Twenty eight years ago I was lucky enough to take a graduate level class at UC Davis in poultry disease and necropsy interpretation. The professor was one of those people that had the perfect persona for teaching -- he made every subject relevant to real life, not just minutia we had to know for the tests. And he genuinely loved birds. When he spoke of them or to them or handled them, he had a respect and a gentleness that was impossible to fake. All the early lab sessions had the students looking at prepared slides, so it wasn't until mid-year that we worked with living birds. I'll never forget the first live-bird lab. There were 20 students, several teaching assistants, and this professor. He was carrying a leghorn pullet around the room. She had been quite flighty in her cage, but as soon as he pulled her out she relaxed. He carried her around the room, walking slowly between the lab benches as he talked, speaking in a quiet even cadence to relax the hen, stroking her back and wings with a practiced gentleness until she was no longer tense and began to rest calmly in his hand. He was talking about how sometimes farmers have numerous birds in the flock that are quite sick but none have died yet, and under those circumstances sometimes a bird will need to be sacrificed so that a necropsy can diagnose the illness and possibly save the rest of the flock. He was saying that a very important part of being a pathologist is being able to kill a bird humanely, without doing anything that could cover up or be mistaken for a medical issue. As he was talking he continued to pet the bird, and by this time she was chirping happily in his hand, allowing him to rub her neck and stroke her face without fussing. And as he was calmly talking right in front of my lab bench, he ever so gently stroked the bird's neck with his thumb at the base of her skull, two fingers under her throat, and with a practiced flick of his wrist broke her neck. She simply slumped in his hand, dead instantly, never showing any pain or distress of any kind. It is shockingly easy to break a bird's neck, if done right.
Contrast that to a horrifying video I saw last year. It was made by an humane society officer working undercover at a Butterball turkey grow out farm. It showed a few workers trying to herd some BBW birds from one side of the barn to another. The birds were huge, easily 25-30 lbs live weight or more, and couldn't walk very well. But being BBWs, they were still just youngsters at that size, and like most young turkeys were friendly and begged for attention. But the workers were rushed and insensitive, and moved the birds along as fast as possible, in any way they could. For the friendliest of birds, the ones that kept getting in the way by approaching the workers making baby bird sounds, that included grabbing them by the necks or wings, lifting their huge bodies off the ground as they screamed in pain, and flinging them toward the other side of the barn. Some of them never got up again.
I am not trying to accuse anyone on this site of being cruel, as I do not believe that was the intent. And I am certainly not saying that a person can't defend themselves against a large aggressive animal. But I have to admit that I was quite disturbed by this post -- both by the fact that a nervous novice was advised to grab a bird by the neck, lift it off the ground, shake it, and throw it down again, and by the fact that no one challenged that recommendation. I may be relatively new to this thread, but I've been reading it long enough to know that many people who post here would never endorse this type of "discipline." So why does no one speak out against it? I can't be the only one who disagrees.
Aunt Kat, please do not grab your tom by the neck, lift him off the ground, shake him, then throw him down if he is acting out. Yes, it will probably make him scared to challenge you. Doing just about anything to him that is that painful and frightening would also probably make him scared to challenge you. But that isn't your best option. If you can't redirect his aggression, you can usually win the battle without causing pain or risking injury. Every bird is different, so you have to figure out what works for each of your boys. One of my boys is very food oriented, so the moment he starts acting out I distract him with treats, and the moment passes. Another one would never fall for that, but he hates being restrained. When he get feisty, I throw a towel over him and hold him until he stops struggling, then if he's really bratty, I carry him around for 4-5 minutes before letting him loose. If he's been really bad he's carried around on his side, or rolled over on his back and held while his belly is rubbed (careful doing this with really big birds, as some won't be able to breath in this position). One bird I just have to hold his comb and gently pull it to dominate him, as that is one of the things rooster do when they fight (although not so gently). Start dominating them, gently but decisively, when they're as young as possible. You'll gain confidence in working with them, and they'll grow up understanding that you're the boss. That doesn't mean that they won't challenge you, but it won't be with the full throttle expectation of winning, so you'll be able to handle it easier. For the occasional bird that is just plain vicious, you're probably not going to resolve that, and the freezer is probably the best place for him.
You are quite right that I was and still am a novice with poultry. My advice was not geared to be humane but self defensive. If you do not wish to be so rough with the bird just hold him in the air so he knows that you can neutralize his attack and take all his power away. And then release him. I do admire your professor and wish I could have had class with him. At the point I did this to the bird he had just gone after my 9 year old daughter and bitten her and she came running behind me and he rushed me. This pattern of aggressiveness had been growing. He had not responded to milder rebukes. The source of his discontent with the world was because his mate preferred the other gander, Duke. But Duke had chosen Duchess not her and she settled for him. He was insanely jealous but there was nothing that I could do that would solve it. But attacking my little girl was the last straw. I truthfully didn't care whether the rough treatment killed him or not because he had jumped my girl.
I was in this exact situation with the roo that tried to flog my son. I did not rebuke my son for kicking the roo away & I was none to gentle in shoving the bird away to rescue my son. The only reason that roo didn't get processed right then & thete was because I had never processed 1 before. I went & researched how to process & the next time he made me that mad he found himself hanging upside down in a tree & my knife at his throat. No animal ever comes before a human child.
