What to do with roosters!

[RoostersAreAwesome]

@RoostersAreAwesome will have a lot to say about this! Lol

If I was you, I would buy pullets or adult hens. Adult hens are the best, you will definitely get hens if you get them as adults.

 

[ChickyMama229]

I second the idea of purchasing sex links or auto sexing breeds, that way you are almost assured of getting hens.

As another poster stated, often you can't give away a rooster for free. It is almost assured they are going to the stew pot. (Few regular birds are used for cock fighting...that is more of the game bird type).

If you get a male in a sexlink, take it back to the store. Most feed stores will accept rooster returns when it was their mistake. (They sold you a female sex link, they mixed the bins, and you got a male). If they don't; don't buy from them.

One good sex linked choice is Red Sexlinks, which go by different names such as Red Star, Gold Star, Gold Comets, ISA Brown. All girl chicks are hatched with gold-red foxy coloring. All male chicks hatch with yellow-white down.

Another good choice is Black Sexlinks. All males hatch with a white head dot that represents barring to come. All females hatch solid black.

Your auto-sexing birds tend to be better bought from a reliable breeder as the lines have to be kept well. Those breeds are Welsummer (added bonus of darker red-brown eggs), Cream Legbar (green-blue eggs) and Rhodebar (harder to find, tinted eggs). Breeders however often will not accept returns as they are concerned with bio-security of their breeding flocks.

The final option, if you do end up with a pleasant rooster, is put a No Crow collar on him. They work very well (after you've fiddled with it for a couple of days). You can purchase them for about $20 on My Pet Chicken. (You can make homemade collars, but, honestly, the quality of the No Crow makes it worth the $20).

Do be aware that many roosters can become aggressive, and not all flocks should have a rooster.

LofMc

Thanks so much! I just looked up the rooster collar and it looks really safe and it looks like it would work. I will definitely give it a try!

 

[ChickyMama229]

I would like to thank everyone so much for your suggestions and tips! They are going to help a lot!

 

[dfalco]

I second the idea of purchasing sex links or auto sexing breeds, that way you are almost assured of getting hens.

As another poster stated, often you can't give away a rooster for free. It is almost assured they are going to the stew pot. (Few regular birds are used for cock fighting...that is more of the game bird type).

If you get a male in a sexlink, take it back to the store. Most feed stores will accept rooster returns when it was their mistake. (They sold you a female sex link, they mixed the bins, and you got a male). If they don't; don't buy from them.

One good sex linked choice is Red Sexlinks, which go by different names such as Red Star, Gold Star, Gold Comets, ISA Brown. All girl chicks are hatched with gold-red foxy coloring. All male chicks hatch with yellow-white down.

Another good choice is Black Sexlinks. All males hatch with a white head dot that represents barring to come. All females hatch solid black.

Your auto-sexing birds tend to be better bought from a reliable breeder as the lines have to be kept well. Those breeds are Welsummer (added bonus of darker red-brown eggs), Cream Legbar (green-blue eggs) and Rhodebar (harder to find, tinted eggs). Breeders however often will not accept returns as they are concerned with bio-security of their breeding flocks.

The final option, if you do end up with a pleasant rooster, is put a No Crow collar on him. They work very well (after you've fiddled with it for a couple of days). You can purchase them for about $20 on My Pet Chicken. (You can make homemade collars, but, honestly, the quality of the No Crow makes it worth the $20).

Do be aware that many roosters can become aggressive, and not all flocks should have a rooster.

LofMc

A collar to keep a rooster from crowing...what will they think of next?! (I was pretty sure a rubber band on the beak wouldn't work.)

 

[aart]

Hello everyone. We are going to move onto a smaller sized lot with a neighbor just 20 feet away, and we plan to have chickens. I plan on ordering only hens, but I have heard of cases where people have bought hens and ended up with roosters. I am just trying to plan ahead in case I end up with any roos. I would love to have a few, but I'm not sure my neighbor shares the same feelings as I do. People have sold them or given them away, and I prefer for them to go to loving homes, but I know that most of them will be butchered. And I certainly do not want to be supplying any cock fighters. Any suggestions? Is there a way to keep them from crowing? Thanks so much ahead of time!

Welcome to BYC @ChickyMama229!
I'm going to give you the darker sides of the issues.
Keep in mind that pullets and hens can be very noisy too, tho usually only during daylight hours. I assume that you are concerned about the noise, or maybe there is an ordinance at your new place that forbids roosters?

Thanks so much! I just looked up the rooster collar and it looks really safe and it looks like it would work. I will definitely give it a try!

Hmmm....not always safe, needs much and frequent management, especially at first..... and doesn't always work at all or only reduces noise levels slightly. I would advise a presumably new chicken keeper with close neighbors to not keep any male chickens the first year or so.

 

[User395221]

The man I bought my fertilised eggs from was keeping his boys in a suburban backyard and he had collars on them. My local council says "no roosters" so I wouldn't be able to try it (he's in a different are, not sure what his council says), but it would stress me out trying to inhibit something natural and I'd always be stressed that they'd be "bothering people". I'd also rather send my boys to the country where they can yell their heads off as much as they want (even if it just means the "lucky one" who gets picked).

 

[MAchicken105]

I feel the same way, I just gave away a beautiful show quality sweet cockerel this afternoon. He was clearly a rooster but hadn't crowed yet. My town doesn't allow roosters and as much as I would have loved to keep him and use him for breeding, I couldn't handle the stress of being reported or dealing with a no crow collar. My neighbors are very close and it's not worth getting attached to him and having to deal with the potential rehoming later down the road.

I think it's smart not to deal with a rooster if it's simply not allowed.

The man I bought my fertilised eggs from was keeping his boys in a suburban backyard and he had collars on them. My local council says "no roosters" so I wouldn't be able to try it (he's in a different are, not sure what his council says), but it would stress me out trying to inhibit something natural and I'd always be stressed that they'd be "bothering people". I'd also rather send my boys to the country where they can yell their heads off as much as they want (even if it just means the "lucky one" who gets picked).

 

[User395221]

and it's not worth getting attached to him

When my girls had their "babies", I purposely didn't get attached to anyone, nobody got names or anything until I knew who was staying. I really liked the boy maran, but even though I've never had chicks before, I felt early on that he was a boy and I didn't let myself like him too much.

I really love roosters, they are so good-looking with all their fancy plumage but when it's forbidden in your area, you just have to do without. One day, I might live in the country. sigh.

 

[keesmom]

I think it's smart not to deal with a rooster if it's simply not allowed.

Gotta agree with this. You definitely don't want your city/town to rethink allowing poultry completely because someone is keeping an illegal rooster. Better off with sticking to hens only. They can be noisy enough. We have a few "chatty" hens that have healthy lungs.

I feel the same way, I just gave away a beautiful show quality sweet cockerel this afternoon. He was clearly a rooster but hadn't crowed yet. My town doesn't allow roosters and as much as I would have loved to keep him and use him for breeding

Even if you were able to keep him for breeding you would still have to do something with all the extra offspring you hatch. I know you had good luck with craigslist this year with rehoming males but that isn't always the case. I have non-hatchery Faverolles and most of the extras, male AND female wind up in the freezer for lack of interest.

 

[Mrs. K]

I know that I would not want a rooster 20 feet away from my house.