California - Northern

[joydix]

it was an impulse buy and i fell IN LOVE with them...now hatching BANTAM delawares. getting eggs friday! BTW i love your done fertile eggs signature! i alway laugh when i see it!

 

[QueenMisha]

Got a GORGEOUS Easter Egger cockerel into work today. 1/2 EE 1/2 Crele Orpington. Came from either a blue or green egg. He's maybe 6-7 months based on spur nubs. Great temperament, was raised with kids. $10 to anybody who wants him, he's at The Poultry Palace, so ya'll can come by and see him in the feather if you're in the area.

EDIT: He just sold! That's the fastest I think I've ever seen a rooster sell.

 

[KernH]

It was much easier to do it knowing that he was attacking people. In order to do it I have remain objective that they are livestock/production animals. Part of the reason I do not raise the mini chickens. I give them a good life and they just have one bad day. I thought I couldn't do it either at first and I know that there are a lot of people who couldn't and I respect that. I just don't let myself think about it too much. I thanked the poor boy for the meat he would provide. If he wasn't such an aggressive guy I would have probably re-homed him. I'm not callous about killing and processing them I don't specifically raise them for meat I just try to give them the best life possible knowing that one day they could all go to freezer camp (ie the date is not planned in advance but is acknowledged at the outset) I guess that preparation in mind set helped a bit when the time came.

You have better control of your emotions than I. I think that is great. I feel silly in not being able to do what I know needs to be done. Kern

 

[ronott1]

You have better control of your emotions than I. I think that is great. I feel silly in not being able to do what I know needs to be done. Kern

When it is time to process again, check this thread out--there is a lot of information and support there.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...hrough-the-emotions-please/5580#post_16515587

It is not easy but it can get easier.

 

[KernH]

When it is time to process again, check this thread out--there is a lot of information and support there.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...hrough-the-emotions-please/5580#post_16515587

It is not easy but it can get easier.

Thanks Ron. I have a good customer (own a hardware/lumber yard) that will take all of the ones I have. Much easier for me that way. It is not that I can't, it is that I just don't want to. Kern

 

[curious chickee]

Processing is never easy. I just prefer doing it myself because I know the process was done as humanely as possible. When I sell them or give them away, I have no control on the process.

 

[ronott1]

Processing is never easy. I just prefer doing it myself because I know the process was done as humanely as possible. When I sell them or give them away, I have no control on the process.

Also, you invested time and resources into that bird. Usually, you do not get back what you put into a cockerel when you sell it.

 

[curious chickee]

That is true, and I am not looking forward to this fall when I have to cull all the beautiful cockerel bantam buff brahmas, I will only keep 6 going into September and then narrow it down to 1-2, selling the other ones.

 

[tj74roberts]

That is true, and I am not looking forward to this fall when I have to cull all the beautiful cockerel bantam buff brahmas, I will only keep 6 going into September and then narrow it down to 1-2, selling the other ones.

Do you breed them?

 

[curious chickee]

Yes

Do you breed them?

Yes, this is my first season breeding them, I have two different lines. One is my daughters for 4H and the other line is mine, so we will be hatching out every egg possible and growing them out. Only downside with brahmas are they're late to mature. So you have to keep a lot early one. If you go to the show hers are the only brahmas in the junior division.