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I currently have ten 9 week-old chickens, at least half of which I suspect are male. My husband said I cannot keep roosters because he doesn't want the neighbors to be disturbed by crowing. I told him I would either rehome or eat the roosters as soon as I was sure they were roos, and I sent away feathers for genetic testing, so I should know for certain by the end of the month... It's so hard to wait for the results!

One bird has already started crowing in the AM and is getting progressively louder. I posted him on Facebook and Craigslist for adoption, as I have grow too attached to kill and eat him. If someone is intending to eat him, I hope I never find out about it... I knew when I got a coop rated for 4-6 adult chickens and purchased a pack of 10 unsexed chicks, that some would have to go. Usually one or two of them don't survive the stress of shipping, and a couple more will die of illness, so I am surprised to still have all 10 clucking at this point... This is turning out to be way harder emotionally than I expected. They are such good, sweet chickens!

Anyone else go through something similar? Or metaphorically shot themselves in the foot like me and want to commiserate?

[This message edited by Ghostie at 5:27 PM, Tuesday, November 25th]

Our daughter in CA just had to re-home a chick as it became evident that it was a rooster. She found an animal sanctuary out in the country who would take him - it was almost a two-hour drive each way to transport him there, but she sent us video of him in his new surroundings and it looked magnificent. This is the second time she's had to re-home a chick who turned out to be a rooster. It happens.

But your H is absolutely correct, it's not fair to neighbors to keep a rooster in a residential neighborhood.

It's hard not to get attached.

You should be able to tell which ones are roosters at this point from tail and wing feathers.

I kept chickens for close to a decade and loved having them. They all have their own personalities and funny things they do. We had about 5-6 roos over the years we had to get rid of. Some were very easy to rid of because they were jerks and acted like assholes.
I had a few I kept one silky Roo that was super sweet and he would hop on my foot and ride around when out in the yard. I had a HUGE hybrid that was extremely gentle with the girls so he got to stay. But they pocket the hens pull their feathers Crow at all hours even 3am. Those boys were easy to rid of. We always had takers on CL or FB marketplace.

The buyer came and picked up the crowing rooster a few hours ago. I plucked him from his slumber in the coop amongst his flockmates, with whom he’s been since the day after he hatched, and I put him in a cardboard box. I carried him from the garden with one box flap open for air, and opened it enough for her to look in and see him before she handed me $10 in crumpled bills… He was crouched down in the bottom, and he looked so small and scared. So different from how imposing and proud he looked strutting around the run this morning.

She took the box… and then closed both flaps. I told her she should probably leave one open so he can breathe. She just said "thank you" and got back in her car. I felt like my heart got ripped in half, and a sinking feeling in my gut told me she is definitely going to eat him. Some part of me wishes I had asked her intentions, so at least I would know for sure, instead of adopting the "don’t ask don’t tell" approach.

He was my daughter’s favorite chicken. I held her earlier and told her he was being rehomed, and that he would go to a nice farm where he could crow all he wanted without bothering any neighbors, and that he could father lots of chicks with the hens there someday. She asked if we would get him back after that. I told her no, we will not. She cried for a while.

I feel like such a dirty liar. A horrible parent, to both my daughter and my bird babies. I feel like I committed another betrayal. I am so full of shame again. I don’t know how I’m going to do this several more times. I don’t.