I know I should be able to cull my own birds, but I just can't do it! I read all your suggestions and just cringed the whole time!
SO, I called the man that I got them from and asked if he would take the one back. I explained what had happened and before I could even say that I didn't want my money back, just for him to take the bird, he flew off the handle and said there was nothing wrong with the bird when I took it and that I was NOT getting a refund. I reminded him that the one had a limp that he knew about AND let him know that I didn't want a refund, just to off-load the bird. He settled down and offered to give me another chick, anything I wanted to keep the remaining chick company. I politely declined and took the chick back to him this afternoon. When I got home, I dumped the brooder again and scrubbed it out with disinfectant. And in the morning I am going to bleach everything else, just to be on the same side.
I know we joke about this on here a lot..the whole softy newbie not being able to kill a chicken. Sometimes we get a little preachy about it all, I realize. But this is a recurring problem that we see on this forum from new chicken owners that is one of the more disturbing issues. No, we don't expect everyone to be born with an innate ability to go out and kill an animal when they have never done it before.
I'm not directing this whole issue at you but we get this a lot, so I'll address it again if you don't mind~ not just for your benefit and that is the sole intention here, to benefit all new chicken owners.
I feel strongly that it not only is your responsibility as someone who owns animals to be able to kill them if you need to do so, but it is also your responsibility to work on your mindset...this is something that really needs to be changed in today's world. This may not be the case for you, but for some reason there are people who think that a person is mean and heartless, with no feelings towards animals, if they can just go out and lop off a chicken's head.
Nothing could be further from the truth, particularly in my case.
Some people think that isolating a chicken, bringing it in the house, doctoring it when it is clearly wounded or sickened almost unto death is an act of extreme compassion and shows their heroic side. It may make the human feel dandy but the chicken has been taken from her familiar and her family structure, placed in isolation in a strange place and is submitted to things that hurt or do not make her feel better....and most of the time she dies anyway. The threads are full of just such incidents. The chicken cannot rationalize that they are just trying to "help" her and all she does know is pain and distress.
When dealing with animals like chickens, one has to develop a certain skill set in order to keep them in a healthy and humane manner. Along with knowing about giving them water, the proper nutrition, safe and healthy housing and environment, is the imperative need to understand how to kill a chicken, even if it is to put it out of its misery. Some things just come along with the territory and the only difference between back in the old days and now is that we were taught this basic principle as children then and now no one teaches their children these things. Chickens still need killin' whether we like it or not.
Most of the people participating on this forum are not children, so they can learn and be mature and responsible about doing things that are hard to do.... but still need to be done, nonetheless.
Sorry if that sounded like it was directed at you personally because it wasn't.
It just gave another opportunity to stress that very important point to all newbies. I encourage you to weigh this information before getting any more chicks because this situation or one like it will always come around again if you keep chickens for very long.
