Think Before You Hatch!

[Bramble-Poultry]

well i see that Jen has made her blatant plug for rehoming cockerels, but as you (redthorn) mention above, the breeders and suppliers of poultry and eggs also (in my mind) have a duty to take back any unwanted birds (cocks or hens) that people cant deal with.

We have always (and always will) accept back any cockerels that hatch that are unwanted, and (boy are we daft) we will take and and find homes for any unwanted poultry (be they hens or cocks). If we pick up cockerels we will do our best to intergrate them into our breeding flocks, if not, then we will try and find homes for them.

I have never yet dispatched a cockerel given to us for rehoming, as that (in my mind) would be a breach of confidence. If someone asked me to cull one for them, i would first try and rehome it or intergrate, taking the culling as a last resort.

we have plenty of cockerels here, and some are destined to do great things in our breeding programmes with all sorts of plans for Dorking crosses, light sussex crosses and indian game crosses, not to mention some experimentation to create an olive egg layer here from scratch. We know that these experiements will throw up surpluc birds and we are geared up for that.

this is the true message behind richmonds comment - know what you are going to do with them before they even hatch or dont bother...............otherwise they become "someone else's problem"

[frias]

I was going to post a reply to this thread last night but knocked me flippin G&T over the laptop and it's been in the airing cupboard all day drying off.
I agree RH and I am one of the worst offenders. I resisted for over a year but having a constant broody and being offered a few fertile eggs I caved in. In my mind I was thinking 50% hatch rate so the most cocks I would get would be 2. The person who gave me the eggs said he would have one back so I thought I would only have one at the most to deal with. Well the best laid plans and all that. I got 3 cocks and the bloke only wants the one to eat it anyway, which if he's not prepared to come to my house to do, I'm not happy to transport one not knowing the stress it might go through until cull. I would never let them loose to fend for themselves though. Once these boys have gone I won't be hatching again unless I find I can deal with it after all. The worst part is the broody has tried to start sitting again!

[petal]

Talk about holding a grudge

Oh yes.. he went for me again today - so I offered him my best mash of potato peelings, porridge oats etc "come here my little kiev..let mummy feel how fat you are getting my lovely little chicken stew......."!

[di]

Oh yes.. he went for me again today - so I offered him my best mash of potato peelings, porridge oats etc "come here my little kiev..let mummy feel how fat you are getting my lovely little chicken stew......."!

Hope you added some garlic to that!.....got to think of the tastebuds!

[Eco-Chic]

"come here my little kiev..let mummy feel how fat you are getting my lovely little chicken stew......."!

Oooh Petal, you are as scary as some of the characters out of Hans Christian Andersen fairy tales

[petal]

Lets hope i don't get shoved in an oven then..........

[Eco-Chic]

Lol that would be a turn up for the horror books:

"Defiant cockerel roasts witch"

[RichmondHens]

Thanks all for reading (and commenting on) this thread. It is something I am feeling quite strongly about at the moment. Will take another walk through the woods and see if any more cocks have turned up.

[di]

it was something that needed to be brought up Sally!
Andi has just "done" our Norfolk Grey.I don't feel quite as indifferent as I'd convinced myself I would,but I know he's feeling it more.He couldn't find anyone to help him out so did it himself.
The least I can do now is make us the best roast dinner tomorrow!!!

It's going to be odd working at the lottie without his almost constant crowing,but like I said to the children,he had a good life & we can have a good feeling knowing that.

[Nicos]

Not nice-I feel for Andi- My OH said it was a bit easier the second time.
We left ours in the fridge for a couple of days to 'taste up' a bit and the other 2 are in the freezer.
Exceptionally tasty- creamy and meaty as opposed to slightly dry/gritty if you get my gist??
Oh- and don't try and snap the wishbone- our bent all over the place!!!
The stock is exceptional too!!

RH- fingers crossed you don't find any more- poor things.

[Hilary B]

I was told, years ago (don't know whether to believe it) that a pheasant/bantam cross is possible. That (and 'stray' cockerels) might account for some of the strange looking pheasants we see around here........
Must admit if I had ever had neighbours who 'couldn't face killing' cockerels, I'd have offered to take them, on the understanding that they WOULD probably get eaten eventually. I wouldn't pretend to be 'rehoming', but if they didn't like that, I would probably dish out the lecture on not hatching if you cannot accept (as a principle) the need for eventual culling.
I got given a Jersey bull calf during my farming years, by a vegetarian neighbour who had a house-cow. She accepted what would eventually happen to him, but before he was quite full grown we sold the farm, and I don't know what happened to him. I think he may have been kept, since I had him halter-trained, and gave the purchaser's children rides around the 'yard' when they came to look at the place. We named him Keats (anagram....)

[Alison]

Friend of mine has just told me about this place - unbelievable! Chicken Roundabout

[frias]

My friends daughter lives in a farm house next to a free range chicken farm. She found 2 cockerels on her doorstep, Obviously dumped by someone who thought she had something to do with the chicken farm and could just pop the cocks in with the hens. Fortunately the farmer did know somewhere she could rehome them so it ended happily.

I have accepted there is no happy ending for my boys except a dinner plate but know they are getting a good life now.

[RichmondHens]

Better a short happy life than a long miserable one. Better the cocks are treated well for a short time and despatched humanely, rather than shut in a small cage somewhere and forgotten about, because people don't know what to do with them. Worse, dump them on someone else, or release them into the wild (they may survive, but more likely be killed by predators or run over by a car).

Like Hilary, I would happily take on someone elses's cocks if they couldn't manage them, but on the understanding that they would be for the pot.

[di]

I'm actually really surprised by how much we all enjoyed our dinner!Two of the big things that I think helped sway the kiddies were letting them know that we felt sad about it and also when Ash told me he was sad because he loved watching him,I explained that we could go through the process again of hatching,watching grow & admiring how handsome they are all over again next year....appreciating it for what it is,a decent happy life that unfortunately can't go on forever..Daisy's worry now is that if we do hatch again next year we might "not" get many boys!!!

I'm not now going to get preachy about it...it really does come down to the individual,but I would say not to rule out being able to enjoy them on your plate...although you know it's your boy,once it's culled & prepared it takes on the familiar appearance of any other chicken you'd buy for eating which helps to change your perspective a bit...that said,the whole time I was cooking & we were eating,He was referred to as "he" and not "it".