What do you do if one of your beloved chicks turns out to be a rooster

[Jenski]

Not a fan of caponizing here. While I totally respect the decisions of others on how to keep their birds, I am not partial to painful procedures that occur without pain relief - - in any species.

So, what do we do if one [several] of our beloved chicks turns out to be a [several] rooster? - - Have a friendly, frank talk with the neighbors. Bringing eggs doesn't hurt.

Seriously, you won't need to worry about separating anyone until/unless some aggression surfaces. If there is plenty of room and the birds have grown up together, you may be able to reach chicken adulthood without too many problems. In any flock, there must be 1) enough room for less-aggressive birds to escape; and 2) enough feed/water stations for less aggressive/active birds to feed in peace. This goes for roos OR hens.

Good luck with your birds!

 

[cfdf]

I ended up with 3 roos last year. 2 were bantams and 1 was suppose to be a pullet EE. I kept them as long as I could. The EE was a great roo. He was absolutely beautiful and good natured. The 2 cochin bantams were just as beautiful. I had plently of room for them as I only had 11 chickens. During the summer months I was able to keep 2 of them in a sperate chicken tractor. This worked out good. Then came winter and it was too cold to leave them in the tractor so I put them back with the hens. 3 Roos with 8 hens ended up being to much for my hens. They were loosing their back feathers etc. So, I put an ad on Craigs List for 2 free roosters. I thought I would keep the EE. I got a reply right off the bat and low and behold they live down the steet from me. When he came to get them I told him to just take which ever 2 he wanted. He took the EE and black cochin. I don't know what the fate of the roos were but he said he and his wife like to hear the crow of roosters in the morning and that he has a seperate pen for them cause his wife doesn't like fertilized eggs. Everything was then great in the hen house until the one roo left started getting a little aggresive. Since I have a 7 yr old and 4 grandsons I decided to get rid of him too. I put another ad on CL and he was gone too. He ended up going to the Methodist Boys Home where they were trying to start up flocks for the boys to tend to. I did let him know that he was showing some aggression but he said that was fine. He was an AG teacher and knew what to do. He said my roo would live a long and happy life there at the Boy's Home. SO, I guess what I am saying here is to put an ad on CL and see what happens. It worked for me and now I have room for more chickies....that was a good motivator for getting rid of the roos too.

(I'm rambling

) I just got 13 more chickies!

 

[gryeyes]

I kept my first one. He was beloved and is still beloved. He's a wonderful rooster, and is the dominant roo of the flock.


Uhhhhh.... I've kept all of 'em. I have far, far, too many. But I do not have roo fights all over the place. They get along or avoid each other. I do have more than one coop, but the chickens choose which coop in which they roost at night (not me) and they do range freely during the day.

 

[AlienChick]

If he's not aggressive and does not bother the neighbors, I'd keep him.
I'd have fertilized eggs AND I can hatch some of my own if I want!
Otherwise, I'd post an ad on CraitsList.

 

[terry's chicks]

If that happens to me, well, my husband won't kill a RAT let alone a chicken or any other animal we might raise, so not sure what I'd do, probably the CL thing. I think he would eat me before any of our "pets"

 

[FMAFarms]

Hmm. Well, we specifically ordered roos, one for each of the breeds we raise. Should we end up with a surprise roo, though, we'll be giving the weaker rooster of a particular breed to a friend's meat-chicken pen. It's a difficult choice, but in order to breed the best chicks we need the better roo to stay. We're vegetarians, so no eating options here. The only extra roos we keep are Silkies, since they're excellent chick raisers. If you don't have a friend who'll take your roos, and you don't want to butcher them, and there are no nearby farms or petting zoos that want them, advertise on Craigslist. With Easter coming, there will be people looking for chicks, sigh.

 

[Delmar]

Quote:
all of us are faced with that contantly..Turns out usually our favorites from hatching are roos:-( Last year I put all up and coming roos in my meat bird pen and run--no attachments-I can't because I am the only one that butchers:-( I try and get rid of them asap if not needed for breeding-if I can't sell them-I try and give them away-if that doesnt work they wind up getting put in freezer:-( Which reminds me -Advertise on Craigs list to get rid of them-I have to do that right now for 4 BCM roos:-( 4/5 that hatched were roos...

I got ten birds last October and I wasn't sure if we were going to keep the hens for eggs, but I knew from the start that the roosters were going on the dinner table. Last Saturday we decided that the roos were being too mean to the girls and it was time to do the deed. We brought in a rooster who is more of a gentleman and now everybody is happy.

 

[chickenX]

regarding your qualms about eating one of your beloved roos.

we had a similar situation last year. but our problem was that a dog we adopted turned out to be, well, not exactly what we had hoped for. instead of finding him a new home (we figured he'd have the same problems there anyway) we dispatched him and put him into our smoker (we have an AMAZING smoker).

as it turns out, golden retriever is delicious!

 

[CowgirlPenny]

Sadly, we are going through this right now! Seems like with the warmer weather my 'hens' changed drastically over the course of about three weeks. Sprouted long tail feathers, crests changed and the long neck feathers everyone talks about. Still no spurs but they aren't 1 yet, so maybe soon. We've decided to keep one and haven't decided what to do with the other. I want to keep him but don't want him to fertilize the eggs yet (maybe later this fall, or next year) so we'll have to make something separate for him.

 

[phasian]

I have a local feed store that will buy my surplus roosters. Don't know their fate after that, but people are buying them whether for table or for flock keeping. If I have an especially ornery guy, the farm hands will buy him from me for a meal.....