Why do alot of people give away Roosters?

[Amitist]

Hi! I am kinda new to this "chicken" thing so I really need help. I bought 3 chicks, and I took care of them just as the manual said. One was yellow, and 2 of them were black and white. The yellow one was slightly bigger that the others when I bought it. I took the BEST care of them. But somehow the 2 black ones died

The yellow one has grown pretty big, and now I think it might be a Roo'. It has these little spikes popping up from its head ( does that mean it will be a Roo'?) I went to BYC to get some good tips. Then I saw that people give away roosters (most of the time).. What should I do with it? It is the only chick I have, and its 80-90% Rooster. Should I give it to a breeder?

 

[PineappleMama]

Well, in my town they are banned, completely.

Male ducks, okay.

Male turkeys, okay.

Male quail, okay.

Male geese, okay.

But no male chickens. I was VERY tempted to get four female (loud) ducks just to be cantankerous, but the kids outvoted me so we went with chickens instead.

 

[Oven Ready]

Most people give away roosters for a few reasons.

1 - They don't lay eggs, so you feed a bird for no return (other than they look good)
2 - A lot of folk aren't allowed to keep them (for local govt. byelaws and stuff) because they can make a lot of noise.
3 - If you have too many, relative to the number of hens, they will fight each other - to the death sometimes.
4 - They are generally more aggressive than hens so occaisionally you will see stories from people whose roosters have gone psycho and attack them - they are well armed.

eta : 5 - Some people don't want to kill and eat their excess roosters, hence the reason for giving them away. We eat ours and they are tasty.

I'm sure other people have more reasons than those above, but I think these would be the main ones.

In most breeds the hens have combs too so your possible rooster might be a hen. Post a picture and someone will confirm or deny the roosterification of your chick.

 

[justbugged]

It would only be a question as to whether or not you can keep a rooster where you live. For me I live way to close to neighbors, so the crowing would become irritating. Others live in the country or far enough away from neighbors that it doesn't matter that the rooster makes noise. So the answer to your question is different for everyone. What ypu choose to do will be up to you. Some will just eat him, others will re-home to a place that will not eat a rooster. I take mine to an auction where I have no say in what happens to them. I can live with that, but others can't.

 

[justbugged]

French Rooster stew is very delicious at my house.

 

[CindyG]

All of the above reasons. I have too many roosters for the hen count, but I sure can't "process" them myself for the stew pot. Not sure what I'm going to do with them. They sure are pretty tho!

 

[Happy Chooks]

All of the above and with a ratio of 1 rooster to 10 hens, you simply don't need many roosters.

 

[bburn]

So...when you have too many roosters what age is the best for turning them into stew?

We have been watching our flock that we got May 8th this year.....29 of them. We are pretty darn sure now that we have at least six roo's. We have to either find someone that needs a roo or cook them. Now, I can probably cook them if my DH will do the honors of preparing them. I told him if they looked close to what they would look like if I bought them at the store I could cook them.

But at what age?

 

[rancher hicks]

I have no place to keep the extras til butchering time. Plus most people say they are tough eating.

I'm not sure I could kill them, and afraid the smell would attract predators.

People around here won't pay for them, and the cost to raise them out is prohibative.

 

[Yay Chicks!]

By the way, WELCOME to BYC amitist. I hope you can keep your little rooster and hopefully get him some friends.