Venting about Roosters

[CindyinSD]

Are bantams really worth it though? The two biggest are bantam barred rock and Delaware, the rest are OEGB extras. Well, maybe the cuckoo Marans since I decided I didn't need Olive Eggers. One of my EEs eggs are Olive.

Sure. They’re bigger than quail, I’d imagine. I’ve heard they’re really good, but all mine are large fowl, and to date I’ve only harvested CX, Red broilers & BBW turkeys. The smaller they are, the easier. If they’re too tiny to get your hand in, then you can spatchcock.

 

[FortCluck]

I'm not ready to sell out just yet, though I have considered it. The property value has actually appreciated in the past 10 years. The area I live is a nicer middle class suburb with easy 5 minute access to downtown Pittsburgh and just outside the city limits (no city taxes), actually a somewhat desirable location. Just some very undesirable neighbors. The house isn't old, we built it ourselves in 1996.

A lot of folks have recently moved to the formerly very rural county just north of us which is experiencing a huge population boom, and the infrastructure there is not really equipped to handle it. The roads are too small, traffic backups are constant, housing developers are building up every square inch of land with cheaply built, poorly constructed houses. Lots of trees are being cut down for the development and drainage and flooding is becoming an issue now. The school district isn't equipped to handle all of the new students.

So I don't think I want to move up there. For now I'm staying here but a move is not out of the question, just not a priority. I'm not attached to this place at all, if someone wanted to buy it tomorrow I'd have my bags packed.

The truck in your avatar is the truck I want to buy for the farm! Just thought I'd throw that out there before I forgot

 

[FortCluck]

I shake my head if people talk about 're-homing' a rooster because they can't or don't want to butcher and eat it.
You have given the bird a kind, caring home with a well thought-out diet and good conditions. Now you're going to give it to someone who says they won't eat it, and will give it a good home. How can you know that they will treat the bird the way you'd want it to be treated? If they DO kill it to eat, will they do it humanely? In my opinion, and this is only my opinion - if you care for and respect the now-unwanted rooster, you kill it yourself...quickly and humanely so that it has a fast, merciful death in surroundings it knows...and then you thank it as you eat your fried chicken, chicken and dumplings, etc...for its life and the gift of its flesh.

I like what you say about the gift of it's flesh! I'm going hunting next year and I hope to get a deer and my family will be saying grace upon that deer for several months when they have it for dinner.

 

[FortCluck]

I respect that completely. I feel likewise, and I'm glad you started this conversation!

I'm glad I started it too. It's made me see the diversity we have in our chicken community. No one has been rowdy or anything so it's very nice! I like reading different opinions and thoughts.

 

[mandelyn]

What exactly do you mean by 'dual purpose'?
I only grow layer breeds, but use plenty of them(cockerels, old hens) for meat.
How do you store 80 cockerel carcasses?

Splitting the hatch up, about 60 eggs set every 3 months, about 30 will be boys. I've been breeding towards width/size to get chunkier birds so that the boys are "worth it" sized by 6 months old. At 16 weeks they're only about 3 pounds dressed. We can go through 3-4 of them a week for the early 16 week old culls. So far we haven't been able to fill up the little deep freezer we have.

The Marans line I'm working on carries fast feathering females and slow feathering males, the boys get chunky early on, about 60% of them. I've been keeping boys from the chunky group. The Bresse line is starting to get a consistent width going on and I've been holding onto the meatiest ones. It's been neat watching the changes from one generation to the next.

Our first year on the farm we had 16 cockerels, mostly EE's. I'll be alright never eating them again, built too narrow and there was a difference in the meat texture that almost turned us off on the whole idea. Crockpot birds is what they were.

I've noticed that there are a LOT of different shapes a chicken can be, even within the same breed. A narrow, knock-kneed bird with a super long keel bone can't sit flat on it's back in a baking pan without the support of potatoes all around it. That bird might be of a dual purpose breed but it doesn't have the structure that makes it a decent dual purpose bird.

We tried Black Copper Marans twice, from two different lines. Scrapped them both, it would have taken SO long to get them into being the same type as the Black Silvers I have.

Chicken tastes like chicken. Differences between them is their shape/structure, where and how the meat lays over the bone, skin type/texture, growth rate, and some variations to the meat texture and how/where they develop fat.

 

[aart]

Excellent @mandelyn , thanks for the detailed reply.

 

[Trevorusn]

I shake my head if people talk about 're-homing' a rooster because they can't or don't want to butcher and eat it.
You have given the bird a kind, caring home with a well thought-out diet and good conditions. Now you're going to give it to someone who says they won't eat it, and will give it a good home. How can you know that they will treat the bird the way you'd want it to be treated? If they DO kill it to eat, will they do it humanely? In my opinion, and this is only my opinion - if you care for and respect the now-unwanted rooster, you kill it yourself...quickly and humanely so that it has a fast, merciful death in surroundings it knows...and then you thank it as you eat your fried chicken, chicken and dumplings, etc...for its life and the gift of its flesh.

I love when they look to re-home roos, it's how I got all my awesome fellas!

 

[Trevorusn]

Squatch and Sid...

View attachment 1960584

They are handsome fellas. Ruger is just a tad bit older than them, and each month his crow seems to get louder and more powerful, would love to see two in a crowoff!

 

[FortCluck]

They are handsome fellas. Ruger is just a tad bit older than them, and each month his crow seems to get louder and more powerful, would love to see two in a crowoff!

It gets loud especially when the hens join in

 

[JoeInPA]

The truck in your avatar is the truck I want to buy for the farm! Just thought I'd throw that out there before I forgot

Thanks, its one of my favorite vehicles. I did a bit of a restoration on it a couple of years ago. I park it for the winter now to avoid the salt and hopefully the rust. Here's a video that shows the whole truck-