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Hi from Ottawa, Canada. I have always harboured the idea of having chickens since growing up on a farm in central Canada. However, for many years lifestyle and living conditions did not allow for this luxury until we finally moved to a property in the country. We've had chickens for several years now (Bantie/Silkie). Having chickens is so relaxing and therapeutic and I enjoy spending time just watching them go about their daily business. Up until just recently they have run freely on 2 acres but a hovering hawk forced me to put them in their pen early this year. Of course, they are housed all winter because of weather conditions here. We also have two Embden geese (down from about 20), two German Shepherd dogs, three cats and an ancient Senegal parrot.

Currently we have an over abundance of roosters and as I can't bring myself to relegate them to the soup pot, it is a problem. I only allow a couple of roosters at a time to be with the chickens as the poor girls are outnumbered now. For the past three or four years I have let the hens raise only a couple of chicks per season (I don't have room for more than about 15) but out of the last 7 chicks produced, only one has been a hen! What are the odds of that? And what do sensible people do about the dilema? :(

I have already posted a question in the health section.
 
Welcom Maryellen. This is a great forum - you will really enjoy it. Regarding your question about your excess rooster problem I am useless! :roll: I can't get rid of anything - let alone eat it :o I feel the same as you which is why I am reluctant to hatch eggs - I would love to because it sounds such fun - but there you are. I noticed you said you had embden geese - fine example there for me - got these 2 goslings -3 and 5 days old - about five years ago now. The man assured me they were 2 female Romans as I had wanted. Hand reard the little darlings- and they were absolute little darlings - only to find 18 months later ( second breeding season I presume) that I had hand reared 2 embden cross ganders ! :o :shock: Not good - human imprinted embden cross ganders. But can I get rid of these little monsters? NO! I can't - they were my little babies!

There are lots of much more sensible people on here who will help you and give you invaluable advice - this is the great thing about the forum. We are all different which is what makes it so enjoyable. Good luck.
 
Hi Maryellen and welcome to the forum,be great to chat with you.

As regards your rooster problem,I can't kill and eat them either.Do you have a local person who would dispatch some of them for you?Then you could give them as presents to friends or family if you can't bear to eat them.
As with regards producing more cockerels than hens,maybe it goes in swings and roundabouts so next year (breeding season) you will get more hens.Nature does need to balance itself out,and,it sounds as if your flock/s have a good natural environment.
The other thing I would consider is buying in some different hens,my family (humans not chickens) tend to produce boys as opposed to girls.Many years ago in the small village they all lived they needed to import woman from neighbouring villages as there were no girls for the young men to marry.
I think similar things can happen with livestock,maybe your hens are more genetically disposed to produce cockerels.Although I honestly don't know if this can happen and maybe you've just been un-lucky.
 
...and then you came along Lydia! I reckon you make up for the lack of females in your family :D :lol:
 
Anne W said:
...and then you came along Lydia! I reckon you make up for the lack of females in your family :D :lol:
Click to expand...


I do my best....
 
Hi Maryellen,

A warm welcome to the forum.. it's great to have you on board. It sounds like you've already got lots of experience in keeping poultry.

OK so the killing thing.... I have found that bit difficult, however I decided early on that it is sometimes very necessary and I know this sounds horrible but you do get used to it.

The first cockerel I ever killed nearly killed me. I sobbed afterwards but knew deep down that if I was to hatch chicks, this was part and parcel of it. Now, whilst I still don't enjoy what I sometimes have to do, I find it's always about keeping perspective. If you let the birds in question become tame, then it makes things difficult. I try to keep growers as just that - no names, just birds that I'm growing. Once the cockerel situation is sorted, it's then they get named and loved... it's a funny way of doing things but it works for me emotionally...

Birds that I occassionally grow for meat are just that... meat. I can't allow any attachment or I would never be able to kill them.

Hope this makes sense!

Tim
 
Oh yes, it makes sense, it's logical, it's the right thing to do ... but, when the time comes..... that's another story. Every time I let the hens set, I promise myself that any boys will have to go. And I really mean it - at the time. Then they hatch, run around with their mothers for a few weeks (while I try to figure out if they are boys or girls), and I'm hooked. I had myself convinced that the two little ones hatched this summer were hens - small combs, tiny wattles and short tail feathers. Hens. I was telling everyone that I finally had some new hens. Then I walked into the pen one morning to find the older one had had a sex change overnight. Now the younger one has matured to the point where his gender is no longer in question. And they are both so beautiful. I think someone is out to get me :(

I keep thinking that some of my ancient boys will start dying off but, like the Energizer Bunny, they just keep going! I will probably have to get some new females from somewhere if I want to keep a flock - all my hens are older than dirt! Most of them don't even lay eggs anymore.

On a serious note: My husband, when he was still well enough to help with the animals, had no trouble with culling. I remember once he arranged for someone came and take the little roosters and I went out to help catch them and put them in crates. I will never forget the sound of those little fellows - they were so scared and were crying like babies. It was really awful.
 
Hi Maryellen,
Welcome to the forum. I'm a newcomer too!
Yes - I fully sympathise with your cockerel situation. They are all wonderful in their own right.
I have managed to find homes for several of my boys through advertising locally in Veterinary surgeries and pet stores. Some local papers also support free ads. Sadly though there are always a few that remain. I try and keep them for as long as I can, then grit my teeth and get my husband to humanely dispatch them. We then give them to a friend who prepares them for his own table. (No I couldn't possibly!)
At least I know they have had a good, happy life - unlike some of the poor birds commercially reared for meat.

I'd keep them all if I could.
 
If it's any consolation, I had one hatch this year with 11 cockerels out of 12... very distressing. Last year I had about the same number of hens though so I can't complain. It is supposed to work out at 50 / 50 in the long run but I'm not convinced!

One thing I would say is when you get the dispatching right, it is very very quick. I always take the birds out at night in the dark when they are calm and it's all over within seconds. I really don't like the 'humane dispatchers' that you can get to mount on a wall - they work by crushing the neck and can leave the birds in pain. The neck dislocation method is still, for me, the kindest way to dispatch a chook.

On a positive note, I have managed to rehome quite a few cockerels - this has also been useful when I have lost a cockerel, I have borrowed one of his sons back to get the bloodline back... :)
 
Hi
Welcome to the forum, I don;t think anyone in their right mind likes killing cockerels, I can still remember the first one I had to kill. My friends laugh at me being a veggie and killing cockerels goes against the grain.

I can now kill cockerels and ill birds but I still can't pinion a duckling!!!!!! :cry:
 
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