First cull- not so bad

[lomb chix]

I'm new to chickens and had to process my first bird yesterday. He was a beautiful Cuckoo Marans that was mis-sexed at the feed store. I was devastated when he started crowing at 7 weeks. We're not allowed roos here, and although my neighbors were wonderful, I was very stressed. At 12 weeks his nonstop crowing was maddening, and I was concerned he might try to mate with one of my banties. I felt the most responsible & respectful thing to do was cull him myself, and get closer to my food. I read many posts and watched YouTube videos. My neighbor helped me through the process. I was a vet tech for 15 years, so I was familiar with the anatomy, which helped it go faster. I used the neck slit method, and was happy with how quickly he went. This morning I awoke in peace, with a huge weight lifted from my shoulders. I used every part except the intestines & gall bladder. I feel this is the best way to honor Zori. Not his fault he was a boy. Now I know I can raise my own meat chickens, and have actually ordered more just for meat. Thanks to everyone here for their insight and well written articles. RIP Zori. You were loved.

 

[sourland]

Well done! Responsibly dealing with unwanted birds is necessary.

 

[katbriar]

Good job! It sounds like you are proud of yourself, and you should be! Congratulations.

 

[Maggiesdad]

Congrats and well done.
It is right and good to give thanks and praise. I take comfort in knowing our table chicken is loved and well tended.

 

[Chicks4fun2]

Glad your experience and outlook on the situation was so positive.. Not looking forward to the day I have to cull my first but I know I need to be prepared to do it.. Any advice on mixing meat birds and my egg laying hens? Can they share the same coop?

 

[chicknshrimp]

Nice job! We did our 1st last year when we had an older hen who was injured and wouldn't make the winter. We are now on batch 2 of broilers, the first were cornish x, and our red rangers should hatch in 2 wks. We feel great about putting a quality product on our table and even better that all of our animals were loved and lived happy healthy lives.

Chicks4fun2 - we kept ours separate only because the broilers (our cornish crosses anyways) are HUGE, eat a ton, and have a ton of gross, projectile poops that I didn't want to deal with in the main coop. Also they're too heavy to fly up to our main roost in the coop. We kept them in a tractor and moved them around to deal with the poops and make sure they had enough fresh forage. You can mix them all though if you have a space set up for it.

 

[lomb chix]

Thank you all for your kind & supportive words. The right thing is so often the hardest thing. The hardest thing is to be honest with yourself.
Of course my BL Polish started crowing (or a sheep was gargling) this am. I'll just see how that goes. He's 12 weeks and really getting gorgeous.

I have my dual purpose birds (Australorp, Cochin) mixed with my silkies and polish with no problems, they all snuggle together. My d'Uccle is probably the dominant one. The new 'meat 'birds are speckled Sussex, which will be integrated into the main flock after the look-don't touch period. I got these because they are supposed to be tame and thrifty. I don't care if they take longer to develop and like dark meat better anyway. They can interact with other chickens and do chickeny things, but they won't be named or cuddled. I ordered 3 of those and 5 others for eggs/pets/entertainment from MPC & paid extra for females again, just to minimize the stress. I got most of my first flock of sexed bantams from them and am very happy with them. Totally worth it to me since most of my birds are fancy little pets that will live out their retirement here.

For anyone new to actually cutting skin and meat, I would recommend buying a whole chicken at the store with the head and feet still attached. Butchers and Asian markets often have these. The organs will be gone (or in a bag In the body cavity), but you can get a feel for how hard you need to slice and if your knife is good, plus you can learn to break down a bird for eating. Practice on the bird while it is at room temp, so the skin and muscles are loose. You can do it.

 

[JustHenny]

Hatched out five eggs this summer and three are roosters. As I only need one, which I already had, we decided these boys would be table birds. But I just can't do it. It makes me cry! I didn't name them, I don't cuddle them, I just do the basics so they have a good life and ignore them for the most part. But still I can't do it. So now my fiance has to. Best video? Best way to learn? I like the idea of the store bird to learn on. That would help a lot I think. Any other way to help him learn. We also have our turkey to process. Any advice on that one? The thing is HUGE! And mean... Thanks!

 

[CrazyTalk]

JustHenny - Honestly, the hardest part is the first 30 seconds - actually killing the bird. Once they're plucked, (for me) it's just food prep. Getting them to that point is a little tough though. Like I said, first 30 seconds are the worst.

 

[JustHenny]

Do you do the lap method and hold them between your legs? Or a kill cone upside down? How do you get them ready for those first 30 seconds? Doing some more research today. I'm a worrier anyway, and I accidentally watched a video where the poor thing moved around the whole time! I tell my fiance that i guess i'm not much of a farmer. lol.