It is that time of year again and I wanted to have a conversation about something I get asked about every year.

Roosters.

So… You went out and bought a batch of super cute baby chicks and they were unsexed. You bring them home and grow them out and half of them are roosters. Now What!?

When we started raising chickens almost 5 years ago this was a question I had to ask and answer before I ever placed an order. We decided we would raise our roosters and butcher them for our own consumption. No brainer for me really. This was part of the reason we were getting into chickens. To produce food for ourselves. The important thing to note here is that not all roosters are grown out equally! The first year we chose 17 dual purpose breeds. We put our roosters in a grow out pen together and thoroughly enjoyed their little personalities. We picked our favorites to keep as our flock roosters and the day came to butcher the rest. I wrote each roosters name OR breed on the bag so we could compare size, taste, personality, ease of butcher.

The second year we adjusted our breeds based on that information. If you are going to raise chicks you MUST have a plan for your roosters. DO NOT wait and think you will figure it out as you go. Figure it out first.

Here are your options:

1. Only buy sexed pullets so you do not have to worry about roosters. Businesses like Hashbrown Homestead in Red Deer, Farmstead Life, Westerdale Poultry, Spring Valley Poultry, and Rachel Buchholz all have sex linked or point of lay options available. Make sure you choose a reputable breeder. There are so many Poultry diseases out there.

2. Butcher your grow outs for your freezer or for dog food. If you are raising them to eat, keep in mind they grow slow but the taste is worth the time. Choose only breeds that grow out to a good size. We started with Polish, Isbars and Silkies and went away from those breeds even though we loved them because we didn’t feel it was worth butchering them. If you are raising for dog food those breeds may be just fine. If you are not comfortable butchering them yourself book them in to Pigeon Lake Processors or Tschetter Colony. I have my on Farm butcher license and can butcher a limited number of animals as well.

3. Sell them. If you have good quality stock and a popular breed they may be saleable. The market is flooded with roosters every year though and they are a really tough sale.

4. Give them away. My thoughts on this is that you raised and fed an animal for a long time to be wasted in giving it away. We only keep animals on our farm for food. BUT if I am burnt out from butchering and our freezer is full I have been known to give some end of summer roosters away.