Egg Production Articles from All-Creatures.org

Eating Eggs, Buying Chicks = Unwanted Roosters

From Rooster Sanctuary at Danzig's Roost
October 2023

These families who buy chicks grow attached to those little chicks they bought, find themselves in a nearly impossible situation. There is no one that will take their little rooster. They call us. We say no for reasons mentioned above. Finally, they find one of the few places with unlimited capacity. Let me tell you this: those places butcher roosters and they eat them. They sell the roosters to people who eat them. They leave your young and frightened little rooster out in the elements exposed to excessive heat, continuous bullying, and inadequate shelter.

I’ve been so sad and so frustrated over the last few days.

I’m not sure how to start without droning on about where it all gets started and how the process unfolds. Basically, here is the story:

There are some places that do take “unwanted” roosters, no questions asked, from families that bought chicks for backyard eggs. Many people call us and email us every day, several times a day, with the same exact stories. They bought chicks from the feed store. The chicks were supposed to be hens. Now one or more are crowing, and they can’t have roosters where they live. They like the little rooster/s and the kids are sad that the rooster has to go. They’re trying to find a good home for him that won’t hurt him or eat him. They’ve grown quite attached to the little bird and really wish they didn’t have to get rid of him. Of course, there are some callers that say crude things like “I don’t want to have to eat him” or “I don’t want to break his neck” or “maybe we can eat him.” For the most part, the people who reach out to us actually do care and they’re not afraid to convey that to us. Thank you to those people for your bravery to be kind. It takes a coward to threaten a defenseless animal.

Unfortunately, as cliche as it sounds, we cannot take them all. For if we did, we would surely be providing a negligent environment for birds who require and deserve proper loving care. I’ve been back and forth between anger and understanding that the places that do take unlimited roosters that neglect the birds to the point of death or even eat the surrendered roosters, are actually just a symptom of the problem. What’s the problem? People have been taught that chickens’ eggs belong to humans for humans to eat; therefore, chickens can, should, and will be used for that very purpose. This is the reason people buy chicks from those feed stores. This is the reason hatcheries keep sending day old chicks to feed stores to sell. This is the reason millions of baby chicks hatched male are ground up alive in hatcheries the day they emerge from their shells. Those little baby boys will never lay eggs.

These families, that grow attached to those little chicks they bought, find themselves in a nearly impossible situation. There is no one that will take their little rooster. They call us. We say no for reasons mentioned above. Finally, they find one of the few places with unlimited capacity. Let me tell you this: those places butcher roosters and they eat them. They sell the roosters to people who eat them. They leave your young and frightened little rooster out in the elements exposed to excessive heat, continuous bullying, and inadequate shelter. They die of untreated wounds, and if they’re “lucky,” they’ll be bred to make more baby roosters who will live in an environment where they don’t matter and then they die. These places make me so mad. They take advantage of people and make people believe their little rooster will be okay, but he won’t be.

So please, listen to me:

Those horrible places will exist as long as we keep buying chicks AND eating eggs. Shutting down an abhorrent place won’t do a thing to end this stuff. Going vegan will.

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