Chickenkeeping, year 4: The Roostering

[Wildgrass]

Oh! One more thing I think I didn’t mention. One of the Sussexes ended up being a pullet. I feel bad for any girls raised without sisters, but she’s doing well. I have yet to see any boys trying to mate with her.

 

[Folly's place]

I'd keep two for now, and see how it goes. They are still very young, so more 'interesting' behaviors may still turn up. And any showing bad thoughts at this age may turn out badly.
Mary

 

[Tonyroo]

Enjoying reading your rooster progress.
I had 8 cockerels between 2 batch of hatching eggs this year. 5 got culled last month, the 3 from my second hatch might get to live a little longer. I have no intentions of keeping them.

 

[Mrs. K]

I invited my eye candy to dinner. He just was not a better rooster than Bye, and that was my final cut. I am in that wonderful position of a good rooster, caring for a young flock. It was a pleasure watching them out in the shade this morning. Hanging out with their fella!

MRs K

 

[Wildgrass]

I really do hope I can get one of these guys to grow into a good rooster. I hate watching them try to mate with the girls by force. But we had a nice cool, cloudy day outside together after I took care of the "final cut", and it was lovely to see my flock out foraging in the new growth.

This isn't exactly on-topic, but I have butchered...seven roosters now, in my chicken experience, and I still have a lot of guilt every time I go into it. It's incredibly easy to disconnect myself from the culpability of eating store-bought chicken, but every time I go to cull a rooster, my brain goes, "jeez, is eating chicken really worth this? is this better than just letting these males get culled at the hatchery as day-old chicks?" And then I always spend the rest of the day thinking very hard about what I'm doing. I think I would get over it if it didn't also take me about 4 hours to fully process 2 birds, but it is what it is.

Once again I wanted to say thank you to everyone for the feedback and personal experiences. It's really hard to learn a new species behavior from scratch, and having this community has been incredibly helpful. Officially, I am down to Lizard Boy the buff orpington, and Morpheus the speckled sussex. I'm hoping to have no big changes anytime soon, but I'll try to pop in with an update now and then as they mature.

 

[Mrs. K]

It was hard for me too, to butcher, and to be honest, the first year, I went and bought a store chicken, cut it up and mixed it with the home grown. And so slow, I too remember birds getting rigor mortis before I was done!

You get better. You really do, and there is a real satisfaction in animal husbandry. Caring and harvesting animals. Does that mean, I can walk in there, catch a rooster and harvest them? Yes, I can and do. But know that I distance myself a little from them days ahead of time. I talk myself into getting it done, and I am glad that it is done.

You can always, when you get a broody hen, just put sexed chicks under her, I am not ashamed to say I have done that too. There are many ways to do this, many aspects to this hobby. It is one I truly love.

Mrs K

 

[3KillerBs]

This isn't exactly on-topic, but I have butchered...seven roosters now, in my chicken experience, and I still have a lot of guilt every time I go into it. It's incredibly easy to disconnect myself from the culpability of eating store-bought chicken, but every time I go to cull a rooster, my brain goes, "jeez, is eating chicken really worth this? is this better than just letting these males get culled at the hatchery as day-old chicks?" And then I always spend the rest of the day thinking very hard about what I'm doing. I think I would get over it if it didn't also take me about 4 hours to fully process 2 birds, but it is what it is.

This is one reason that I always give them their chance on Craigslist before I cull.

I talk to them as I work and tell them what good boys they are and how I've enjoyed keeping them and that their life has served a purpose.

I find that helps me emotionally and keeps the process in a proper perspective. I know they've lived good lives with only that one bad moment at the end.

 

[Morrigan]

It's normal and healthy to feel emotions when you butcher an animal. But, you gave those cockerels a good life and a chance to be a flock rooster. A quick and humane end, with high quality food in the freezer for your family. Consider it a job well done.

Good luck with making your final rooster decision. I've gone through that process a couple of times now. And, I once ended up culling the last one standing because as he matured further, I didn't like the way he was interacting with the hens. My rule is that if there is anything giving you concern or taking the joy out of being with your flock, you don't have the right rooster. Any type of human aggression or anything that makes you feel uncomfortable to walk inside the yard, injured hens, hens hiding in the coop all day, etc. Life's too short and there are too many roosters in need of homes to put up with poor behavior.