unwanted cockerels??

I havent even got my chooks yet, and Im hooked already  :blink:
So much so that Im day dreaming about hatching etc, (not for a while now you understand!) it got me thinking about all thos little cockerels that are unwanted..what on earth do you do with them! is it a case of culling them? do you do it yourself?? what is the liklihood of them being rehomed?  our breeder has offered us a light sussex cockerel, and Im tempted to take him to eventually get some au naturale chicklets....but this cockerel issue scares me! couldnt imagine rearing a boy from a little fluff ball into a strapping young teen just to kill him. I do know that I need to harden up and be aware of the fine line between treating my hens like hens and not pampered pets.......please enlighten me..Im all ears (and eyes) 

sadly this is one of the drawbacks with hatching your own chicks. You can choose to hatch chicks that are colour sexed from day old so that any males can be culled straight away or if you go down the other route some birds cannot be sexed until they either crow or lay eggs - by which time you will have grown very fond of them.
Even if you have a rare breed of bird re-homing cockerels can still be difficult - most breeders of these birds will want to know the parentage and background of the cockerels so that they get the features and characteristics that they are looking for.
I cull my own cockerels (not a job I like doing at all but a necessity)using a wall mounted dispatcher, some get eaten although my other half won't eat them if he knows they were our birds - he just mutters stuff about he couldn't eat something he has said hello to  . Mind you he is a sensitive soul - I made a pasta dish the other day with rabbit in (shot by local farmer) and had to remove any bones and chop the meat into little pieces first so that he couldn't tell what meat it was. He said he enjoyed it until the following morning when I let him know what it was that he had eaten  .

Well after reading your replys and speaking to my OH we have decided aginat a cockerel, for the very reasons you've stated and also as we have 2 little children, and I know theres no guarantee you will get a well natured bloke. I think I would be biting off more than I could chew! I'mm just going to get used to my girls and see how we feel. But its something I guess needs to br thought through THOROUGHLY! and the thought of culling anything Ive considered a pet.......eep. Joyfull, I wish I could be more like you somedays, I get far too attached!. I was eating a chicken curry lastnight, and felt shame with every mouthful  :blink:

When we decided to take the leap and keep some chickens we opted for hatching eggs to watch the hatch and grow. we did this knowing that any unwanted boys would need to be dispatched. Out of our 9 chicks we had 3 boys, 3 girls and 3 unknowns (i cannot tell who they are)    One of my boys is moving to London along with one of my girls, two boys had to be dispatched as they were getting quite a handful! I felt awful but it was the right thing to do as they next day peace was restored to to coop and the fighting has ended.
I would do it again but would pick breeds that could be used for ther table and would have spare housing ready for them too.
I think that if you really want chicks then day olds or hatching eggs are the best way to go if you have a small back yard set up.