Just last weekend, I was up early watering the plants when I heard the sound of a rooster coming from the other side of my fence. My neighbor, Lee Cagle, had texted earlier in the week to apologize in advance for the cockerel’s early-morning crowing.
“I bought a rooster thinking it was a hen,” Cagle says.
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As a result, “Traveler,” her handsome rooster with a fire-engine red comb, needs a new home.
Keeping roosters is prohibited in the City of St. Louis and most surrounding municipalities; once a cockerel reaches maturity they become vocal, which can cause friction between neighbors. “Their first crows are funny,” says Cagle. “They’re like adolescents and it sounds like their voice is changing. But when he finds his voice, he’s going to start getting louder.” For now, she’s placed a crow collar on Traveler to soften the sound of his crows.
Determining the sex of a chick isn’t an exact science, which can lead to rehoming when an expected hen emerges as a rooster. Mark Kriegal, vice president of O.K. Hatchery Feed & Garden in Kirkwood, says there’s about a 90 percent chance that baby chicks are sexed correctly. “So even my customers get the occasional rooster,” he says.
Websites like Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist are good places to search for people who are wanting to adopt a rooster or rehome one. Cagle is hoping to find a taker on Craigslist, but there are currently several free-to-good-homes chickens being offered, she says. Kriegal suggests the Fenton Feed Mill, but not for rehoming. “They will generally be raised for meat when you take them there,” he says. The group chats on backyardchickens.com are another option for connecting homeowners with people looking for a rooster. “They’re actually looking to raise chickens and, of course, in order to have a fertile egg they would need a rooster,” says Kriegal. Residents in rural communities could also be seeking roosters to protect their flock against predators.
Traveler isn’t the first rooster Cagle’s had to rehome. A couple of years ago, a carpenter working at her house took one home, so word-of-mouth is another way to find a new owner. “He had a flock of hens and he needed a rooster, so that one was easy,” she says. More recently, she asked him if he’d take Traveler. “He’s like, ‘I think I’m full up on roosters.’ One of his chickens turned out to be a rooster, too, and he didn’t need another one.”
Traveler’s good looks and pedigree–he’s a Blue Splash Ameraucana–could inspire interest.
“He’s bougie enough that I don’t think I’ll have a problem rehoming him,” says Cagle. “If someone’s looking to breed, he’s going to find a home.” Cagle paid $30 for the day-old chick from mypetchicken.com.
“I got a fancy rooster,” she says. “You could get some pretty blue eggs in your next generation.”
