'.

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.

 

[Vortex81]

I simply take mine to the local auction, ive tried a couple of times to do my own chicken for the freezer but it never works out and its like chewing on your shoe

 

[featherhead007]

What do you call a group of roosters?






A code violation. Ba-Dum-Tsh.

A fraternity!

 

[Ridgerunner]

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.

Are they bantam or full sized? You will get some meat with any of them but not a lot. You will also get bones that make great broth. If you have to get rid of them, using them for broth is not a bad way to go.

You can cook any age and sex chicken. If it is as chew as leather you don't know how to cook it or handle it. There are a lot of threads in the meat bird section that talk about how to cook our older birds. Try a search in there. I don't want to hijack this thread by going into details.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Well... NONE of cockerels are "unwanted" even though many are not going to become part of the flock.

We eat ours... Silkie's and other bantams included. No life goes to waste, and I knew I had to make that decision BEFORE hatching. Yes they aren't too much meat, but they still make good eatin' and like stated by others still at least as big as a quail.

I too found someone with snakes who is able to take my chicks that don't make it after hatch. And I have been considering setting up a maggot bucket... but don't want to attract (more) predators.

I also do keep a stag pen... so I can control my genetics and mating. Scuffles happen with or without females around, they are still hormonal idiots challenging each other all the time. Having a GOOD rooster to keep the stags in line is VERY helpful. If a boy has grown out a couple years and been a really good flock member with no aggression towards the dogs or family (and of course they would NEVER make it that long otherwise)... then I MAY offer him up to a new home, for not less than $15 to take him off my dinner table. I do not process before 16 weeks but usually 20+, and mostly about convenient timing for my processor. Though anyone who's antics are causing havoc will be accepted into freezer camp early and my daughter and I will process them.

I have sold a few cockerels/rooster... 4 or 5 to be exact... and never by trying to sell them but by people contacting me about other chicks or hens... I saw someone today advertising local meat... and then when I looked they wanted $35 per live bird, YOU process. I do NOT give away free roosters... they aren't free for me to hatch or raise and I don't NEED to get rid of them without their life being on my conscience as people who end up with oops roosters do. I know where my food comes from and I'm okay with that. It was a process though learning to not be so far disconnected from my food.

I do wish to note... in most cases I do NOT believe the hatcheries JUST trash their unwanted male chicks. I have volunteered at a wildlife rehab center... and I KNOW some of those chicks are put into bags and frozen before being sent to zoos to feed the other animals. They also get ground horse meat... we called it BOP, because it was fed to the birds of prey. One chick came out of the frozen bag still alive... he was deemed "Lucky" and allowed to crow it up. It wouldn't surprise me if some of those chicks end up being "chicken byproduct" in our dog feeds and such.

 

[aart]

I know you have probably answered this a thousand times, but what is your preferred method for culling?

Messaged you.

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.

Well, you can see in my post pic...and text, there is meat, just not much.

 

[RodNTN]

I am a big softy when it comes to extra roosters I know most people cull and eat their extra cockerels, but I prefer to rehome them. It is not always an option, and if so, I either buy a few more girls for the rooster I want to rehome or I start a rooster flock. It works well and (as long as they can't see the girls) they are quite content.

 

[Zinjifrah]

What to do with extra cockerels hasn't come up for me yet. It will soon enough, and I've already put consideration into it. I could kill them, yes. I'm aware that I could, but I have no desire to do so, nor to eat the meat from them afterwards. They're pets, and I don't eat my pets. Especially since I have bantams... and I think even a quail would have more meat on it than a little Serama roo! However, I have no problem with someone ELSE eating them, and there are families enough in the area who would be delighted with a small bird to butcher for a soup pot. There are also plenty of 4H kids who would love something 'different' from the usual selection found at one of the local feed stores, who I would be more than happy to donate a chick or two to. Selection day will come soon enough, depending on how many of my incubating eggs hatch, and how many of those are boys.

I also anticipate that I will need to cull pullets, if any give me a reason not to breed them, since I do intend to hatch eggs from them eventually. Yesterday I culled a cockerel. At only six weeks old, there wasn't enough meat on him to be useful. He was not culled due to gender, but because his scissor beak was creating unexpected problems - rather than the lower beak being out of place, the upper beak was twisting to the side and sideways, which was deforming his sinuses and making it hard for him to breathe. It was getting rapidly worse. I won't leave an animal to suffer just to put on meat, so I chose to use decapitation, as the quickest and most efficient method for both of us. It was over in a matter of moments, and I got him relaxed enough beforehand that the convulsions were minimal. The head is going to a college bio prof. to examine, due to his curiosity about the deformity, the body went to someone with bigger snakes than mine.