Definitely, you can't keep them all. And I care what happens to the birds, even the culls. I would rather butcher a rooster or turkey humanely before I would give it away to a home I would be uncertain it would get fed or taken care of right. Livestock peddlers are rampant in our area and they don't give a hoot if a bird is sick or half-starved or infested with worms or bugs. They buy stuff cheap and re-sell it, and keep them in tiny filthy cages. It's disgusting the ads you see on FB, the conditions people keep animals in. We pass a house on the road to our house, and the people have their chickens in tiny drop pens, as we call them, just temporary holding pens with a flip-up top. These people have 4 chickens at least per pen and the pens are roughly 3 feet by 3 feet. I feel so very sorry for those birds, I can hardly stand to even look at them when we drive by. I know they have been reported to animal control over keeping their dogs on short chains with no water or shelter, but no one cares about the chickens I guess. It is truly sickening to witness how poorly the chickens are treated. Minimal shelter and barely enough room to turn around in a mudhole. The people look like crackheads that live there, God forgive me for saying that, but it's true. It is really sad all around.
They must have stopped the auctions in our area too, I'm assuming due to the threat of Avian Influenza. And it is next to impossible to get any amount of money for roosters in my area trying to sell them on Facebook. And if you do have people interested, you end up dealing with a bunch of haggling and aggravation. So we butcher all the extra roosters. It is a swift and kind death, and I have peace in knowing we took care of those birds very well up until the end. Butcher day is the only bad day they ever have, and we try to keep the stress and pain to a minimum on the birds when the time comes to dispatch them.
My neighbors moved here from California, so they've had a huge culture shock, as we are all a bunch of hillbillies. lol But they are nice, and we gave them a starter flock of chickens a couple of years ago, and a few more chicks and a pair of turkeys last year. The original rooster started to get aggressive as he matured, and they have held off and held off on letting us butcher him for them. He was big and as a 2 year old cock had big sharp spurs, and he was tormenting their grandchildren. So I offered to butcher him today while we did ours, and gave them the SS rooster. We try to be good to people and I give away more chickens and turkeys than I sell if I know they are going to a good home.
I am looking forward to seeing your brood birds and the chicks you produce this year. Don't skimp on the pictures.
