# Self Sufficiency/Living off the Land or Off the Grid > Livestock and Animal Husbandry >  Unwanted Roosters

## Willie

I purchased a few (12) baby chicks. Well about 7 turned out to be roosters. What do y'all do with the unwanted roosters? I've had people say turn them loose, I don't want to do that because dogs and foxes will just kill them. I was told there isn't as much meat on a regular rooster like the ones for meat production it's not worth the trouble for the amount of meat. I don't really know anything about roosters. People don't really want roosters so it's hard to give them away. I just need some  advice on what to do with them.

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## Zachary Fowler

Not  A lot of good options free on craigslist  or fatten them up and put them in the pot as quick as you can even if they're not meaty they make good soup stock.

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## kyratshooter

What are you doing, raising chickens and going to Kroger to buy rotisserie birds in the deli department? 

You do what every generation has done with "unwanted roosters", you have fried chicken.

and stop paying attention to all the "experts" in the internet.  You raise a rooster to 10-12 weeks and the "trouble" you go to is killing and cleaning him before you cook him.  If you do all the processing at once it is over in a couple of hours and you have 7 birds in the freezer.

So what if he is only 3 pounds instead of five pounds, he's still table meat.  Add to that the fact that he is free from hormones and chemicals added to the feed to get commercial chickens to gain weight at extraordinary rates and you have a bonus, not a negative.

Just do not wait past that 12-13 week range to put them in the freezer. At that point you have more food in them than they are worth.

If you do nothing but kill the bird, peel the skin and feathers off smear him in butter, wrap him in tin foil and bake him in the oven I will guarantee it will be one of the best eating experiences of your life. 

BTW when the hens get about 3 years old they stop efficient egg production (eating more than they are laying and going broody constantly) and that is when you get the soup/stew chickens for the pot.  

So every six months, after a couple of clutches hatch and mature and a couple of hens stop laying, you should have a big chicken killing spree, process a bunch of birds and eat good for a few weeks.

Families used to look forward to chicken killing day just like hog killing day.  You got a whole skillet full of hearts, livers and gizzards fried in onions as a treat that night.

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## Willie

Thanks for the info. Looks like we gonna have rooster for Christmas...

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## cowgirlup

I put all my extras on Craigslist.  I'm not a hunter and I don't want to know my dinner that well.  Up here a lot of people keep a roo  to help protect the flock and occasionally people need replacements.  Or sometimes they want to replace one with a bad temper.  So far none of them seem to have wanted to go to the trouble of processing one.  Even my neighbors who hunt and will occasionally shoot a squirrel out of a tree for dinner won't bother to butcher one.

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## finallyME

What KYRS said.  Every time I have gotten chicks, there is always a rooster in there.  The second he crows (about 4-5 months old), he is dinner.  Best bird ever.  The only time I waited longer than that was when I was saving one for the boy scouts doing the wilderness survival merit badge.  

It just absolutely amazes me that people buy and raise chickens, and then give away the rooster (or old hens) because they are too much trouble to put in the freezer.  My neighborhood is a big chicken neighborhood.  At least 50% have chickens.  I constantly get calls if I want their chicken.  I usually first ask them why they don't want to cash in on all the food they just paid for.  Of course, I don't eat 2 yr old hens.  I tried once, and it is like eating leather.  Well, the breast can be shredded and put in a soup/stew, but anything else is tough.  However, dogs don't care how old they are.  If I get a 2 year old hen, then I skin her out, gut her, clean the gizzard, and put the heart and gizzard back inside, then wrap it tight in a walmart plastic bag, and put in the freezer.  Some time after, my dog gets a chicken sickle.  It is about 30 minutes of effort, if I go slow.

Willie, this isn't directed at you, because it looks like you are willing to do the necessary, but....... if you buy chickens.....be prepared to eat them.  That is the deal.  Otherwise, don't get them.  This is totally a 1st world problem.  3rd world countries know what to do with chickens.

By the way, in my signature there is a youtube link.  I have a chicken butchering video in there if you want to see how.  There are a ton of them on youtube, if you don't want to watch mine.

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## tundrabadger

Make yourself a coq au vin and think of me.  

What kind of chickens did you get?

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## hunter63

A buddy called one day and said he could get chickens at .25 cents each....on the hoof....(gotta catch'em, kill'em, pluck'em and process them.....Great deal right?

Said "put me down for 25....MIL wanted 25 as well...so I'm in for 50.....
They were 2plus years old...layers that had stopped.

What a disaster......took hours, hard poop on the feathers,.... and they had lice or fleas(bugs)....some still had un-laid eggs...(were still OK)

Got the all done...tossed the in the freezer....should have bought rubber chickens......would have been more tinder...
Tried to make soup...still couldn't eat the meat....but the stock made good soup.

Ended up the grinding them up.....mixing with bulk rice....cooking them up.....for dog food.
Idea came for a friend the breeds and sells English Spaniels....

He buys frozen chicken necks bulk and dose the grinding and cooking. 

Bottom line....
Some times a deal isn't that much of a deal.
Being creative and cheap, will solve many issues...
Don't name anything you are gonna eat.
Chicken is still pretty good low cost protein source.

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## finallyME

Hunter, that is why I skin the 2 yr olds.  Much faster. Of course, 50 birds is a lot all at once, no matter who you are. Because I use them for dog food, I do the least amount of work possible.  Dogs like to, and need to, chew on bones, so I don't grind anything.  Skin, gut, put in bag, freeze, throw out on the lawn.  I have noticed with the little dog we have, that she can't really tear up big pieces.  So, for her I have to do more processing.  Of course, one chicken is probably 20 meals for her.  My big dogs always got one gutted chicken for one meal.  A lab would probably only need half a chicken for a meal.

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## hunter63

LOL.....
DW and MIL had visions of Sunday Dinners for a long time.....and as tough as they were....I just went with a friends idea.

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## edr730

process them at 15 lbs for an hour and you'll have good soup broth. Even the bones will be tender enough to eat.

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## hunter63

That incident is, long, long past....not gonna ever happen again...

Sooooo.
To bring up, to DW that she did not handle the process correctly, 40 years ago is just plain ludicrous.
I'm not completely senile....and can't run so fast anymore.....LOL
No...... the past stays in the past

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## hunter63

> I put all my extras on Craigslist.  I'm not a hunter and I don't want to know my dinner that well.  Up here a lot of people keep a roo  to help protect the flock and occasionally people need replacements.  Or sometimes they want to replace one with a bad temper.  So far none of them seem to have wanted to go to the trouble of processing one.  Even my neighbors who hunt and will occasionally shoot a squirrel out of a tree for dinner won't bother to butcher one.



Hey, good to see ya....been a while.....

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## Batch

My friend has a property where they free range the chickens. They climb up in a tree to roost.

I asked him about them once and he said I could take what I could catch. Then he said the were special chickens that fetched some ridiculous amount.

I asked about the eggs and how they found them. He said, "Publix sells eggs for like $1 a dozen. I ain't lookin for them eggs!"

It's not uncommon in South Florida for folks to have chickens. The Hispanics let them run free. You'll see them in shopping centers.

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## hunter63

Lots of folks keep chickens and let them run...

Keep bugs and tics at bay....and servers as a alarm for intruders.....
Guinea hens are popular around here.

Stopped at a farm house asking permission for turkey hunting....The was a little banty rooster on the porch rail  crowing and crowing.......Didn't like strangers.

Lady says...." Sure you can hunt...but shoot this noisy little ****** first...".....(We didn't...she was just blowing off some steam)
Keeping roosters in town, gets the neighbors wound up...

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## shiftyer1

I like to free range birds but the coyotes and other critters and birds don't really allow it.  Old birds taste good but you need to cook them differently!  It took 2 young roosters to feed a family of 6 in my home.

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## Rick

Last time I took the grand kids down home I was out by the old homestead and someone had guineas. I stopped because the grand kids had never seen them. They couldn't believe the racket they make. Yeah, great yard alarm.

Anyone ever eaten guinea? (someone is sure to say it tastes like chicken)

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## cowgirlup

Thanks! I hope to be here a bit more until my busy season starts up again.  I guess if you're self employed and super busy it's a good thing.

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## Willie

> What KYRS said.  Every time I have gotten chicks, there is always a rooster in there.  The second he crows (about 4-5 months old), he is dinner.  Best bird ever.  The only time I waited longer than that was when I was saving one for the boy scouts doing the wilderness survival merit badge.  
> 
> It just absolutely amazes me that people buy and raise chickens, and then give away the rooster (or old hens) because they are too much trouble to put in the freezer.  My neighborhood is a big chicken neighborhood.  At least 50% have chickens.  I constantly get calls if I want their chicken.  I usually first ask them why they don't want to cash in on all the food they just paid for.  Of course, I don't eat 2 yr old hens.  I tried once, and it is like eating leather.  Well, the breast can be shredded and put in a soup/stew, but anything else is tough.  However, dogs don't care how old they are.  If I get a 2 year old hen, then I skin her out, gut her, clean the gizzard, and put the heart and gizzard back inside, then wrap it tight in a walmart plastic bag, and put in the freezer.  Some time after, my dog gets a chicken sickle.  It is about 30 minutes of effort, if I go slow.
> 
> Willie, this isn't directed at you, because it looks like you are willing to do the necessary, but....... if you buy chickens.....be prepared to eat them.  That is the deal.  Otherwise, don't get them.  This is totally a 1st world problem.  3rd world countries know what to do with chickens.
> 
> By the way, in my signature there is a youtube link.  I have a chicken butchering video in there if you want to see how.  There are a ton of them on youtube, if you don't want to watch mine.


Thanks, this is only the second time ive had chickens, got lucky the first time with all hens. But a stray dog wound up killing them. This time I got roosters , I have no problem eating them. I appreciate all the information.

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