What to do with roosters?

[Marianne]

One of my new hens crowed the other day. I got the chicks in March, so the chickens are pretty young yet.

Now I have a decision to make. A friend who bought her so-called 'girls' at the same time ended up with 2 roosters. So they were going to butcher their's and mine this weekend (I told them they could keep the meat from mine). But now her DH is squawking about butchering them, said he is sick of butchering (they recently butchered 24 of 'em and gave all the meat to his son).

So I'm currently stuck with one RIR roo. My SIL suggested I keep him, maybe have some chicks in the future and then sell any young roo's for meat birds. Does anyone do that and actually have success? I'm having a hard time thinking about hanging a sign out front that reads "you catch em, you kill 'em chickens - a buck a bird".

I figure if he attacks me or mine in the future, I can have my SIL come out and shoot him. Obviously we don't butcher critters. Any suggestions or thoughts?

 

[savingdogs]

I had heard lots of negative things about rhode island red roos, so we did not get one, but I think rhode island reds are the unsung heros of my chicken world and if I had a nice RIR roo I'd use him.

We ate some RIR cross roos and to tell you the truth, they were not that great. Not much breast and they were kinda tough. We were thinking of processing the next ones into pet food, except maybe the breasts for soup or stew or something.

My policy has been to place an honest CL ad for any animals we might consider butchering first, to see if I can get more for it than I could buy the same amount of meat at the store. Using that as a guide, we have not butchered many animals, but I did truly feel they were unwanted culls at that point and it helped in our ultimate decision and feelings about eating the meat of an animal we "knew". I've been selling my Creme d' Argent rabbits for way more than a night's worth of meat cost, and it helped me offset the terribly high cost that rabbit food has jumped to in the last six months (about six dollars a bag more!).

We did find it harder than we expected to incubate and/or have hens raise chicks even with a rooster in house, but we found we liked him for other reasons. He protected his hens, defended them from dog attacks fearlessly, and never hogged the food. I did sell him, but only because I sold his favorite ladies and we don't want more Buff Orpingtons, I'm switching to EEs.

I did BUY an EE roo so that I could raise more myself, but at the rate we have been going, it will just be to replace the birds that are lost (mostly to that stupid stray dog!) and such, it won't be providing us much meat. And since I can't seem to resist buying interesting and beautiful chicks at the feed store in the spring, I don't know what I'm really saving, having the rooster to feed all year. So there seem to be pros and cons. We personally liked hearing the cocadoodle doo (and you know I can't really hear it very well anyway).

 

[curly_kate]

We have a RIR roo, and he's actually caused no problems with our hens or with us. He goes after dogs that get in, but since I whacked him with a bucket when he came after me once, he gives me a wide berth. We have 13 hens, and 10 more chicks/pullets, so there are plenty of females for him to 'love' on.

 

[keljonma]

We had a Lakenvelder hen crow, but she did it only once - right before she started laying. She was the first in our flock of 20 to lay eggs... So I would watch your bird to see if it is really crowing and not just a one-time thing.

 

[Marianne]

It's definitely a rooster...in fact, both of the RIR might be roo's. The one that crows jumped a hen the other day (chicken rape, according to my daughter). I hear the cock a doodle do every morning now.
The other RIR walks like the rooster, has legs almost as thick as the roo...doesn't look good from my angle.

(Excuse me while I whine.)

 

[OldBrickHouseFarm]

I always get straight run birds and eat the roos after giving them a nice life albeit short.
The secret to tender meat is twofold. Rest the meat 3 or 4 days before cooking or freezing and then cook low and slow. 180 for 4 or more hours.