What to do with a young cockerel - we can't keep him.

[GermanGirlinLDN]

We have Silver Dorking chicks and one of them is male. We are unable to keep him and don't really know what to do with him. Does anybody take cockerels? We have been told nobody takes them. Any advise?

Try advertising him on the Omlet marketplace. Do not advertise in local paper as people take them for dogfight bait. :(

there are only one of two things to do with unwanted cockerels. one is to try and rehome him locally (sometimes people lose theirs to a fox or old age and want a new one) or I am afraid you have to neck them. why cant you keep a male OP. are you worried about noise? Dealing with unwanted boys is always the down side of having chicks. don't mean to be brutal with my advice by brambles is right. if you just advertise him he will become bait and it would be far better that you dealt with him.

Thanks for your replies. I will try and advertise him on Omlet now.

Ive had this trouble time and time again with chicks.

Im afraid most males are culled.

Its not nice to do the killing bit, but Id suggest eating him. Im assuming you're not a vege?

cock a leekie

Coq au vin ?

Either wring his neck, or put up an advert at local agricultural general supplies store saying: Dorking cockerel offered free to good home. It may be that someone with a Dorking flock might want a cockerel that's not from their flock to keep bloodlines healthy.

Alternatively, Dorkings are good table birds, so I would really put squeamishness aside, and once he's big enough, get someone to show you how to kill, pluck and gut it, and you'd have a really good Sunday dinner, in the knowledge that the bird had had a fabulous life and a dignified death, unlike a lot of supermarket meat.

pie

Don't hear much about Dorkings. Have you tried advertising on practical poultry forum? They have a free to good home section.
If you'd like to keep him and are worried about noise ask your neighbours what they think and tell them to let you know if he annoys them and if he does you'll get him a new home.

Hope you manage to find someone to take him. Dorkings are a fab old breed - count the toes!

I only usually hatch fertile eggs from a friends flock. She then deals with the boys when they're old enough - humanely and they go back into the food chain.