So I had to kill three roosters today...

[Fredster]

We've gotten a little over-roostered at our place, with eight roos to service about 40 layers*. They were starting to fight with each other over the women, and several of the "favorite" girls have started to get broken feathers and semi-bare spots on their back.

Normally, I kill chickens by hanging them in a cone and cutting their throats, and I did do one of today's that way. But, I discovered a problem this time: when there's a 2.5 acre field as the chicken yard, it's pretty hard to catch a rooster who doesn't want to be caught. After about 15 minutes chasing these guys with my wife, I decided I'd had enough and went inside for the .22.

I have to say, having now done two chickens with the rifle, it was WAY easier than going through the whole cone thing. It was pretty graphic, with a lot of flapping and spraying, but they were both good clean headshots and I'm pretty sure the roosters were dead instantly. My only regret is that the gunfire scared all the other chickens for a few minutes.

So take note: if you live in the sort of place where it's okay to fire a gun in your back yard, a rifle is a pretty good easy way to dispatch a chicken for cleaning. The boys are now resting in the refrigerator, waiting for the roaster.


* We also have about 10 more up-and-coming roosters who will be old enough to mate in a matter of weeks.

 

[minifarmer]

I find a fishing net, the kind with the extendable handle, works great. It takes them a few minutes (or about 5 caught chickens/ducks) before they realize you have a 6 foot reach! It's great for grabbing/holding my muskovies for feather trimming. karla

 

[bheila]

That's why I always catch the roosters in the coop before we let them out in the morning. It's such a pain having to run around catching those darn roosters even with my net sometimes.

 

[Kim_NC]

We always get them off the roost just before daylight. It so much easier, no fuss from them usually. We use a hatchet to remove the heads and then put them in a cone for a minute or so to reduce the flapping/flopping around. Then we hang them to bleed out.

Did that this morning with 8 of them - all from a early Nov hatch. They're bleeding out now. I'll be processing them shortly.

 

[Fredster]

My wife actually DID spend several minutes chasing roosters with a big six-foot fishing net. I knew better than to even try.

Normally, I would've just waited until I could get them early in the morning while they were still in the coop, but the situation with them and the hens was getting out of hand. A bunch of them seemed to enjoy ganging up on hens. I decided I didn't want to wait until the weekend.