Culling Question - Sad Day in the Handbasket Household

[BigIslandChicks]

sounds like you and DH are doing the right thing. hope it at least goes as smoothly as possible for all of your sakes.

just dont "hurl"

lol i would be feeling the exact same way you do!
aloha

 

[HHandbasket]

Welp, DH is off work today and right now is outside hanging up the cone and digging the hole as we speak. I feel better about doing it this morning because Rhoda is REALLY having a hard time walking this morning and is closing her eyes from the pain. She's not even a sweet bird anymore and has started being snippy at the other girls, and you know it's only because she hurts. Martha's eye is swollen and redder than it was yesterday & draining globs of green nasty stuff, so it's gonna be within the next hour or so for sure.

I'll post when it's over.

Thank you ALL for your positive thoughts and sympathies. It means so much and is very comforting at a tough time like this.

A word to anyone in the greater Sacramento area: If Dale in Rio Linda starts selling pullets again, do NOT buy from him. That's where my original 5 birds came from, and all but 1 have been sickly or had significant health and/or laying problems. By the end of the day today, 3 of the 5 of our original flock will be dead, and they're only 8 months old. Of the two that will remain, the BR is 32 weeks and has not started laying yet and is missing 2 toenails on her left foot (she came to us with the missing toenails, though), and the EE is the only one that is healthy and started laying when she was supposed to.

 

[kathyinmo]

I am soooo sorry you have to go through this.

 

[tedabug]

Oh Ugh. Just ready your last post an hour ago saying you are doing it in an hour. That means it's right now. Hope it's going smoothly for you. Have a little cocktail when it's over! You did the right thing. I'm dreading the time when I have to cull, but when you own a flock, the time surely will present itself eventually. *hugs*

 

[HorseFeatherz NV]

tons of

If I was closer I would help.


You will feel better once they have passed over the bridge and this is no longer pulling on your heart.

 

[HHandbasket]

This is by far, no doubt, the absolute worst part of chickeneering.

We had her in the cone twice and could not do it. Big Burly Manly Man With Chest Hair And Power Tools, complete in steel-toe boots and flannel shirt, started crying and couldn't swing the blade. I couldn't even look.

We made some calls and found someone at a semi-local feed store (a lady we have done business with before and whom we trust), who was kind enough to say she would humanely dispatch them for us for a small donation.

I feel like a dirtball right now. I have to work this afternoon, so hubby took the girls out to the feed store to have them humanely taken care of. I said my goodbyes and cried like a blubbering idiot. Martha has been sick for so long, and we really should have culled her a few months ago but wanted to keep trying to cure her infections. With her, this isn't unexpected & I didn't have *as* hard of a time saying goodbye to her. Rhoda, though... this just showed up out of nowhere & we don't know what even happened. She just started limping one day, and it's just gotten progressively worse & feels like a dislocated hip & we can't help her. She cries. It's awful to see, and she's an otherwise really healthy, robust, GORGEOUS Rhode Island red. She still eats and steals food from the other chooks, but she's in such obvious pain. That cry is terrible to hear, even harder to watch her walk.

I just hope it'll be over soon.

I love all you guys... you're the best.

 

[LeezyBeezy]

Oh, I am sad for you.

But you know deep in your heart that you did the right thing. IMHO, owning animals makes us ethically and morally obligated to keep them from prolonged pain. You gave them each a chance, and then did the kindest thing possible for them. HUGS

 

[NeeleysAVLChicks]

Oh sweetheart, I am SO sorry!

I admire your resourcefulness in finding someone who could help put your girls out of their pain in the most humanely way possible. HUGE hugs, love and positive thoughts from North Carolina. Those were some lucky chickens to have a human family as loving and compassionate about their needs as yours.

 

[Nifty-Chicken]

Sorry that you have to loose two girls. We've had to make that decision a couple times too. The decision is bad enough, but then actually doing it was even harder for us.

Thanks for the info on Dale in Rio Linda!

 

[HHandbasket]

Quote:
Ya know, Dale and his family are nice enough folks and all, but first of all, they misled us on the ages of the birds. These birds were SUPPOSEDLY 3-4 months old when we got them. Being our first time with chickens, we didn't know any better & it wasn't until some time later that we realized those birds were MAYBE 6-8 weeks except the EE who was obviously much older than the rest.

We have had them well over 6 months ourselves, and only 2 of the 5 had started laying--the leghorn and the EE. The leghorn only laid for 6 weeks, then got eggbound and died.

The chickens we have acquired from BYCers, however, are much more robust, healthy, LARGER, friendlier, and do not seem to have the problems we had with the chickens from Dale, unfortunately. I ran into him at a poultry auction a while back... he had a bunch of sickly looking RIRs that he and his kid were trying to auction off.

I feel bad cuz I think Dale means well.

Hubby just drove up. Let me see what the news is.