What do you do with all your extra roosters?

[cupman]

So I am getting 22 chicks on Friday. They are the only chicks I have ever hatched myself and they were for a friend but I guess he couldn't handle them and wants to get rid of them. From the looks of it there are several roosters. I can't decide what to do with them. I was going to put them on Craigslist but there's a dozen roosters there already, purebred ones(mine are mutts).

How long can I raise them before the roosters want to fight each other? I would like to maybe butcher them for meat but not if they are going to be a huge headache. I know some people just snap their necks early on.

I'd like to keep maybe one rooster but 10 is a little more than I can handle. What would you do?

 

[bobbi-j]

I'm getting 25 straight-run chicks next week, plus I have 36 eggs in the incubator right now, so I have the potential for 61 chickens! We plan on eating our extra roosters. I'll be getting some good dual-purpose birds that will dress out nicely go in the freezer, and the scrawnier ones will be canned. There are many good uses for canned chicken.

As far as just snapping their necks now, I guess that's an option... it just seems like a waste to me when you have the potential for meat for your family.

 

[Fred's Hens]

Roosters are often a plentiful item on Craigs. You can try. As mutts, don't be shocked if there isn't a whole lot of interest. Which leaves eating them or composting them. The latter sounds strange, but matter is neither created nor destroyed. Matter just goes round and round and round. So, from the earth's elements they came and to the earth's elements they will return, one way or another.

 

[scratch'n'peck]

Since you are comfortable butchering them for meat go ahead and raise them as part of the flock. They may not really start fighting much because they were all raised together. I have 3 bachelor roosters who get along fine. Once they start reaching sexual maturity after around 5 months, they probably will start bothering the hens especially if they are in a confined space.

 

[cupman]

Yeah that makes sense. I may as well eat them. I am constructing this large brooder/small coop and run this afternoon and was considering putting all the roosters in together. I was going to separate the hens out. Will this increase/reduce chances of fighting? I guess I'm wondering whether or not they will have a reason to fight if we take the ladies out of the equation.

 

[bobbi-j]

They should be just fine without any hens to fight over. A couple of years ago, I kept 7 or 8 of them in their own little shed until butchering time. There was the normal pecking order squabbles, but that was it.

Yeah that makes sense. I may as well eat them. I am constructing this large brooder/small coop and run this afternoon and was considering putting all the roosters in together. I was going to separate the hens out. Will this increase/reduce chances of fighting? I guess I'm wondering whether or not they will have a reason to fight if we take the ladies out of the equation.

 

[Jakl]

We eat ours also, there is no better.

Sometimes we butcher 2-3 when they get to "cornish" size, and bake them if there is enough meat, different breeds sometimes don't have enough meat early on.

 

[RedDrgn]

It's funny that everyone keeps saying that there are a lot of roosters on Craigslist, because I stalked our quad-state area (within 2 hours of us) for about a month and never found anything other than chicks or VERY over-priced (like $30-$50) cockerels. Then again, you can get away with selling $6-8/dozen eggs around here...I need to figure out where these people all work.

Anyway, I'd probably list them on Craigslist anyway. Even PetFinder would work if you're not willing to give them up to someone potentially looking for dinner.

 

[feathers_3]

If you know fellow flock raisers in your area you could ask around. I agree with everyone else, butcher them. A young rooster that is about 4 or 5 months old is better to eat than an old tough hen. When they start trying to mate is when they will probably begin to fight. My rooster began getting rowdy at about 6 months. That would be a good time for butchering. A good rule that I always hear is you need one rooster for every ten hens. But...my uncle is a big chicken breeder and he has about 45 chickens and only 3 roosters and his hens eggs are fertile. If you lived in NC I would buy a couple off you for a Brunswick stew!!

 

[pmbourque]

We eat ours also, there is no better.

Sometimes we butcher 2-3 when they get to "cornish" size, and bake them if there is enough meat, different breeds sometimes don't have enough meat early on.

May I ask why you don't let them get bigger? I'd like to raise them for meat as well. Is it something about them being male?