Those who mail order pullets in the cold winter months might be in for a surprise. Many companies pack unwanted rooster chicks around the pullets to keep them warm. Ask about this potential practice before you buy.
The following was written by Carol Bartram. I posted it here with her permission. Her words are both well written and wise. Thanks, Carol!
Hi, Chicken People,
The Chicken Chick has brought together a wealth of information about sexing chickens in this post:
The
references at the end are also worth checking out! One of my faves that
I didn't see listed is an article from Backyard Poultry Magazine
(June/July 2011), also dispelling many of the myths you may come across
in feed stores or elsewhere (thanks to Kathy for sending me this
article):
In
my opinion, one
of the most important take-homes is that even professional vent-sexers
are not 100% accurate, so please think ahead of time about what you will
do if you do end up with a rooster and can't keep him. Unfortunately,
you can't assume it will be easy to find him a good home where he will
eat off of China plates, or that someone will pay you big bucks to
purchase him. Ideally, you will have scoped out some options ahead of
time, but if not, the LAST thing to do is to release him somewhere for
him to become someone else's problem and give us backyard
chicken-keepers a bad name. The SECOND TO LAST thing is to take him to
an animal shelter (where he will become someone else's problem, etc...).
A MIDDLE thing is to ask me to send out an e-mail looking for a home,
or for you to post him on the Hampton Roads Hens Facebook page, where
you'll reach a wider number of folks on the Southside who have room for
roos. (There are also people who can,
relatively humanely, process roos for you, if you choose to go that
route. Old Dominion Hay in Smithfield has hosted classes to teach this
skill.)
Hopefully,
someday residential areas will get rid of their anti-rooster
inclinations so that a bit of crowing won't be such a big deal, but I
guess we have to get hens accepted first, and I think our efforts at
being good neighbors will help a lot. I recently had a good talk with
our newest neighbors about our rooster, and to my great relief they said
they used to hear him, but now the only time they notice the sound is
when somebody new comes to visit and asks if someone has a rooster. Whew
--Quercus' lovely crow has faded into the background for them! I can
see how a lot of roos talking to each other throughout the day in close
quarters might be a different story...
Cluck and cock-a-doodle-doo,
Carol Bartram
Peninsula Chicken Keepers (PeCK)
peninsulachickenkeepers.weebly.com
Carol Bartram
Peninsula Chicken Keepers (PeCK)
peninsulachickenkeepers.weebly.com
