What happens to baby roos?

[Clucking_Caramel]

I noticed many people hatch their own chicks. The odds should be about 50/50 for Roos vs Hens. Also, do breeders end up selling all of their cockerels as well? My guess is that most of them are culled...

If so how do people muster the courage to kill roosters that they have raised? I simply just buy chicks that are said to be pullets.

If not, what do people do with all of the unwanted birds?

 

[BantyChooks]

Yes, they are grown out and then slaughtered for food or given away to someone else that will. It's no different, and perhaps preferable in my opinion, than buying pullets at the store. Their brothers are dispatched at a day of age after they're sexed. I think if you asked the bird (after assigning them the ability to reason that far ahead) they'd rather have a shortish life spent chasing bugs and free ranging before being utilized for human sustainment than to be offed as a baby.

Breeders—true breeders, not producers—will slaughter most of their birds themselves to avoid flooding the gene pool with sub par birds, as you get many of whilst building or refining a line.

Is it easy? No. I currently have three that are making chaos that should really have gone months ago. They're still here because I shrink from doing the deed and keep finding excuses as to why they can stay.

Some people keep bachelor pens. That's nice, but once you hit about 200 noisy, fighting, feed-eating roosters that are not worth anything in monetary or breeding value... reality kicks in. For smaller scale operations, it sometimes works. All living things die eventually and I think accepting that makes it easier to cull birds to make the rest of your flock happier and healthier.

 

[azygous]

Buying only pullet baby chicks is no guarantee you won't end up with some cockerels, even if you go out of your way and order breeds that are auto-sexed. This means the boy chicks look completely different from the girl chicks coming out of the egg. Yet I managed to receive "mistaken" male chicks in two consecutive orders one year from My Pet Chicken where I ordered only pullets.

One is now my main rooster. It turned out that his male offspring are also ambiguous at hatch, so I now have a "spare" roo. The other two accidental roos I got from My Pet Chicken now have flocks of their own on farms on the prairie after I rehomed them at age ten weeks.

 

[Abriana]

I could never kill my own. I give them to a man who claims to free range. But I have a feeling he does at first. And then kills them for meat. It’s sad but there is no way I could (or anyone) keep all the roosters they hatch. There are typically more than hens and that would hurt the hens and not be a good life for you roosters-or your pocketbook. If they aren’t going to live a happy healthy life, then it would be better to give them potential in another way.

 

[AlleysChicks]

I tend to keep them for awhile if I have room and if they’re nice. But in the end it’s off with their heads. I just gave my neighbor 3 to eat. Did I feel bad? Not one bit. They were going through a lot of feed and starting to become aggressive to the hens.

 

[PirateGirl]

I think it helps to think about this before you even bring your birds home so your expectations are different. My first ever chickens were sexes pullets, the farmer offered to take back/swap any that ended up being roosters. We decided if we ended up with one good rooster we would keep him, more than one (or a mean one) he would become dinner. When I decided to get ducks I found a small flock of 3 girls with one drake. This ratio could possibly work, depending on the drake. I had someone lined up to take him as dinner if things fell apart during breeding season. I made this decision before the ducks even came home. Fortunately things are working well, but I know at some point a male may need to go. I decided this early, so I wouldn't let myself get too attached. It is part of being a responsible flock keeper.

 

[CajunFeatherz]

Yes, they are grown out and then slaughtered for food or given away to someone else that will. It's no different, and perhaps preferable in my opinion, than buying pullets at the store. Their brothers are dispatched at a day of age after they're sexed. I think if you asked the bird (after assigning them the ability to reason that far ahead) they'd rather have a shortish life spent chasing bugs and free ranging before being utilized for human sustainment than to be offed as a baby.

Breeders—true breeders, not producers—will slaughter most of their birds themselves to avoid flooding the gene pool with sub par birds, as you get many of whilst building or refining a line.

Is it easy? No. I currently have three that are making chaos that should really have gone months ago. They're still here because I shrink from doing the deed and keep finding excuses as to why they can stay.

Some people keep bachelor pens. That's nice, but once you hit about 200 noisy, fighting, feed-eating roosters that are not worth anything in monetary or breeding value... reality kicks in. For smaller scale operations, it sometimes works. All living things die eventually and I think accepting that makes it easier to cull birds to make the rest of your flock happier and healthier.

X10000 on everything in this post. Ethical slaughter is a thing. I'm proud to give my roos a beautiful, spoiled life until it's time to take it for food! Culling and slaughter is difficult and terrible but I completely agree that buying pullets alone simply leaves the tough job for the rest of us.

We are small producers just starting / ironing out, but we do not cull as chicks unless the chick is unhealthy or in distress. Whatever people don't purchase or isn't good breeding stock goes into our layer/bachelor crew. We cull from there as needed and keep for food. For a farm animals, that's a damn good life cycle - one far more appreciative and respectful than any grocery store bird or dozen of Superstore eggs .

Also, if you're not in an area where you are not allowed roosters, I heavily advocate for roosters in the flock! They're protective, watchful, colorful, active, and the right ones have excellent temperament (as long as you don't hand raise them). If you can have them I definitely would consider it!

 

[Ridgerunner]

With me they are not unwanted. One of my main goals is to raise chickens for meat, male and female. I hatch my own replacements and eat any that are not replacements, including eating the old birds that are being replaced.

It boils down to your goals and and management techniques. Some of us can handle hatching both males and females quite well. Some people should only get started pullets to make sure they never come close to a male.

We are all different, don't expect everyone to have your goals and feelings. I don't feel guilty at all at what I do. My chickens have a great life until they have one bad moment. I try to make that moment as short as I can.

 

[aart]

If so how do people muster the courage to kill roosters that they have raised?

Chickens are for food here, not pets....that was, and still is, the goal for me in keeping chickens.
The first one was very difficult, I'd never done that before.
It's still not much easier, but manageable.
As part of the hatching of chicks for yearly replacement layers,
cockerels and older hens are slaughtered every year here.
I slaughter cockerels at 13-16 weeks, before they start causing chaos and while still tender enough to grill for that crispy skinned deliciousness. Not much meat but the grilled bones make for some excellent stock. Anything older than that I pressure cook until meat is done and is saved aside then a couple more hours to get that bone broth.
There's a lot of Romance meets Reality as the 'grow your own food chicken fad' has turned into a 'pet' thing.

 

[SplashyDashyChicksHatchi]

My siblings and I have a suspicion that two of our newest chicks are roos but we really want to keep them. It's too early for signs like combs or aggressive behavior but the only thing we can really tell is that when you flip them onto their backs they stick their legs straight out. We had 4 starting chicks previously and when you flipped them they tucked their legs to their bellies. They are now 'teens' and are sporting hen behavior but I can't be sure. Can anyone help me? I really don't want my parents to sell the chicks or have to kill them.