Getting rid of my rooster (guilt)

[Pukkits]

If it were me, I'd set a date and if you've not found a home for him, give him to someone that will eat him. This year has a bunch of chicks and new chicken owners, and a corresponding amount of accidental roosters. The market might be a bit flooded. It took me over a month to rehome our accidental roosters this year, and they were an uncommon color variety.

I understand wanting to give him a chance in a new home, but you need some peace not being attacked and your ladies need a break.

 

[Livia Ammon]

Good to know, I didn't know the age fertility started going down. Is it wasteful to give him away? My husband wants us to harvest him but I don't know if I could watch it.

He will probably be pretty tough and un-tasty, considering his age, and I second that it wouldn’t be worth it to eat him. Giving him away is, in my opinion, the best thing you can do.

 

[Not-so Slick Chicken]

I have one on Craigslist and only 1 person wants him. I said he was aggressive in the description. The person who wants him is going to eat him.
Maybe I can reword my article to make it sound like he'll be a challenging yard mate.

I'm going to be somewhat blunt here.

It's all fine not being comfortable with this bird being processed on your property, or if you don't want to eat him yourself.
(And you'll probably have birds in the future that can be eaten.)

However.

This bird IS dangerous.
He does attack you.
You know your family is at risk.
He's not going to stop being dangerous at somebody else's house.

Changing the wording to make him seem like he isn't human aggressive means the next person might literally not know the bird will attack them.

If you were on the other side of this and thought you were getting a safe bird who was just "challenging rooster, can't keep him, don't want to eat him" and he attacked your baby, would you really be thinking "no big deal" ?

Or, the buyer might think "I can change this bird. I don't want him to go to somebody who will eat him!"

Somebody's child or grandparents could be attacked.
Their neighbor could be attacked.
There can be very serious legal actions.

Him being food (whether at your house, or somebody else's) isn't a bad thing.

 

[5Australorpasaures]

At the first attack rooster would have either been introduced to Molly Hatchet or a load of #8 bird shot. Especially if there were young children and visitors in and out. Personally I would never pass an aggressive roo on to someone else. Again I say, too many good ones to tolerate a bad one. Sage advise from my grandfather.

 

[Sinadrea]

Please don’t endanger someone else’s child or grandchild by “handwaving” in your listing!

It’s ok that whoever takes him will send him straight to freezer camp. You’ve given him a good life, he’s acting like he’s acting, let him go.

You may have to sit with the reality of his fate for a while. Keep him penned separately during this time.

And if your husband wants “us” to harvest him, then he needs to be willing to do the whole nine yards: dispatching him, plucking, cleaning, figuring out the wait time before freezing.

Oh, I see. I wouldn't omit the fact that he's aggressive. Thank you, I told my husband I would give him away last night.

 

[Sinadrea]

I'm going to be somewhat blunt here.

It's all fine not being comfortable with this bird being processed on your property, or if you don't want to eat him yourself.
(And you'll probably have birds in the future that can be eaten.)

However.

This bird IS dangerous.
He does attack you.
You know your family is at risk.
He's not going to stop being dangerous at somebody else's house.

Changing the wording to make him seem like he isn't human aggressive means the next person might literally not know the bird will attack them.

If you were on the other side of this and thought you were getting a safe bird who was just "challenging rooster, can't keep him, don't want to eat him" and he attacked your baby, would you really be thinking "no big deal" ?

Or, the buyer might think "I can change this bird. I don't want him to go to somebody who will eat him!"

Somebody's child or grandparents could be attacked.
Their neighbor could be attacked.
There can be very serious legal actions.

Him being food (whether at your house, or somebody else's) isn't a bad thing.

Got it, based on the comments, I believe rehoming to the person willing to eat him is best. I am not wordsmithing my article and I wouldnt have lied about him being aggressive, would have just added a statement to make the article a little funny but it now sounds like a bad idea :-

I'm going to be somewhat blunt here.

It's all fine not being comfortable with this bird being processed on your property, or if you don't want to eat him yourself.
(And you'll probably have birds in the future that can be eaten.)

However.

This bird IS dangerous.
He does attack you.
You know your family is at risk.
He's not going to stop being dangerous at somebody else's house.

Changing the wording to make him seem like he isn't human aggressive means the next person might literally not know the bird will attack them.

If you were on the other side of this and thought you were getting a safe bird who was just "challenging rooster, can't keep him, don't want to eat him" and he attacked your baby, would you really be thinking "no big deal" ?

Or, the buyer might think "I can change this bird. I don't want him to go to somebody who will eat him!"

Somebody's child or grandparents could be attacked.
Their neighbor could be attacked.
There can be very serious legal actions.

Him being food (whether at your house, or somebody else's) isn't a bad thing.

The person who wants him knows he's aggressive.

 

[Sinadrea]

At the first attack rooster would have either been introduced to Molly Hatchet or a load of #8 bird shot. Especially if there were young children and visitors in and out. Personally I would never pass an aggressive roo on to someone else. Again I say, too many good ones to tolerate a bad one. Sage advise from my grandfather.

Hello all,

I have had my 3 year old Starlight Green Egger since he was a chick with my first flock. He has just had 6 chicks and at least 1 is a 3 month old Roo.

The elder hasn't settled down at all. He has spurred me 3 times and comes after me every day so I have to arm myself with a stick or something to push him back.
He seems great with the girls most of the time but 3 of them are showing signs of overmating and I can tell they are stressed out.

I haven't had the courage to try and assert dominance over him. I have a 15 month old who wants to go outside and I feel like I am out of options because I don't want the rooster to run our backyard anymore.

Is it irrational to give him away? The person interested will eat him. He has had a great life. He has free ranged for 3 years, he has 7 hens, 6 pullets, and now 6 babies.

What are your thoughts? And thank you in advance!

Thanks all, it helps to get clarity on this situation. I am in the best by giving him up to the 1 person who wants him, she is aware that he is aggressive and is willing to eat him.

 

[Sinadrea]

If it were me, I'd set a date and if you've not found a home for him, give him to someone that will eat him. This year has a bunch of chicks and new chicken owners, and a corresponding amount of accidental roosters. The market might be a bit flooded. It took me over a month to rehome our accidental roosters this year, and they were an uncommon color variety.

I understand wanting to give him a chance in a new home, but you need some peace not being attacked and your ladies need a break.

I bred some of the babies and I'm sure some others will be roosters. So far, I have a Polish mix for sure and Bielefelder mix that I believe to be one. I am hoping they're calmer like their moms.

 

[Sinadrea]

At the first attack rooster would have either been introduced to Molly Hatchet or a load of #8 bird shot. Especially if there were young children and visitors in and out. Personally I would never pass an aggressive roo on to someone else. Again I say, too many good ones to tolerate a bad one. Sage advise from my grandfather.

I will keep this in mind for my future endeavors.

 

[Not-so Slick Chicken]

I know I'd have difficulty if I were in your situation.
Just having to think of rehoming an animal, that's really hard
Having to dispatch an animal, that's really difficult
Even if I know I had the animal for food purposes, or that it was sick or injured and was suffering. Or just that I couldn't keep it anymore.

You've done what you could for the bird
Sometimes there's just bad birds
So even if it is difficult, the bird becoming food isn't a cruel thing.

I'm sorry you experienced an aggressive rooster.
The relief of having that stress gone, and being able to know you're safe in your own yard. You deserve that.

I hope you never have another bad bird. But if you do, it's okay to just take the warning signs as a reason to turn it into food.
There are a LOT of good birds out there.
Don't have to waste too much time on the bad ones.

For people who are too upset with the idea of their own bird being eaten, you can dispatch it and let it be compost/fertilizer.