Culled my first bird today >_<''

[owlett5]

Well, I got four birds from a guy on craigslist, and he swore that he vent checked the A&M and was 90% sure it was female. I have the birds inside and I live in an apartment, so I was hoping he was right as any roos would probably bug the neighbors >_<"


Right away I noticed that my A&M was chasing my other birds around and mounting them. But after some poking about on the forum I figured this was probably just a female showing dominance to other females. Then a week later, sitting in my living room someone was crowing. I wasn't sure who it was since so far no one has laid any eggs yet, either.

So today, I heard a loud crow, and then a bunch of ruckus of my birds running around. I checked on the cage and there was the A&M running around chasing the ladies and mounting them. This time I caught the bird and decided to give him a vent check. I figured since it was clearly trying to mate, if it was male, there'd be foam. Sure enough, with just the lightest pressure, what looked like latte foam poofed out of his vent. I thought about putting him back in with the females, but realized the sooner I did this the better.

I was really nervous. I knew I'd eat him, and he had a really good life here. Just yesterday he was playing in a bunch of timothy hay and having a nice day. I didn't trust my scissors to be sharp enough to be quick. So I held his head and gave a quick yank Dx. I don't think he felt any pain, it was really fast, actually his head kinda popped off. . . . . (graphic, I know, I didn't know it would do that!!)

I'm still a little shaky from the whole thing.

 

[forgetful]

I'm very proud of you! That is the best way to do it. It's quick, they don't know what's coming, and, as you said, he was very happy before hand. It's something that takes adjusting to. My first culls left me a little shaken. I wouldn't say I'm 'used' to it, but I understand the necessities better and always make sure I take a moment to appreciate the bird before culling.

Are you going to process him yourself, or do you have some help?

 

[owlett5]

I found a forum post here in BYC about processing a quail with pictures that was super helpful. I couldn't bring myself to stick my finger inside to pull the innards out though, so I used a teaspoon, which seemed to work alright, It was a bit weird at first, but once I got the feathers off I wasn't as nervous about what I'd just done, my brain just looked at the bird and seemed to think "oh, it's a tiny turkey".