What to do with my beautiful Wheaten BW roosters?

[Matanah Meadows]

Hi, I am new to hatching eggs and getting straight run chicks. So, of course we have beautiful roosters that we are not sure what to do with. I have a place that will take them for free but they are so pretty and for me, these chicks were hard to get. Of course to me they have great worth but my neighbor is intolerant, so I cannot keep them :-(

These Wheaten and Blue Wheaten boys are so pretty! If I were to sell them, what is a reasonable price? I am okay with giving them away for free as long as I know they will have a good home. People tend to value things if they have to pay for them....

What are your suggestions for these 7 week old boys?

 

[Chick CJ]

Wow, I am so sorry I can't help with homing them, but I just wanted to say how absolutely gorgeous they are!
CJ

 

[Backyard Bob]

IS it legal for you to keep them were you live? If so, I would keep atleast one! Sorry I can't help you with your pricing.

 

[Matanah Meadows]

IS it legal for you to keep them were you live? If so, I would keep atleast one! Sorry I can't help you with your pricing.

Technically it is legal, but.......if a neighbor deems their crowing as "offensive" you have to get rid of them. We have a neighbor who played dirty with our last rooster. We thought (and bought it) as a guaranteed pullet. It turned out to be a rooster (Jersey Giant) and was the coolest, sweetest and mellowest guy ever. Our four year olds could carry him around and play house with him and everything. We kept him locked up until 7am (noise reduction) and he hardly crowed at all even at that. But our neighbor called the cops knowingly while we were on vacation and demanded that we get rid of him since he was "bothered" by it! He knew we had no intention of getting a rooster in the first place and knew it was my sons egg business (and pets!). He didn't even have the decency to come and talk to us about it or even bring up the fact as to why we have a rooster! All our immediate neighbors said either they never heard our rooster, it didn't bother them or they really like it! Grrrrr......! But, we did manage to find a lady who specifically wanted our type of rooster and was totally nuts about him (he was the biggest love). Funny thing is, is where she lives, it is very illegal to have roosters, but she has historically had roosters (one at a time) with no problem and he is totally spoiled!

So now, I have these beautiful boys and need a home. I knew by hatching we would be running the 50/50 risk of getting roosters. But, since we were only hatching "hard to get" chicken breeds, I thought we could easily find homes....

So, here I am

 

[Matanah Meadows]

I was hoping for $20 each since that was my cost (chick + travel + feed). Is that unrealistic for these roos?

 

[Mrs. K]

Yes I think it is unrealistic. I don't think the one is of breeding quality, it looks like he has a crooked toe? If you hatched them out, what are their bloodlines, where did you get them?

People who truly breed a great deal of chickens, to improve a breed, only keep a VERY FEW roosters that meet the points of standards, the rest of the roosters are culled from being breeders. It seems harsh, but otherwise the breed loses desirable traits in meatiness, or egg laying, or too many deformities show up.

I think that a more realistic price is 3-5 dollars if they take them at this size..... it will be several months before they are big enough to eat. And that is what most roosters are used for, even pretty roosters. And it will be several months before they could be a head rooster.

You can try a local chicken club, to see if someone wants that particular breed, but to get rid of them, craigslist is probably your best bet, and don't ask questions on what they plan to do with them.

Mrs K

 

[donrae]

I don't think you can expect to recoup your costs on culled birds. That said, you can certainly advertise them for that price and see if you get any takers! You never know what someone may pay for something unless you ask. You can always lower the price, but it's hard to raise it. Just depends on how fast you want to get rid of them.

 

[Matanah Meadows]

Thanks for your help and thoughtful answers!

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

Just FYI, we cull roosters via Craigslist and always expect to run several ads. The first few ads, we hype the purebred roosters with lots of photos and ask $10. Sometimes get rid of some that way. Then after a few days, pull down that ad and put the remaining boys up for $5. Sometimes a few of those go. It helps if you are specific in your ad that you don't care if they are eaten. After that, we either put them in the meat pen with the Cornish X and eat them ourselves, or take them to a livestock auction (cows, pigs, goats and poultry) and usually get $2-$3 a piece for them.

You simply can't expect to make money with cull roosters.

One thing you CAN try is the Buy-Sell-Trade section of BYC. Two of my roosters are purebreds, culls from a breeder but just fine for what I need, and were given to me for free from a fellow BYCer. Especially if you are willing to drive them somewhere and meet someone half way, you might find a good home for them if you offer them for free here.

 

[Matanah Meadows]

Great ideas! Thanks!

Also on the crooked toes...we had a little chick when they were 2 day olds that went around pulling really hard at everyone's outside toes and really bent them up. I would assume this crooked toe thing would not be a genetic, right?