FoodKiller's chicken journal!

[off-grid hen]

Oh no! That's so terrible. I'm truly sorry for your loss.

 

[FoodKillah]

Yes it is.

Anyway, the answer to the why question comes and is always the same, thats life!

I arrived home from work in the morning, the sun was not up yet. I can see the sun comming up very early, it comes up from the sea. There was daylight, just not sun yet. After i passed a bottle of milk to my daughter and say happy birthday i took 2 naylon bags and went in the basement...

I know if i just stand and stare at my dead favorite chicken, i can stay for hours wondering how why and all that.. but what is the point of it? we are adults after all, or at least look like them. I did feel very sad and especially very sorry for whatever happent to my chicken doing all the following tho.

On my walk to the spot on the mountain, i had to pass by a hotel with few tourists with luggage waiting for their pickup bus. So carrying a dead chicken and a shovel or any garden tool to dig a hole, was not the best idea.. i think. After checking out my dead chicken for anything there for me to see (no poop, otherwise nothing weird) and saying the last goodbye, i put it in the 2 naylon colored bags to "hide" it and left for the spot.

The sun was comming up, you could just see a small part of the edge of the, orange at the time, sun, comming up from the sea. What a walk. After saying goodmorning to the tourists, after they replied i could hear them wispering "is it really 6:30", wondering where the h**l am i going so early in the morning. You see just after the hotel, its dead end. The very small mountain road just ends there, then the road continues with mountain rocks, its fenced and you usually see nobody else there other than sheep and goats that pass by sometimes. The grave of my favorite chicken is near a "dead end" isnt that ironic? I passed the fence, so its like i crossed the dead end..... creepy huh? Now as i type i think of it and for this walk it was like i guided my chicken to the "other side", i hope the soul of the bird felt protected with me doing that. Anyway, as i walked through the part of my land i watched for a nice spot that would have shade in the middle of the day and there would be no footsteps of animals.

I found a nice spot in the middle of 2 trees that kind of connected their folliage, making a nice shade. Wild bushes with thorns were blocking the way to this spot and no signs of footsteps could be seen. Ok here we are i thought, and took my chicken out of the bags and placed in between some rocks. I turned around and watched the sun for few moments, i thought of how would it be to live there forever. Peaceful and very quiet, guarded by thorns, the cool shade would be there later in the day while the sun was fully rised and was trying to heat up the chill air of the night. Nothing seemed wrong. The few moments of rest passed and i had to finish what i was doing before it got too hot. I could not dig, there was no soil either only rocks on a very sharp mountain edge above the "road". I used 5-6 big rocks to surround my chicken, then filled the hole with tiny stones, then used 2 big flat rocks on the top. Then i placed 3 small stones on the top of the "grave" to represent the love of my family to the chicken. Do i sound weird? Dont worry, i know. That chicken made me feel like i had another kid when it hatched, not that strong feeling but that feeling. I finished the grave by making 3 crosses on 3 of the big rocks, using other sharp rocks. I watched it for few seconds, done! I left feeling complete and not sad.

As i walked in home i say to my wife "i had to do this". She has told me she wouldnt have the power to do this and wondered how i could do what i was saying. But throwing that chicken to the garbage would be the biggest -spiritual- sin i would have ever done if that makes sense.

When i look up the mountain i can see the 2 trees but not the "grave" but i feel my chicken not only is there, but loves it, and finally can enjoy peace without my stupid bully flock pecking the head out of it. I feel good looking up there.

I cleaned up the cage, and it was all over. A normal happy day could start, we gave the presents to my daugter and she played all day, she got so tired that she is sleeping as early as 21:00 tonight. What a happy day.

While random events come to us in our lives, we are the only ones that know how much the feeling of remorse of doing something not the best way you could hurts you and affects your life, and in special events like that, its better to do the best you can. Who am i to decide if it is right to get rid of the chicken i brought to life and just get done with it fast and not bury it somewhere safe to have the chance to offer eternal peace and love to some soul, in the case there are souls that i personally believe.

Now there is nothing more to be done

EXCEPT THROWING THE REST OF MY FLOCK TO THE MEAT GRINDER ALIVE. Which is another story and does not belong to this certain post.

 

[FoodKillah]

My journal, i double post to tell you how things were today in my yard after i burried my chicken.

My chickens were very hungry and needed some attention, i was walking in the yard to the free-range feeder when the rooster ATTACKED ME AGAIN. How typical is that? Come on you %%$#%$# i thought, come get some more, after i kicked him with force and was running and screamming back in the coop, lol coward. It was really not his fault, the chickens were very hungry and he needed the feed i was carrying to them to feed his hens. That rooster feels like he wants to be the one feeding the chickens, but never makes the effort to drive to the feed store and pay for the feed, thats my job only, he thinks. I gave the last feed to the chickens from the bottom of the bag, i had to go to the feed store.

On the feed store other than feed, i bought antibiotics... i liked keeping things natural but it would not be a bad idea to give them all some meds, its a white powder that turns the water red when you dilute it. They are all on antibiotics now, i was told the eggs are still edible, so i will just feed them back to the chickens lol, i dont trust them. I hope i didnt overdose them because i could not really tell how much i put in because it needed half a spoon or something but i always put a little more of anything, just incase my spoon is smaller than the guy that told me so.. lol

These days i am thinking that i dont need the bad behaviors of the "Dinosaur" and the "Woos" anymore, i feel bad when they run quacking trying to escape from me even if i am just gardening. They dont really respect me, or the other chickens. They only eat, drink and peck ALOT. The poor rooster is bleeding from the "Woos" attacks can you believe he just not fight back and sits there getting pecked and freaking eaten alive? he is very proud..

I dont want to eat those chickens because they are too small and they are ehm.. in bad shape. They make gigantic eggs tho. I think i will isolate them until they finish eating each other and disappear..

I could also cull them and throw them in the garbage. They were born in a farm, they were raised and kept for eggs in a farm, the only thing they learned was that you must peck the nearest chicken to get more space in the over-crowded cage, and they have no respect for anything not even their rooster. I see them as soulless egg robots, thats what they are for me. I dont know what i will decide to do, just sharing my thoughts.

 

[FoodKillah]

Hello my chicken journal. 3 months since i last posted. Its pretty d cold this days, its nearly snowing... i cant pay enough attention to my flock with this weather... it seems..

i found one of my fat meatbirds dead today in the chicken coop. She was my favorite hen and made the biggest eggs i ever saw.Her comb was blueish lately and i had to carry her inside to check her under the light 3 days ago, she looked sick but she ate the bread i gave her and that made me think she was ok and i let her out again with the rest of the flock again. 3 days later (today) i found her dead. She had eaten plenty of food and felt full to the touch, her comb was now almost black..

Also "The dinosaur" hen is sick. She has no blue comb but was sitting on random corners buffed and didnt move. I took her inside the basement/garage in the rabbit hatch and i gave her terramycin 1gr/0.5liter and chicken feed. She does not eat by her self and only eats bread from my hand, she even ignores omelet.. She was starving when i took her inside and she felt empty like she never ate anything. After i took care of i could feel the bread and water in her neck, i hope i didnt make her drink more water at once that she had to. She is sleepy, she falls asleep even with the bread in her mouth sometimes and i have to make my food call all the time to keep her awake, is that what you call lethargic?

Hope she ll be alright...

Terramycin worked great on "The Dinosaur" in the summer when i gave it to all my birds. In the first pictures in my journal there are pictures of him with missing feathers. After 1 year of being that way she was only cured after that terramycin treatment. At the spots with not feathers the skin was red, now is white and healthy...

The Dinosaur is the 1# hen in the pecking order in my little flock and is one of the 2 hens i first bought, the last in life, a production red..call her the boss, the chief, the captain, the rule maker, the plan changer, the destroyer, the leader, but dont call that creature a chicken or she will...thats who she is. The rooster never throws one of his wings down to tell HER which way to go or to hurry up.

I will post again if something new happens

 

[FoodKillah]

Hello my chicken journal!!!!!

Many new things. The best of all is my son. I am father x2 now, yahooo. He is 2+ months already, now i have 2 reminders for how fast the time goes by(i mean that we are all GETTING OLD FAST) my son and my daughter. Its nice to see the time go by fast, and not get wasted.

That was the most important but i came here to tell you about 2 hens. The Dinosaur and The Woos. The Dinosaur got very sick... i isolated her and gave her antibiotics for about 10 days and forced feed her, but she kept loosing weight and died powerless but in peace. She gave me about 500 eggs and teached me what "chicken" means because she was one of my 2 first hens. The Woos, 1 week after Dinosaurs death, got very sick and fell on the ground. She is isolated right now, same symptoms, but i gave her no antibiotics, only some expired coccidiasis medicine that the pet shop gave me for free. She is nearly dead, by seeing her you can tell she is more dead that alive, barely breaths.

I think i have to do something to my healthy hens to keep them that way...well tomorrow is Sunday so i cannot do much.... so i hope they do fine.

Deaths and diseases, thats all i write about all the time... dmm.....

I bought 4 pullets about 1 month ago! They are getting HUGE by now... one white one grey (those are meatbirds) and 2 black "hybrids"... dont ask... wth is a hybrid.. i dont know... thats what the man said. i just wanted 2 black hens and hybrids?????? is what i got. fair. I am not sure what the man meant, neither i could bother asking him and expect an answer to count on. They are small like egg layers.

And you thought that i DIDNT BUY 2 GUINEAS RIGHT? hahaha....who cares if everyone tells me that they will "fly away, like crows, up on the mountains" if that happens that would be cool anyway. Right now they are in a cage in the basement, spending their 2nd night in my possession buhahaha. I really hope they make all those promised sounds and be annoying and visit the luxury hotels near by to watch their reflection to the balcony door glass. No kidding now i bought them because they look cool, they are the real DINOSAURS. The only thing i worry is when they grow and if they really fly of my 6 feet tall fence to go outside, then if they want to come back, they need to fly 20 feet high to get to the fence from the outside because the fence is on a wall that changes the ground level from me to the next field.

I need to close the post earlier that i wanted, see you soon

 

[FoodKillah]

My chicken journal! and BYC lovers! Long time no see!

When i started this thread i knew it would be somewhere safe for ever here in BYC. After 1 year i am back to add some stuff its like seeing an old friend.



"The rooster" or for my now 3 yo daughter the "bad hen"

The most evil rooster in my experience, he means to be mean. We still hate each other in a good way. He free ranges my backyard, my family doesnt because he owns the whole yard. I have to cut his big nails, his 2 weapons. I have done that twice so far, using a metal saw

the back of my legs have his marks from older attacks that dont seem to fade off in time

but i like him he is a good pal just defending his space and hens. I can go and collect eggs, feed them and water them and do gardening, but if i am near him i must keep my eyes on him because if i turn around to just walk away he always attacks me. If i do gardening he never bothers me and he just tries to get the hens away from me. I can pick him up if i walk towards and make a fast move or if i corner him and grab him by the tail, he stays quiet then. I have done everything i have read to make him quiet in the past but he is just "The rooster" he never changes. He doesnt start fights with other roosters, and they never try him, he is the boss.

"The baker" my older hen now because all the others i mentioned in older posts in this thread are dead. Always looking good healthy and polite, also always high in the order. She pecks her way to the feed with force and the others get the message right away. She lets them get the treats and left overs first, the last one to run.


A part of the flock and my chicken coop, normally it looks better but i had to use this thick naylon to cover the roof this winter and used the pallets for it to stay in place because of strong winds around here. Its much better than my first coops.

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I ate the guineas i bought last year about 4-5 months old, not grown enough, because they never stayed in the backyard. Now i believe what everyone said. I would buy guineas again because they made those sounds (i had 1 female and 1 male) but i am not ready yet because its hard to keep them where you want them. They could go for pest patrol in my vegetable garden without harming the plants and tomatoes. They are now good memories and the best meat i have ever eaten in my life. Thats months ago.

First chicken slaughter
The same day we slaughtered the guineas we did the same to a hen that was always sad and alone away from the flock since her "sister" died. That day she stayed in the coop staring at the dead hen untill i looked for them 2 later in the day when i looked for them. I ended up her misery but that was my first chicken to clean so it was not easy and i will always remember it. We killed her in the garage bathroom in the bath like we were serial killers. First mistake here, the bath is still not clean enough, blood and feathers were everywhere, first lesson too, kill them outside. Then before i pluck her, i had a coffee and few smokes with a friend, and she got "rigor mortis", second mistake and second lesson, now if i cut the head i rush to the plucking after 1-2 minutes maximum because that day i plucked that hen for about 3 hours. The water i used was at the wrong temperature and the skin i plucked for 3 hours was teared up anyway and i would better skin her than pluck her that way my third mistake and lesson, now i always count the water temperature before i slaghter. Then the biggest mistake was that we had a bbq right away and all we had was that hen... my car tires would be tender if i compared them to that meat. We couldnt eat it, so hard. Now i just put them in food bags in the freezer for 2 days and then 2 days in the fridge with salt.

This winter
I went in the feedstore and bought 5 chicks for eggs and after 1-2 weeks i bought 5 more. The second patch had 4 roosters and they got very big and ate like pigs, i wll slaughter the last one of those roosters tomorrow. The others were delicius.

My weapon
The tool i use to cut their heads off looks like this its garden scissors.

Thats it for now, see you again soon

 

[off-grid hen]

Good to see you back!