What do you do with a roo you cant get rid of?

[Beekissed]

I realize that fact but the likelihood of getting more than one...and the hatchery will refund your money...is probably low. Picking them from a bin is like Roo Roullette!

That is all fine if you know what to do with a few extra roos...we BBQ ours. But most of the folks on this forum can't eat anything that has a name(that always gives me a chuckle~solution being, STOP NAMING THINGS)and that creates an unnecessary dilemma. Why put theirselves through all that trouble?

 

[Nicole01]

With buying bantams they can not be sexed. Their structure is too small and sexing could seriously injure them. I personally love bantams. The store I bought my chicks from didn't have a big selection of sexed pullets. They were straight run chicks. I personally would never order online. I want to see and evaluate my chick before buying. Although, buying sexed there is no guarantee that you will end up with all pullets. Shipping costs are outrageous and I don't want to order 25 chicks. I personally have no problems eating chicken. In fact, it's one of my favorite meals. I see nothing wrong with culling your own food. We have a freezer full of deer, duck, and wild salmon all caught by my husband. Many people here send their chickens to the freezer camp to be eaten. At least our chickens lived a happy clean life outside vs a small factory area full of feces. Of course, we'd thank our chicken for providing us food before culling. If we chose not to cull, the store takes back any chicken we don't want.

 

[TreeHugger]

I would think you could find him a home or family to feed off craigslist. If not ask the local humane society or animal rescue group. Some of those groups will take them and already have people lined up that will take unwanted chickens.

If I get bantams chicks from the local feed stores they only come in straight run. I don't do this very often but did end up buying 10 chicks this spring, 6 of which were roos. It's kind of fun to see what you are going to get. I don't keep the roos or plan on butchering them. They end up going on craigslist or to the local animal auction in my area. I have never had an issue getting rid of extra roos...

Honestly I would not just cull him and dispose of him in the trash.

 

[SoORchick73]

oh this is the only reply that made me smile and laugh....dangit no more naming! lots to think about...
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[SoORchick73]

when you say picking them from a bin....you mean bins that are supposedly pre sexed at the feed store? thats how we got 2 out of 6 roos.

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[Clay Mudd]

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Nicely said!

 

[BooBear]

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There is no guarentee on the bins as chicks get mixed up from people picking them up and putting them back into the wrong bin.

I process extra roosters for food and they taste better then any store bought chicken. I also have a bad habit of naming them too! I just look at as they have had a happy life until they were invited to dinner, the name gives them diginity as a living critter. Long Tail, Jester, Butters, and others where appreciated for the food they gave us.

Right now I have a Silkie mix that I have not been able to rehome that I am considering processing. (The heat has kept him from freezer camp so far as I do my processing outside and don't like the heat) My only issue with processing bantams is they are so small. But I guess he can make a good soup chicken.

 

[ScotianChick]

I had to help my DH kill a roo that was named. It was hard. I teared up (I didn't grow up on a farm so I had never done it before). We found a great tutorial on youtube on the proper way to do it. We made sure it was as painless as possible. But the fact is, he was mean and no one wants a mean roo. What we did was kinder. Now after taking his feathers off, he was just like any other chicken and it's WAY less weird at that point. And he was delicious.

One of my chickens died due to a crow and we buried her. I thought she had died terribly and that she deserved to be buried.

 

[kuntrygirl]

If it were me and I couldn't give him away or eat him, I would find a needy family and give this gift to them so that he can nourish their family as a meal.

Good luck with your decision.

 

[ThinkingChickens]

If you'll eat chickens from the grocery store that were living in filthy conditions, so heavy their legs broke and that's okay, whey wouldn't you eat a chicken you raised humanely. You can probably find someone to butcher him for you, or someone who would eat him. What about a petting zoo, a local farm, or try posting him on CL for $5. Charging for a pet always gets more attention than free. Free means there is a problem. Free means that you don't care, so why should someone else. Try listing him for $5 and see if you get a response. People value what they spend money on.