Do you raise chickens? If so, what do YOU do with all your extra roosters? Let us know in the comment section below! As always, check out our description for related videos and links. Thanks for watching!
Here in Georgia there are laws preventing you from sticking a chicken in a box/fruit crate you have to sell them in some sort of open air cage and the cages normally go with the chickens that you sell. I also normally get 8 to 12 dollars for a good rooster a good hen will bring 15 to 20
An auction is a great place to pick up new diseases for your farm, as is a feed store. Be sure to practice bio security when you leave your property. Have shoes for home that never go in your vehicle for all family members, or shoes to only wear out that stay in the vehicles. Don’t allow people to walk around your animal areas...provide them slip on shoe covers if you have to. Change your clothes when you get home, and launder them before wearing them on your property. Wash your hands and arms really well, like you would if you were caring for someone with a bad flu. Something to consider: In a study of a bird flu outbreak that somehow got ignored by authorities, the author actually was able to track the spread of the disease by tracing back feed deliveries... It seems like a lot of trouble, I know, but this is protecting your investment of time, work, and money. And with the explosion of exotic pests and diseases being imported now, it really is to our benefit to decrease exposure risks. I realize there is no way to eliminate risks, but if someone told you they might have the flu would you go stick your tongue in the person’s mouth? I’m guessing, “no”, lol!
This is the exact reason I probably will never hatch eggs myself. While we have three roosters from our four Rhode Island Red "pullets" we are keeping them all because I am a softy. They are named Larry, Darryl and his other brother Darryl. I would end up with a yard full of roosters because I simply get too attached. lol
We had three cats...Larry, Daryl and Daryl. Thing is Daryl had kittens and was hit on the road. Spent two days dragging herself back home to her kittens. Took her to the vet and when they asked her name, I quickly said, Whiskers.
I know exactly, still remember little Copper and Banana hatched from eggs! They were caught by the Raccoons at middle age! Then we trapped out all the raccoons
You could make capons with your extra roosters. You can learn on youtube how to correctly do the procedure on them. You may even be able to get a vet to do it if they don't charge too much. In case you don't know what a capon is, a capon is a castrated rooster. Capons generally grow larger and fatter. They also lose their rooster characteristics and are a much gentler bird that is only interested in getting fat for your table. They don't want to fight all the time. They don't chase the girls around trying to breed. They just want to eat and gain weight. Win win.
Surprisingly i have 6 roosters and 25 chickens (hens) they all get along, bantams and large roosters, but i raised most of them since chicks. Not at the same time, but i think they are just so tame since i hold them and pick them up everyday, they all do fine together and dont fight, the only time they 'fight' is when someone wants to go up in the pecking order and try to challenge my alfa rooster which is a silkie rooster haha
Lots of great info for all those looking to get into chickens. We've sold chickens/roosters about every way there is and the auction method is one of our least favorite. Mostly because the buyer does not know the back story on the animal... ie the level of care given to the animal. Which means you are not going to get premium price for a chicken you feed organic feed to for months and months. We've bought chickens from auction also assuming that the seller was being truthful about the animal. Unfortunately, they we less than truthful. With all that said it's still a good option to sell livestock and I highly recommend trying your hand at selling some livestock at your local auction but you are absolutely correct, buyer beware. Great video!!!
Thank you for the information, we are starting out first flock. Your videos are very informative.Your daughter looked so happy talking about your chickens. I hope our kids love this too
Thank you for how you make your videos. They are well organized and VERY educational. I've learned so much from traveling with you on your road of life. Thank you!!
Auctions can be fun also. And confusing. I've seen a bidder bid against himself because he thought he had been outbid by someone else, but the auctioneer let him know he was already the high bidder. Buyer beware is correct. The buyer doesn't know if the livestock has been sick, or medicated. Also, if you are looking for a cheap heifer to raise for milk, you won't know if it's a freemartin, which has a 90% chance of being infertile. My Jersey cow gave birth to twins, a bull and a heifer, the heifer in this twin birth is considered a freemartin. I sold her to a neighbor who understood she would more than likely be raising the heifer for beef. But, auctions are a good experience and can be fun.
Hi Guilbrook guys. Just a comment from an outsider who will never consider going off grid. You have a fourth options for roosters, castrate them when they are small and make capons. They will not fight each other, won't bother hens, will get fat much faster and their meat will be much more tender than that of roosters, They are sold in France and Italy for 3-4 times the price of a chicken, they are usually a holiday meal. I have no idea how the castration is done, but hey you are the farmer not me!!:-)
Sounds like a good option! But I am not sure it is for me. I just searched "make capons with your extra roosters" They showed the procedure in detail. Two cuts, one under the second rib, each side. Three minutes and 39 seconds, done.
i let all my chickens and roosters pretty much free range but at night they all are safe in an open barn. most sleep on the rafters at night. I LOVE ROOSTERS! my dogs are in the yard or can hear when a predictor is near by, so my dogs will charge out to protect all the farm animals. I especially love the roosters caw is awesome and i will intervene or sometimes interrupt a rooster fight. they all pretty much know i am the top rooster. The irony in all this is that i am vegan. i don't eat the eggs but other folks and all my birds and senor dogs love the eggs. Cocadol..Do':)
same here we use the eggs and make our own dog food but in my eyes we obtained the roosters and therefore are responsible for them (forever) not to be man handled by someone at an auction. We dont eat meat.
Great information. I've been to a few "stock sales", as they are known in western NC. Good place to keep your mouth shut and ears open until you learn the game. You nailed it. Listen carefully, and don't be the sucker. Also, keep a sense of humor.
Same issue here... 😔 Roosters know just how to make their way right into your heart.... Still heart broken about some roosters I had to give away a few months ago 😭 Still cry over it....
@@DemoniteBL Lol... the two I just culled had exactly two feelings: violent sex and murder. I do get it though. I had to put a lame roo down for mercy's sake earlier this year. Loved that bird. Broke my heart.
Hello guys, I just discovered you guys and love the videos. My wife and I are looking to start a small scale homestead in Kentucky and we're about a year or two out from starting it. We're looking for around 100 or more acers but only a small amount of it being used for homesteading. My wife is in training to be an herbalist and I'm going to be using a portion for a wilderness survival school. Anyways yeah you're videos are really educational and insperational. Again thank you for all your videos. God bless.
We eat our roosters. I raise barred rocks. I start hatching in March and keeping hatching as many batches (my incubator holds 22 eggs) until June. I run all the birds in chicken tractors until 18 weeks. Then the pullets go in with the layers or are sold and the cockerels go to freezer camp.
I literally just gave all my chickens away but 2. I kept the only one I named and one with a bad foot who waddles like a duck. I miss them. But they wouldn’t stop wandering onto the neighbor’s property. One or two of them would lead the others over there. They had 27 acres to roam on and the wanted the neighbor’s 20’x30’ backyard. ☹️
Hi. My N Sarasota neighbor's Big fat Rhode Island Red Rooster has been coming over & hanging out in our yard till sunset for over a week now. I hear another Rooster somewhere, so I assume this guy is an extra. Do you think he perceives he is about to be killed for Thanksgiving Dinner & that's why he comes here daily? He's really friendly & seems to like us & the cats are learning to respect his space bubble. I hate to see him get murdered. Thx!🤗🐓
Never seen a livestock auction before, that was really interesting to see! Thanks for showing the footage of the actual auction too. In my country you can buy a commercially produced raw whole chicken at the supermarket for about half what you got at auction so I'm curious why they fetch a higher price if people are buying them for their own consumption. Is it because they are really buying them for breeding rather than eating, or is there another reason?
Sometimes people like to know exactly where their food comes from. if you are buying a live bird, you know what you have. A dressed bird in a grocery store?????
Hi again! I'm especially happy to hear you touched on the cautionary and down side of animal auctions because new people who are unfamiliar could be in for an unpleasant surprise. Hope you all are enjoying your summer in spite of all your projects. Thx!
C C a lot of new and some old spreaders really don't understand auctions I'm in the middle of finding out why my pasture raised 257 pound hogs only brought 48.00 per hundred when the published ranged from 52.00 to 62.00 per hundred. If your new to auctions, visit them 2 or 3 times then ask questions before buying. Understand what your getting into so you don't get taken. Because you can get taken. It cost me 135.00 to raise prime pastured hogs and only got 116.00 per hog. Listen to the auctioneer before you bid so you can understand him/her as if you where talking to them in that language. Watch and learn how to tell if an animal is of less quality or sick, study web sites on the animals your interested in, remembering that not all websites are just for information, alot are for making money. Due your homework. If you go to an auction like a greenhorn you'll get burned like a greenhorn, even old timers get burned. Hope this helps.
Ronald Bequeath Hi there Ronald thank you for your great reply. Not quite sure how I misused it before until they replied back to you! You are absolutely spot on with your comment. I learned from the ground up in a broad sense and then it narrowed to horses and sheep until we learned by them the bad side and quite going to them. The killers are way too disgusting for me! Wish we hadn't had to learn from the ground up so I guess that's how to help others! I'm your situation as you described and theirs with rosters it's a bit different because you are raising and selling for consumption. No point to take those kind of losses if you don't have to. Auctions do vary in the quality and who runs them and also what the market care bear. Gee the drought really chained the horse quality hay prices and the hay auctions became the place to be and we really made a killing so to speak even after percentage so that happened to be good. But the critter auctions are a who.e different thing! I hope the best for you as I do appreciate the business you're doing. Hang in there Ronald and thx again...
in my suburban area I see people looking to rehome roosters all the time, they will often request they not be put in a soup pot...not sure how that works
That was really interesting. I love any type of auction haha. Your daughters look like they are really enjoying their time, munching on fries and very relaxed. Which one seems more suited for off grid living and small farming? Can you tell yet? I bet it's Marina even though she has a whole artistic side to her and hates spiders and snakes. ;-)
I tried some backyard chickens but after 2 years i got sick of eggs and chicken meat. We ate are males at various ages when we needed meat. Biggest problem we had is the males terrorizing the females. Males taste great air fried with toasted sesame and salt.
12 MONTHS!?!? My heritage breed roosters reach butcher size in about 16 weeks. I can't imagine that selling your roosters for under $7 was worth even your time to go to auction. We eat all our roosters and give parts we don't eat (feet, wing tips, neck, gizzard, & liver to our dogs) and compost the rest. We use plenty of dry wood shavings in the compost and have never had anything dig through our pile to find the chicken scraps.
Y’all are some awesome teachers! My favorite thing (or one of them) about your channel is you’re diverse. You’ll try anything at least once just to see if it works for YOU! I honestly think that’s the smarter way to go in homesteading. Not every one way will work on every Homestead. I also appreciate you don’t always get pissy when folks offer suggestions in a kind way. Even if it won’t work for you their idea may help someone else. So many channels get their panties in a bunch when someone offers ideas. Now I get giving them crap if they’re just being buttholes (those fizz me off too) but otherwise you guys are always fair. That’s actually my second favorite thing about your channel...sarcasm! Hahahaha I’m a smart azzy jokester. Y’all seem to be too. Sometimes just cuttin up makes the mood a bit easier to swallow. TFS! Blessings always ~Lisa
Papa Tony always Caponized his excess roosters. They put on more weight, faster, and are much more docile than full male roosters. I suggest you practice on birds that you are culling for your own consumption, kill them, and then before processing, caponize them until you can do it easily, then do the procedure in the evening when they will be naturally rather dozy since you cannot sedate them safely (papa tony would use hemp rope soaked in whiskey, cut in pieces and laid on coals to provide a sedative smoke for his bees and his livestock when necessary, but it might not be legal in your area and is hard to target without inhaling it yourself). Capons make great roasters to sell and don't have to be eaten so young to still be tender.
... i can understand that re: poultry,... cattle ?, not so much. But, if your auction is small & without antiques, etc., i agree. Here in Fort Worth, cattle auctions are a way of life. ; )
Your videos are always very informative, and relevant for beginners like me. I always learn something new and look forward to the next vlog! As always keep up the great work!
If a person wants to eat meat I guess they need to know the bitter truth and take personal responsibility for the consequences. I don’t eat meat and this makes me sad but I applaud your honesty.
Kathy Jenkins I used to raise my own. Yes its sad, but if you eat meat its better to kill it yourself. The animal isn't abused/tortured this way. I'm vegetarian myself due to health issues but don't mine if my family/pets eat meat. I did save a rooster once though.. His names nigel.. Hes a nightmare when it comes to hens. I am gonna buy hen saddles before trying again. When people kill roosters, its usually for a reason. If it helps you feel better, I was attacked multiple times by a rooster as a child. My 2 pets actually. They can be mean. Nigel, and Jay Jay are nicer though.
So helpful! Thank you for sharing! I'm a first time chicken owner and I have 2 extra roosters I need to keep seperate until I process them. I appreciate the info.
Do you age your roosters in the fridge before freezing/eating? I cooked up a 1 yr old rooster and he was both tender and flavorful. Just threw him in a pot on low for 4 hours. Best poultry dish ever!
I remember my dad once brought home a crate of roosters (maybe 10). We didn't raise chickens or have a place to keep chickens. He literally just picked up a box off the side of the road that someone had apparently set out with a free sign. He ended up giving them to a farmer friend.
Not specifically on older chickens but I do have one on cooking chickens in general: ruclips.net/video/l_18nYsJS_Q/видео.html Pressure canning, pressure cooking, or a crock pot will soften an old hen or cock until it falls off the bone
I don't have animals other than a house cat. I've thought it though. I've heard the biggest problems with auctions is people wanting to unload unhealthy animals. I'm sure you wouldn't do that but finding reputable people to buy privately from is really the better bet. Parasites seem to be the biggest problem as you buy the animal with parasites, the animal lives for a while contaminating the soil it lives on, then it dies while newer animals get contaminated by eating grasses and such from the infected ground. And it's hard as heck to clean the infected soil once it's done. I guess what I'm saying is just be careful when buying. I would hope there'd be rules for not selling infected animals.
Thomas Whitten keep a set of rubber boots just for going to the auction or spray down your everyday pair with a sanitizer and a scrub brush to remove any poop that might be infected
Another option, if you are already in the habit of making your own dog food, dress out the cockerels just as they begin to ‘mature’ and become a problem for the rest of the flock. Some people feed their cats or dogs raw chicken, or you can boil it and debone. It’s also a good practice to grind up the bones as fertilizer. Good news is every single bit of the chicken gets used this way. If you don’t have pets, make them into chicken stock or broth and chicken soups, chilli or casseroles. I did a combination of all the above.
I think the best use of cockerels in terms of cooking is actually in braising & soups and stews. Most traditional slow-cooked chicken recipes (particularly in Western Europe) e.g. coq au vin, Scottish cock a leekie soup, poulet Basquaise etc were designed for cooking old laying hens and cockerels that were tough; also curries from the Indian subcontinent and Caribbean. They take longer cooking times but the flavour is worth it. Unfortunately I think a common thing at one time was to raise the birds for a year, then use the poor things in cock fights - the loser would be eaten. Thankfully we don't tend to subject them to stuff like that in this day and age.
Same, we culled 4 of our barred rock roosters and they're only about 4 months old. But, they were already starting to fight and nobody around here wanted roosters. Everyone hoarded all the chicks this spring with the pandemic going on, so there were only straight run chicks available in our area. Just got some female easter eggers from Hoover's Hatchery as nobody local has chicks available until next year.
My in-laws grew out pullets as contract growers years ago, and inevitably roosters would get through the sexing process. At about 10-12 weeks, my wife and I would catch them out of a house of about 50k birds, dress and freeze them for soups and frying. One rooster was just the right amount of meat for dinner for two..
I have a question for you, Jaime. Or anyone else who knows the answer. I remember as a young child eating a chicken that my grandma had killed in the morning and it was dinner that evening. I have heard many people say this ...that chickens are tough. That they are not the same as the chicken you buy in the store, whole bird or not. I don't remember her chickens being tough. Just good. Can someone please explain why everyone says poultry you raise to eat on the farm is "different" and "tough"? What am I missing here? Obviously, it's been a LONG time since I have eaten a chicken right off the farm. I am one generation removed from a real, working farm. I remember very little. But, I do remember no tough chickens, turkeys or for that matter deer or beef being tough.
The younger the bird the more tender the meat. There are breeds of chickens (ie cornish cross) that can get to full weight within 8 weeks. These are your grocery store birds. Most heritage birds take 12 months to get to that same weight. The heritage birds usually require presoaking or long cook times to get as tender as the meat birds. We likely will try some meat birds at some point
Guildbrook Farm - Off Grid Living A good dual purpose bird is Light Sussex (LS). Very large and fast growers without the problems the meat birds have. The LS are very good foragers, too, so even though they were larger, they did not eat more feed than my other birds. I was surprised the eggs were not larger, but then my largest eggs come from my tiny little Americana, so go figure... 🤷🏻♀️ The thing I did not like was that their white feathers make it difficult for them to hide from predators. The only predator loss I have had was my LS. It was either a bobcat or an eagle because that hen was really heavy...too much for a hawk to carry off or a house cat to get over the fence. When I move and restart my flock, I am considering looking at other color options of the breed, although the LS are just flat out beautiful.
I got way too many roosters in a straight run my first year and that was about 15 years ago. Selling them is not an option in my area most don't want to deal with them and the only auctions we have are for bigger animals. I have butchered my extra roosters when a hen has hatched out chicks on me, but it takes a long time for them to get a decent size. I just cook them in the crockpot or prep them for my cats. I buy just the hens(chicks), pay extra, and buy the roosters I want for the hens. The only chickens I buy straight run is my butcher chickens. :)
Wait, why does it take a year for your roosters to grow out? Are they completely pasture raised with no food supplements? I can take my Astralorp cockerels to harvest in under 6 months with grains once a day. I suggest buying some grains to help fatten them up quicker or plant a small crop for the chickens like clover or comfrey. You spend a little money but you get a full bird you can eat later. I don't think auction is worth the hassle. You got twelve bucks for your two birds, probably spent at least an hour there and gas money.
You could make more cages like you have them in now and raise them to a year. Put them in a crockpot to braise for several hours. 4 roosters would be part of meal for each of you.
How far you drive is Your choice if it's just a cost thing it is also a extra cost to feed them and the risk of getting the hens mauled Every option has a Pros and Cons If you have the home processing equipment scalder and plucker Processing your own is another option having a pressure canner is a good way to ultlize them or older hens Pressure cook them then debone and can that meat then use the carcass to make chicken stock
What's sad is those poor chickens likely will be used for cock-fighting now. Though I understand, they are hard to raise to consumption and too many cocks in the coop make for way more than chicken poop! Thanks again! Smiles and blessings
Lisa Vanvalkenburgh The majority of cockfight roos in my area are old English game fowl, seems that way in other places. People who buy roos for that purpose usually go to "the black market" and get ones bred for said purpose, and are more aggressive. Its likely they were bought to raise heritage breed chickens. Can't breed without a roo
if you have dogs for herding and or protecting/watching property then you could feed the roosters to them. my german shepherd loves raw chicken i give her a quarter in the morning and a quarter in the evening when the go on sale at sams club.
I disagree with the statement that it takes 12 months to raise for eating. The longest I have had to raise any heritage rooster of the many breeds we've had I've hatched, or that I have bought or obtained as part of a trade is 6 months with the typical being 5 to 5.5 months old. At 5.5 months old they put on a decent amount of meat in the last month of growth and beyond that it takes way more feed then it is worth to keep them alive as growth slows down drastically. A Dorking or Dorking cross makes a fine bird at that age, as I connected my mother-in-law with a lady giving some away and she took them to be processed. Even the lady running the small processing place was impressed by how nicely filled out they were. The last 2 years we have been butchering out a current heritage cross of Delaware hen eggs fertilized by a Welsummer rooster at barely more then 4 months old and the dressed out weight was anywhere from a high of 4lb 2oz down to one of a low of 2lb 11 ounces. A 4 lb bird at 4 months or even 4.5 for a heritage bird is pretty decent. There just gets to be too much crowing and then chasing of the hens later in the day to keep them around any longer. It was chaotic having 14 of them plus 9 younger pure Welsummer who are still growing around in the coop and run with the hens and flock sire. We put them out of the coop first thing in the morning once they were about 10 weeks old to be fully free range, with of course bowls of feed in the morning that ran out by mid afternoon then they got topped up before roosting in the evening. So not sitting around just eating getting bulked up, but foraging and still filled out nicely. Will be many tender tasty meals from them as at that age they come out nice baked in the oven, whereas the 5.5 month olds need the slow cooker.
This is why I can't raise chickens. I wouldn't be able to kill them and I also wouldn't be able to sell them if I knew they were going to be killed. It looks like it's only growing veggies for me!
How do you not feel? I wish I could call it pultry. They’re my babies. I love them so much. I can’t see the rooster or chick as anything but my babies. They’re soooo sweet and follow me everywhere
I was thinking about this too... When I did quail we had 7 males hatch and I felt terrible when I'd think about the possibility of eating them... I raised them and they were like pets 😩 It's difficult
it's just the nature of farming these animals, if they're pets then maybe just buy pullets and don't raise your own chicks. flocks just don't do well if there are too many roosters.
One year. I would kill them two or three weeks after crowing starts. Sure they are smaller but they are tastier. People eat quail which are small birds.
@@j.w.m.415 It's quite good and nutritious if you cook it in the slow cooker. But for tender baked chicken you need young birds, who didn't reach sexual maturity.
Roosters are great eating at 2lbs/finished butchard. Any bigger than that and suddenly they require specialized cooking procedures to butter up the meat. If they're older then we use them for making borken bone chicken stock. Puree the muscle meat and add it in. Anything left over grind it and pelletize it into feed the others.
I'm a little confused, I've been raising chickens for 50+ years on my stead I now have 17 roosters, rhode island red, barred rocks and 5 Cornish cross, the birds are 4.5 months of age, are close to 7 lbs which will give a good 3.5 fryer. Over 7 months is a roaster and over a year you dress the rooster, through it in a pot cook all day and then through away the bird and eat the broth. Your birds must be awful small to only get so small amount of meat. Heritage birds like rocks, reds, austros, buckeyes, all bring better weight and money at the auctions. Once registered at an auction the number is good for your life time. I've had 1x02 for 30 years. Have a good day.
First you stated it takes 12 months to raise to eating size. When I was 16, after having raised chickens for 4 years I decided to try my hand at raising a large flock. I ordered 400 cockrels from M M hatchery, and 100 sr, they sent 525. In 5 months we butchered 425 and I still had 100 hens to sell eggs. If butchered at 5 months the roosters don't fight and bruise each other. That many chickens require 1 ton of feed to bring them to butchering weight. I said I presently am raising 3 types of roosters which I let run free until butcher time, to see which I like better for meat, at the present time my birds are Rhode Island Reds 4.5 months old, 5 lbs which will give a 2.5 lb. bird, the Barred Rocks same age, 7 to 7.5 lbs. 3.5 to 4 lbs. dressed. The Cornish cross, same age, 10 to 12 lbs. or more, dressing out at 5 to 6 lbs. A bird under 5 months is consider a fryer, meaning that if you fry it the meat will still be tender, 6 to 9 months is a broiler, requiring a little more heat, not as tender, 9 to 12 months called a roaster which means its in the oven for a time. I attend a tri state auction and very seldomly are the animals inferior, I have even seen the auction turn people away and on one occasion when someone brought in emus that where not transported correctly the auction had them fined for animal cruelty. Different auctions use different practices, it's wise to visit the auction several times before you bring your animals. Of your three methods, raising pastures birds brings the most money and clients/customers and repeats also buy other products you sell, just have to get the word out there. Of course a variety of ages in your birds gives you the opportunity to have fresh meat on your table all the year long. It just takes some planning ahead. Hope this helps you understand my confusion. Have a great day.
What about turning them into Capons. The process is rather simple and your roosters will grow big meaty and juicey. I prefer them over turkey for special occaisions.
Rooster = Crockpot! I can't imagine a tough rooster coming out tough, or anything you put in a crockpot ..... not even a steel-belted all terrain tire can survive the mighty crockpot ~8^) Take care Guildbrooksters.
I eat my roosters at about 20 weeks. I cook them several hours with some carrots, onions salt and pepper. Delicious. And the rests from the slaughtering goes to the compost bin.
Roosters go to "freezer camp" on our farm. Once they hit the "rapey" stage is when they go to "camp". *note: We free-range the chickens in a 1.5 acre plot of our farm. We keep two breeder roosters for our flock of 65-ish hens. You *can* do 1:12 ratio, but that has not worked for us - it resulted in too many/constant fights. Our 1:30-ish ratio works for *us*. With the amount of space we have, the boys tend to segregate themselves until they are in full sexual maturity. This allows us to raise them to eating age w/o too much issue. *note 2: We have given some away and sold some (frizzles or turkens, mostly).
Do you raise chickens? If so, what do YOU do with all your extra roosters? Let us know in the comment section below! As always, check out our description for related videos and links. Thanks for watching!
Guildbrook Farm - Off Grid Living My husband and I have culled the roosters and used them as crab bait. So the result is Dungeness 🦀 crab!
I raise them to weight and process them. They make good gumbo birds. One season's roos will feed us well into winter.
Here in Georgia there are laws preventing you from sticking a chicken in a box/fruit crate you have to sell them in some sort of open air cage and the cages normally go with the chickens that you sell. I also normally get 8 to 12 dollars for a good rooster a good hen will bring 15 to 20
Whats wrong with just letting the roosters deal with the matter themselves? i mean, cant they hash things out?
Or did that just never occur to anyone?
An auction is a great place to pick up new diseases for your farm, as is a feed store.
Be sure to practice bio security when you leave your property.
Have shoes for home that never go in your vehicle for all family members, or shoes to only wear out that stay in the vehicles.
Don’t allow people to walk around your animal areas...provide them slip on shoe covers if you have to.
Change your clothes when you get home, and launder them before wearing them on your property.
Wash your hands and arms really well, like you would if you were caring for someone with a bad flu.
Something to consider:
In a study of a bird flu outbreak that somehow got ignored by authorities, the author actually was able to track the spread of the disease by tracing back feed deliveries...
It seems like a lot of trouble, I know, but this is protecting your investment of time, work, and money. And with the explosion of exotic pests and diseases being imported now, it really is to our benefit to decrease exposure risks.
I realize there is no way to eliminate risks, but if someone told you they might have the flu would you go stick your tongue in the person’s mouth? I’m guessing, “no”, lol!
This is the exact reason I probably will never hatch eggs myself. While we have three roosters from our four Rhode Island Red "pullets" we are keeping them all because I am a softy. They are named Larry, Darryl and his other brother Darryl. I would end up with a yard full of roosters because I simply get too attached. lol
We had three cats...Larry, Daryl and Daryl. Thing is Daryl had kittens and was hit on the road. Spent two days dragging herself back home to her kittens. Took her to the vet and when they asked her name, I quickly said, Whiskers.
I know exactly, still remember little Copper and Banana hatched from eggs! They were caught by the Raccoons at middle age! Then we trapped out all the raccoons
Dear Pat.....you are so cool
I totally understand/ feel the same way
You could make capons with your extra roosters. You can learn on youtube how to correctly do the procedure on them. You may even be able to get a vet to do it if they don't charge too much. In case you don't know what a capon is, a capon is a castrated rooster. Capons generally grow larger and fatter. They also lose their rooster characteristics and are a much gentler bird that is only interested in getting fat for your table. They don't want to fight all the time. They don't chase the girls around trying to breed. They just want to eat and gain weight. Win win.
Thats... actually kind of sad. I get it... but... its sad.
Surprisingly i have 6 roosters and 25 chickens (hens) they all get along, bantams and large roosters, but i raised most of them since chicks. Not at the same time, but i think they are just so tame since i hold them and pick them up everyday, they all do fine together and dont fight, the only time they 'fight' is when someone wants to go up in the pecking order and try to challenge my alfa rooster which is a silkie rooster haha
Lots of great info for all those looking to get into chickens. We've sold chickens/roosters about every way there is and the auction method is one of our least favorite. Mostly because the buyer does not know the back story on the animal... ie the level of care given to the animal. Which means you are not going to get premium price for a chicken you feed organic feed to for months and months. We've bought chickens from auction also assuming that the seller was being truthful about the animal. Unfortunately, they we less than truthful. With all that said it's still a good option to sell livestock and I highly recommend trying your hand at selling some livestock at your local auction but you are absolutely correct, buyer beware. Great video!!!
Thank you for the information, we are starting out first flock. Your videos are very informative.Your daughter looked so happy talking about your chickens. I hope our kids love this too
Thank you for how you make your videos. They are well organized and VERY educational. I've learned so much from traveling with you on your road of life. Thank you!!
Great video! We purchased 12 baby chicks this past spring and used your videos to walk us through the process. This is another good one. Thank you!
Auctions can be fun also. And confusing. I've seen a bidder bid against himself because he thought he had been outbid by someone else, but the auctioneer let him know he was already the high bidder. Buyer beware is correct. The buyer doesn't know if the livestock has been sick, or medicated. Also, if you are looking for a cheap heifer to raise for milk, you won't know if it's a freemartin, which has a 90% chance of being infertile. My Jersey cow gave birth to twins, a bull and a heifer, the heifer in this twin birth is considered a freemartin. I sold her to a neighbor who understood she would more than likely be raising the heifer for beef. But, auctions are a good experience and can be fun.
Hi Guilbrook guys. Just a comment from an outsider who will never consider going off grid. You have a fourth options for roosters, castrate them when they are small and make capons. They will not fight each other, won't bother hens, will get fat much faster and their meat will be much more tender than that of roosters, They are sold in France and Italy for 3-4 times the price of a chicken, they are usually a holiday meal. I have no idea how the castration is done, but hey you are the farmer not me!!:-)
It’s not for us.
Sounds like a good option! But I am not sure it is for me. I just searched "make capons with your extra roosters" They showed the procedure in detail. Two cuts, one under the second rib, each side. Three minutes and 39 seconds, done.
That was interesting. I've never been to an animal auction. Now I know a bit more about how it works. Thanks.
i let all my chickens and roosters pretty much free range but at night they all are safe in an open barn. most sleep on the rafters at night. I LOVE ROOSTERS! my dogs are in the yard or can hear when a predictor is near by, so my dogs will charge out to protect all the farm animals. I especially love the roosters caw is awesome and i will intervene or sometimes interrupt a rooster fight. they all pretty much know i am the top rooster. The irony in all this is that i am vegan. i don't eat the eggs but other folks and all my birds and senor dogs love the eggs. Cocadol..Do':)
same here we use the eggs and make our own dog food but in my eyes we obtained the roosters and therefore are responsible for them (forever) not to be man handled by someone at an auction. We dont eat meat.
Great information. I've been to a few "stock sales", as they are known in western NC. Good place to keep your mouth shut and ears open until you learn the game. You nailed it. Listen carefully, and don't be the sucker. Also, keep a sense of humor.
Great information as usual! Thanks for sharing once again!
Thanks for including the footage from the auction! Very interesting!
I have an issue with getting too attached to them. I wish I could get over it.
Same issue here... 😔 Roosters know just how to make their way right into your heart.... Still heart broken about some roosters I had to give away a few months ago 😭 Still cry over it....
It's a living creature with feelings, nothing wrong with getting attached to that.
well why tho. It means Your ethical compass isnt broken if you feel bad culling animals
same!!!! I've always loved my roos too!
Animal auctions make me so sad. Those animals have to be so scared and not understand what's going on. =-(
@@DemoniteBL Lol... the two I just culled had exactly two feelings: violent sex and murder.
I do get it though. I had to put a lame roo down for mercy's sake earlier this year. Loved that bird. Broke my heart.
I take extras to the auctions too.. We will be taking some drakes and a few roos to the auction in September.
Hello guys, I just discovered you guys and love the videos. My wife and I are looking to start a small scale homestead in Kentucky and we're about a year or two out from starting it. We're looking for around 100 or more acers but only a small amount of it being used for homesteading. My wife is in training to be an herbalist and I'm going to be using a portion for a wilderness survival school. Anyways yeah you're videos are really educational and insperational. Again thank you for all your videos. God bless.
Cull and then compost to improve your garden soil.
We eat our roosters. I raise barred rocks. I start hatching in March and keeping hatching as many batches (my incubator holds 22 eggs) until June. I run all the birds in chicken tractors until 18 weeks. Then the pullets go in with the layers or are sold and the cockerels go to freezer camp.
That is exactly what we plan to do once we get fully set up 👍🏻
Guildbrook Farm - Off Grid Living cool it’s a great system
Cool! I've never been to a real auction.
Very interesting, thank you for sharing
I literally just gave all my chickens away but 2. I kept the only one I named and one with a bad foot who waddles like a duck. I miss them. But they wouldn’t stop wandering onto the neighbor’s property. One or two of them would lead the others over there. They had 27 acres to roam on and the wanted the neighbor’s 20’x30’ backyard. ☹️
Thank You I really enjoyed the video.
Great information.
good info ... thanks
Respect 🤜🤛
Hi. My N Sarasota neighbor's Big fat Rhode Island Red Rooster has been coming over & hanging out in our yard till sunset for over a week now. I hear another Rooster somewhere, so I assume this guy is an extra. Do you think he perceives he is about to be killed for Thanksgiving Dinner & that's why he comes here daily? He's really friendly & seems to like us & the cats are learning to respect his space bubble. I hate to see him get murdered. Thx!🤗🐓
Very nice.
Never seen a livestock auction before, that was really interesting to see! Thanks for showing the footage of the actual auction too. In my country you can buy a commercially produced raw whole chicken at the supermarket for about half what you got at auction so I'm curious why they fetch a higher price if people are buying them for their own consumption. Is it because they are really buying them for breeding rather than eating, or is there another reason?
Some buy for breeding. But heritage and older birds have better flavor than commercially raised birds.
Sometimes people like to know exactly where their food comes from. if you are buying a live bird, you know what you have. A dressed bird in a grocery store?????
Yes, dressed and wrapped in a nice poly wrap on a Styrofoam tray.
Just wanted to say, love the ink
That wasn't a bad price for your cockerels. The most one of my roosters ever went for was $15, and yes, he was a mature (and beautiful) Barred Rock.
Nice
Hi again! I'm especially happy to hear you touched on the cautionary and down side of animal auctions because new people who are unfamiliar could be in for an unpleasant surprise. Hope you all are enjoying your summer in spite of all your projects. Thx!
C C a lot of new and some old spreaders really don't understand auctions I'm in the middle of finding out why my pasture raised 257 pound hogs only brought 48.00 per hundred when the published ranged from 52.00 to 62.00 per hundred. If your new to auctions, visit them 2 or 3 times then ask questions before buying. Understand what your getting into so you don't get taken. Because you can get taken. It cost me 135.00 to raise prime pastured hogs and only got 116.00 per hog. Listen to the auctioneer before you bid so you can understand him/her as if you where talking to them in that language. Watch and learn how to tell if an animal is of less quality or sick, study web sites on the animals your interested in, remembering that not all websites are just for information, alot are for making money. Due your homework. If you go to an auction like a greenhorn you'll get burned like a greenhorn, even old timers get burned. Hope this helps.
Ronald, Thanks for the words of wisdom.
Ronald Bequeath Hi there Ronald thank you for your great reply. Not quite sure how I misused it before until they replied back to you! You are absolutely spot on with your comment. I learned from the ground up in a broad sense and then it narrowed to horses and sheep until we learned by them the bad side and quite going to them. The killers are way too disgusting for me! Wish we hadn't had to learn from the ground up so I guess that's how to help others! I'm your situation as you described and theirs with rosters it's a bit different because you are raising and selling for consumption. No point to take those kind of losses if you don't have to. Auctions do vary in the quality and who runs them and also what the market care bear. Gee the drought really chained the horse quality hay prices and the hay auctions became the place to be and we really made a killing so to speak even after percentage so that happened to be good. But the critter auctions are a who.e different thing! I hope the best for you as I do appreciate the business you're doing. Hang in there Ronald and thx again...
PS Ronald forgive grammatical errors as my phone is being dumb tonight!! Lol lol
lol poor Roosters...they live the hard knock life.
Kevin what
in my suburban area I see people looking to rehome roosters all the time, they will often request they not be put in a soup pot...not sure how that works
LOL yeah think you know what I meant
That was really interesting. I love any type of auction haha. Your daughters look like they are really enjoying their time, munching on fries and very relaxed. Which one seems more suited for off grid living and small farming? Can you tell yet? I bet it's Marina even though she has a whole artistic side to her and hates spiders and snakes. ;-)
That’s Ilaria that hates spiders and snakes 😉. She definitely likes farm animals the most
Oops sorry, I got their names mixed up. Yes, Ilaria. I can see already that she leans that way.
I tried some backyard chickens but after 2 years i got sick of eggs and chicken meat. We ate are males at various ages when we needed meat. Biggest problem we had is the males terrorizing the females. Males taste great air fried with toasted sesame and salt.
12 MONTHS!?!? My heritage breed roosters reach butcher size in about 16 weeks. I can't imagine that selling your roosters for under $7 was worth even your time to go to auction. We eat all our roosters and give parts we don't eat (feet, wing tips, neck, gizzard, & liver to our dogs) and compost the rest. We use plenty of dry wood shavings in the compost and have never had anything dig through our pile to find the chicken scraps.
The video is about other options available.
Masca Trails ,we do the same, we raise Sulmtaler chicken, they have good meat.
You actually said that next to the chickens
Lol that’s so true ooof
Is there a video on how to build that tractor you have the roosters in?? Thanks!!
I watched that video a few days ago. It's on their channel.
It's about half way thru this video: ruclips.net/video/TeIpe8E10vo/видео.html
I thought that was the hoop coop. This one is smaller and more of an A-frame. I looked but didn't see it, will keep looking.
Y’all are some awesome teachers! My favorite thing (or one of them) about your channel is you’re diverse. You’ll try anything at least once just to see if it works for YOU! I honestly think that’s the smarter way to go in homesteading. Not every one way will work on every Homestead. I also appreciate you don’t always get pissy when folks offer suggestions in a kind way. Even if it won’t work for you their idea may help someone else. So many channels get their panties in a bunch when someone offers ideas. Now I get giving them crap if they’re just being buttholes (those fizz me off too) but otherwise you guys are always fair. That’s actually my second favorite thing about your channel...sarcasm! Hahahaha I’m a smart azzy jokester. Y’all seem to be too. Sometimes just cuttin up makes the mood a bit easier to swallow. TFS! Blessings always ~Lisa
You got it 😉
This video was packed with some great information! Thank you for sharing!
Papa Tony always Caponized his excess roosters. They put on more weight, faster, and are much more docile than full male roosters. I suggest you practice on birds that you are culling for your own consumption, kill them, and then before processing, caponize them until you can do it easily, then do the procedure in the evening when they will be naturally rather dozy since you cannot sedate them safely (papa tony would use hemp rope soaked in whiskey, cut in pieces and laid on coals to provide a sedative smoke for his bees and his livestock when necessary, but it might not be legal in your area and is hard to target without inhaling it yourself). Capons make great roasters to sell and don't have to be eaten so young to still be tender.
That’s why we’re deliberate with what we get. I don’t want to end up with an animal I don’t want.
... auction.. hmmm, sounds like fun.. Great idea !! Just know ya ain't make money cuz you'll probably run into a few things you want to bid on ; )
I, personally, would never buy from an auction
... i can understand that re: poultry,... cattle ?, not so much. But, if your auction is small & without antiques, etc., i agree. Here in Fort Worth, cattle auctions are a way of life. ; )
Your videos are always very informative, and relevant for beginners like me. I always learn something new and look forward to the next vlog! As always keep up the great work!
That was fantastic. I really learned a little something about chickens and auctions. Thank-You. :-)
If a person wants to eat meat I guess they need to know the bitter truth and take personal responsibility for the consequences. I don’t eat meat and this makes me sad but I applaud your honesty.
Kathy Jenkins I used to raise my own. Yes its sad, but if you eat meat its better to kill it yourself. The animal isn't abused/tortured this way. I'm vegetarian myself due to health issues but don't mine if my family/pets eat meat. I did save a rooster once though.. His names nigel.. Hes a nightmare when it comes to hens. I am gonna buy hen saddles before trying again. When people kill roosters, its usually for a reason. If it helps you feel better, I was attacked multiple times by a rooster as a child. My 2 pets actually. They can be mean. Nigel, and Jay Jay are nicer though.
So helpful! Thank you for sharing! I'm a first time chicken owner and I have 2 extra roosters I need to keep seperate until I process them. I appreciate the info.
Great information!
Awesome video. Keep 'em coming guys.
Do you age your roosters in the fridge before freezing/eating? I cooked up a 1 yr old rooster and he was both tender and flavorful. Just threw him in a pot on low for 4 hours. Best poultry dish ever!
I remember my dad once brought home a crate of roosters (maybe 10). We didn't raise chickens or have a place to keep chickens. He literally just picked up a box off the side of the road that someone had apparently set out with a free sign. He ended up giving them to a farmer friend.
Is there any worry about these being used for fighting?
It is illegal, but there are rumors of this happening. Most will buy/use game cocks, not regular roos.
If they are a fighting cock breed yes but these are not a fighting cock breed
Like Jamie said it is illegal it's a big time thing here in So California
Jamie do You have a vid about cooking a old hen or Rooster in a pressure cooking useing the meat for canning and bones for stock
Not specifically on older chickens but I do have one on cooking chickens in general: ruclips.net/video/l_18nYsJS_Q/видео.html Pressure canning, pressure cooking, or a crock pot will soften an old hen or cock until it falls off the bone
Guildbrook Farm - Off Grid Living I am thinking crock pot then debone and can the meat and broth looks like a good way to use a Rooster or old hen
I don't have animals other than a house cat. I've thought it though. I've heard the biggest problems with auctions is people wanting to unload unhealthy animals. I'm sure you wouldn't do that but finding reputable people to buy privately from is really the better bet. Parasites seem to be the biggest problem as you buy the animal with parasites, the animal lives for a while contaminating the soil it lives on, then it dies while newer animals get contaminated by eating grasses and such from the infected ground. And it's hard as heck to clean the infected soil once it's done. I guess what I'm saying is just be careful when buying. I would hope there'd be rules for not selling infected animals.
Thomas Whitten keep a set of rubber boots just for going to the auction or spray down your everyday pair with a sanitizer and a scrub brush to remove any poop that might be infected
Yes, the advice I've always been given is to quarantine any animals from auction, for a good while.
Another option, if you are already in the habit of making your own dog food, dress out the cockerels just as they begin to ‘mature’ and become a problem for the rest of the flock. Some people feed their cats or dogs raw chicken, or you can boil it and debone. It’s also a good practice to grind up the bones as fertilizer. Good news is every single bit of the chicken gets used this way. If you don’t have pets, make them into chicken stock or broth and chicken soups, chilli or casseroles. I did a combination of all the above.
I think the best use of cockerels in terms of cooking is actually in braising & soups and stews. Most traditional slow-cooked chicken recipes (particularly in Western Europe) e.g. coq au vin, Scottish cock a leekie soup, poulet Basquaise etc were designed for cooking old laying hens and cockerels that were tough; also curries from the Indian subcontinent and Caribbean. They take longer cooking times but the flavour is worth it. Unfortunately I think a common thing at one time was to raise the birds for a year, then use the poor things in cock fights - the loser would be eaten. Thankfully we don't tend to subject them to stuff like that in this day and age.
QUE LUGAR BELO VERY GOOD BRASIL!
12 months for a rooster? My buff orpington rooster was huge by 4 months! Twice as big as my hens. So why the disconnect in information?
dgs she seems to have the small heritage breed...they grow pretty slow but live longer in my experience.
Same, we culled 4 of our barred rock roosters and they're only about 4 months old. But, they were already starting to fight and nobody around here wanted roosters. Everyone hoarded all the chicks this spring with the pandemic going on, so there were only straight run chicks available in our area. Just got some female easter eggers from Hoover's Hatchery as nobody local has chicks available until next year.
Dinner , or trade for a different breed to keep a genetic mix .
I used to go to a restaurant that served rooster burgers. Fried white meat on a bun. Little tough, but not too bad.
That is actually not a bad price though
My in-laws grew out pullets as contract growers years ago, and inevitably roosters would get through the sexing process. At about 10-12 weeks, my wife and I would catch them out of a house of about 50k birds, dress and freeze them for soups and frying. One rooster was just the right amount of meat for dinner for two..
I have a question for you, Jaime. Or anyone else who knows the answer. I remember as a young child eating a chicken that my grandma had killed in the morning and it was dinner that evening. I have heard many people say this ...that chickens are tough. That they are not the same as the chicken you buy in the store, whole bird or not. I don't remember her chickens being tough. Just good. Can someone please explain why everyone says poultry you raise to eat on the farm is "different" and "tough"? What am I missing here? Obviously, it's been a LONG time since I have eaten a chicken right off the farm. I am one generation removed from a real, working farm. I remember very little. But, I do remember no tough chickens, turkeys or for that matter deer or beef being tough.
The younger the bird the more tender the meat. There are breeds of chickens (ie cornish cross) that can get to full weight within 8 weeks. These are your grocery store birds. Most heritage birds take 12 months to get to that same weight. The heritage birds usually require presoaking or long cook times to get as tender as the meat birds. We likely will try some meat birds at some point
Well, that makes sense. I kept hearing this and was wondering. Thanks!
Guildbrook Farm - Off Grid Living
A good dual purpose bird is Light Sussex (LS). Very large and fast growers without the problems the meat birds have. The LS are very good foragers, too, so even though they were larger, they did not eat more feed than my other birds. I was surprised the eggs were not larger, but then my largest eggs come from my tiny little Americana, so go figure... 🤷🏻♀️
The thing I did not like was that their white feathers make it difficult for them to hide from predators. The only predator loss I have had was my LS. It was either a bobcat or an eagle because that hen was really heavy...too much for a hawk to carry off or a house cat to get over the fence.
When I move and restart my flock, I am considering looking at other color options of the breed, although the LS are just flat out beautiful.
I got way too many roosters in a straight run my first year and that was about 15 years ago. Selling them is not an option in my area most don't want to deal with them and the only auctions we have are for bigger animals. I have butchered my extra roosters when a hen has hatched out chicks on me, but it takes a long time for them to get a decent size. I just cook them in the crockpot or prep them for my cats. I buy just the hens(chicks), pay extra, and buy the roosters I want for the hens. The only chickens I buy straight run is my butcher chickens. :)
Another option is to Caponize .
Wait, why does it take a year for your roosters to grow out? Are they completely pasture raised with no food supplements? I can take my Astralorp cockerels to harvest in under 6 months with grains once a day. I suggest buying some grains to help fatten them up quicker or plant a small crop for the chickens like clover or comfrey. You spend a little money but you get a full bird you can eat later. I don't think auction is worth the hassle. You got twelve bucks for your two birds, probably spent at least an hour there and gas money.
Boys in school everyday like roosters
poor animals
Thanks for the information. Very helpful. Would you guys ever consider doing a video showing your tattoos? Thanks for sharing.
You could make more cages like you have them in now and raise them to a year. Put them in a crockpot to braise for several hours. 4 roosters would be part of meal for each of you.
Could you cook the birds as feed for the pigs? If you include the time and gas you spend getting to auction, seems like an inefficient solution.
In this case, it wasn’t worth the time and effort to butcher and clean up for so little meat. Also, our pigs are grass-fed not meat eaters.
How far you drive is Your choice if it's just a cost thing it is also a extra cost to feed them and the risk of getting the hens mauled
Every option has a Pros and Cons
If you have the home processing equipment scalder and plucker Processing your own is another option having a pressure canner is a good way to ultlize them or older hens
Pressure cook them then debone and can that meat then use the carcass to make chicken stock
I like the color of your hair.
All Natural!!
RENT THEM TO PEOPLE LIKE ME FOR A COUPLE OF WEEKS TO USE IN THEIR GARDENS.
They will also eat all your plants!! You could keep them in a run with some pine shavings and then use the fertilized shavings as mulch, though.
What to to rooster 🐔 is to eat them
What's sad is those poor chickens likely will be used for cock-fighting now. Though I understand, they are hard to raise to consumption and too many cocks in the coop make for way more than chicken poop!
Thanks again!
Smiles and blessings
Lisa Vanvalkenburgh The majority of cockfight roos in my area are old English game fowl, seems that way in other places. People who buy roos for that purpose usually go to "the black market" and get ones bred for said purpose, and are more aggressive. Its likely they were bought to raise heritage breed chickens. Can't breed without a roo
if you have dogs for herding and or protecting/watching property then you could feed the roosters to them. my german shepherd loves raw chicken i give her a quarter in the morning and a quarter in the evening when the go on sale at sams club.
I disagree with the statement that it takes 12 months to raise for eating. The longest I have had to raise any heritage rooster of the many breeds we've had I've hatched, or that I have bought or obtained as part of a trade is 6 months with the typical being 5 to 5.5 months old. At 5.5 months old they put on a decent amount of meat in the last month of growth and beyond that it takes way more feed then it is worth to keep them alive as growth slows down drastically. A Dorking or Dorking cross makes a fine bird at that age, as I connected my mother-in-law with a lady giving some away and she took them to be processed. Even the lady running the small processing place was impressed by how nicely filled out they were.
The last 2 years we have been butchering out a current heritage cross of Delaware hen eggs fertilized by a Welsummer rooster at barely more then 4 months old and the dressed out weight was anywhere from a high of 4lb 2oz down to one of a low of 2lb 11 ounces. A 4 lb bird at 4 months or even 4.5 for a heritage bird is pretty decent. There just gets to be too much crowing and then chasing of the hens later in the day to keep them around any longer. It was chaotic having 14 of them plus 9 younger pure Welsummer who are still growing around in the coop and run with the hens and flock sire. We put them out of the coop first thing in the morning once they were about 10 weeks old to be fully free range, with of course bowls of feed in the morning that ran out by mid afternoon then they got topped up before roosting in the evening. So not sitting around just eating getting bulked up, but foraging and still filled out nicely. Will be many tender tasty meals from them as at that age they come out nice baked in the oven, whereas the 5.5 month olds need the slow cooker.
*UP to 12 months. It depends on the breed. You can harvest at any time, it just may not be worth the “mess” if they are too small
This is why I can't raise chickens. I wouldn't be able to kill them and I also wouldn't be able to sell them if I knew they were going to be killed. It looks like it's only growing veggies for me!
You can also buy full grown chickens. Some hatcheries even sell starter pullets.
How do you not feel? I wish I could call it pultry. They’re my babies. I love them so much. I can’t see the rooster or chick as anything but my babies. They’re soooo sweet and follow me everywhere
I understand.
Lovem
I was thinking about this too... When I did quail we had 7 males hatch and I felt terrible when I'd think about the possibility of eating them... I raised them and they were like pets 😩
It's difficult
it's just the nature of farming these animals, if they're pets then maybe just buy pullets and don't raise your own chicks. flocks just don't do well if there are too many roosters.
Hiya Jaime, your video was very interesting and informative, thanks for sharing :)
20 weeks old is usually the processing time for dual-purpose cockerels - not 1 year old (waste of feed plus getting a tough meat).
no kidding
One year. I would kill them two or three weeks after crowing starts. Sure they are smaller but they are tastier. People eat quail which are small birds.
It makes me wonder how much better I'm going to feel eating birds that are free-ranged instead of shot up with antibiotics and growth hormones.
A year old roo is dog food.
@@j.w.m.415 It's quite good and nutritious if you cook it in the slow cooker. But for tender baked chicken you need young birds, who didn't reach sexual maturity.
If you have large dogs they would be happy to have the cockerels. Less hassle then selling and happy pups.
Ack, animal auctions make me queasy, I couldn't "harvest" my chickens for eating anyway, that would go for any home raised animals, :(
hannah anderson for me it was the opposite. Look how factory farmed animals are raised.
Wait the roosters sell for 6 bucks each?
If you're very lucky.
Around here we cook em up and feed them to the dogs.
Roosters are great eating at 2lbs/finished butchard. Any bigger than that and suddenly they require specialized cooking procedures to butter up the meat. If they're older then we use them for making borken bone chicken stock. Puree the muscle meat and add it in. Anything left over grind it and pelletize it into feed the others.
The more commoditized an animal becomes, the more cruelty ensues.
Extra roosters pretend to be dinner around here! Blessings y’all!
For 5-8 dollars vs cost of gas to go, wouldn't it be better just to have a small meal?
It’s also a fun night out for some people lol
Guildbrook Farm - Off Grid Living yep! Gotta have those too 😁
What ever floats your goat
I'm a little confused, I've been raising chickens for 50+ years on my stead I now have 17 roosters, rhode island red, barred rocks and 5 Cornish cross, the birds are 4.5 months of age, are close to 7 lbs which will give a good 3.5 fryer. Over 7 months is a roaster and over a year you dress the rooster, through it in a pot cook all day and then through away the bird and eat the broth. Your birds must be awful small to only get so small amount of meat. Heritage birds like rocks, reds, austros, buckeyes, all bring better weight and money at the auctions. Once registered at an auction the number is good for your life time. I've had 1x02 for 30 years. Have a good day.
The video was about 3 options for dealing with roosters: eating, selling direct, and auctions. Which part was confusing?
First you stated it takes 12 months to raise to eating size. When I was 16, after having raised chickens for 4 years I decided to try my hand at raising a large flock. I ordered 400 cockrels from M M hatchery, and 100 sr, they sent 525. In 5 months we butchered 425 and I still had 100 hens to sell eggs. If butchered at 5 months the roosters don't fight and bruise each other. That many chickens require 1 ton of feed to bring them to butchering weight. I said I presently am raising 3 types of roosters which I let run free until butcher time, to see which I like better for meat, at the present time my birds are Rhode Island Reds 4.5 months old, 5 lbs which will give a 2.5 lb. bird, the Barred Rocks same age, 7 to 7.5 lbs. 3.5 to 4 lbs. dressed. The Cornish cross, same age, 10 to 12 lbs. or more, dressing out at 5 to 6 lbs. A bird under 5 months is consider a fryer, meaning that if you fry it the meat will still be tender, 6 to 9 months is a broiler, requiring a little more heat, not as tender, 9 to 12 months called a roaster which means its in the oven for a time. I attend a tri state auction and very seldomly are the animals inferior, I have even seen the auction turn people away and on one occasion when someone brought in emus that where not transported correctly the auction had them fined for animal cruelty. Different auctions use different practices, it's wise to visit the auction several times before you bring your animals. Of your three methods, raising pastures birds brings the most money and clients/customers and repeats also buy other products you sell, just have to get the word out there. Of course a variety of ages in your birds gives you the opportunity to have fresh meat on your table all the year long. It just takes some planning ahead. Hope this helps you understand my confusion. Have a great day.
Best way to off load roosters you didn't want.
What about turning them into Capons. The process is rather simple and your roosters will grow big meaty and juicey. I prefer them over turkey for special occaisions.
I hate auctions, I never have any idea what they're saying...
Rooster = Crockpot! I can't imagine a tough rooster coming out tough, or anything you put in a crockpot ..... not even a steel-belted all terrain tire can survive the mighty crockpot ~8^) Take care Guildbrooksters.
For sure!
I eat my roosters at about 20 weeks. I cook them several hours with some carrots, onions salt and pepper. Delicious. And the rests from the slaughtering goes to the compost bin.
Roosters go to "freezer camp" on our farm. Once they hit the "rapey" stage is when they go to "camp".
*note: We free-range the chickens in a 1.5 acre plot of our farm. We keep two breeder roosters for our flock of 65-ish hens. You *can* do 1:12 ratio, but that has not worked for us - it resulted in too many/constant fights. Our 1:30-ish ratio works for *us*. With the amount of space we have, the boys tend to segregate themselves until they are in full sexual maturity. This allows us to raise them to eating age w/o too much issue.
*note 2: We have given some away and sold some (frizzles or turkens, mostly).