Don't you feel bad?

[JanetMarie]

Learn how to do it yourself. By taking them to a meat processor, the chickens have stress of being taken there, and waiting at the butcher shop for their turn.

In butchering yourself you have control over the situation that leads up to the time of killing. How we do it here is we get up early in the morning while still dark. I take each chicken off the roost and tuck their head in my coat to calm them, and I talk to them. When I get to the killing cone I do it quickly: hold onto both feet, turn bird upsidedown, put in cone, get the head through the cone, and my husband slits the throat removing the entire head with a very sharp knife.

You have to get over how you feel, and think about the bird. Like Acre4me said, you can't have the bird pinned down in a cone while working up the nerve.

Find someone who can teach you, or find someone who will come to your place to do the killing part if you think you can't.

We (husband and me) don't feel bad about what we do in ending the birds life, but sad. If we did purchase and eat factory farmed chicken though I would feel very bad about that.

 

[Ducksandchickens]

I love animals so much and can’t bring myself to butcher anything. Once I was asked if I would help butcher some ducks and turkeys. I couldn’t.
I have put animals down before and I know they are suffering so it isn’t as hard. It’s still hard but I know it’s for the best.
I bet I could probably bring myself to butcher broilers because I know they will die Becuase they were bred to be able to be eaten at a young age and if they don’t get butchered then they will develop problems and won’t be able to stand. So broilers I don’t think I would have such a hard time because they would live terrible lives if they lived any longer

 

[SongBaby33]

I prefer to only keep Chickens for egg laying and have never culled a chicken and I don't think I ever will!
I keep my Chickens as pets!

 

[SongBaby33]

@puffypoo

 

[lilmillefleur]

Hi there
I have never had to butcher or even put down a chicken. Someday I hope to raise and butcher cockerels for meat but for now I don't know if I could do it.

 

[red horse ranch]

I used to cry the rest of the day when I had to harvest my young roosters.

It never gets easy to take a life but you gotta do what you gotta do....

 

[MissChick@dee]

I knew getting into chickens that there would be a possibility that humane euthanasia could be needed. Mine are pets. I have a friend/neighbor who does it for me. He’s skilled (uses a cone) He has chickens, turkeys & rabbits all for meat (some pets) I can totally appreciate people who raise their own meat. I’m thankful I have him as a friend.

 

[BantyChooks]

Hi,

I was wondering if any of you feel bad when you butcher? How do you train yourself not to feel bad? How do you kill the bird before thinking that you might not? I am wondering this because I am getting chickens....egg chickens. I will eventually be getting meat birds. This is my first time having chickens.

Thanks

I use extra birds and old hens for meat, and I've put down sick birds, some of which were pets.

I don't know that it's good to not feel bad at least a little. It's a life you're taking, and that shouldn't be treated lightly. I don't like processing day, and whenever I have to put a pet chicken down I often want a nice, stiff drink afterwards, even though I'm used to it enough that I don't blubber on. I had to put my favourite breeder cock down last week. He had wry neck with complications. I wish I had been able to fix him, but it didn't work that way.

It doesn't have to be approached with regret and sadness, though. You can be solemn about the reality, and grateful for the food you gain. Sometimes I sing to them before butcher to calm them, which helps both me and the bird. At least, I like to think it helps the bird, lol. I sing to them a lot when they're growing up so it's at least familiar to them. I'm often nervous that I will mess up, and the bird will die slowly, but I have yet to have an issue with incompletion due to nerves. Once I'm committed, I do it fully. Making their death quick is the last act of a responsible chicken ownership. I cringe when I see someone let a bird they 'love' die slowly and painfully because they can't handle their own emotions. How strong is your love when you cannot even give them mercy?

The mind games are the toughest part the first time. I suggest reading a lot about it, developing your own view about the topic, and watching videos. Don't repress any doubts you have, because they will all come back strong when you're holding the scalpel or pipe cutter. Explore them, figure out why you have them, find experiences where others had the same doubts, and lay them to rest once they're satiated. Visualise yourself doing it over and over until it seems just a little bit less impossible. Write out a complete step-by-step process to help give you confidence, and I mean complete. I wrote out everything from walking to the table to picking up the water jugs and placing the knives down. That gave me the routine feeling that I needed. Also, if you can have someone help out your first time, I'd imagine it'd make it that much easier. I did it solo the first time, but I later helped butcher a bunch of CX and it was a lot easier with multiple people around.

Method of dispatch matters too. I had difficulty with the pipe cutters for some reason, and the broomstick method (cervical dislocation) seems to be the most reliable and least messy way I've yet encountered. Google it, there's a few good articles.

 

[SongBaby33]

I don't put my sick birds down but instead try to cure them!

 

[lilmillefleur]

I don't put my sick birds down but instead try to cure them!

My mindset is: If it's painful but easily curable or not time consuming, I would try to treat. If it's not causing them immense pain, I try to treat. If the bird is suffering, past the point of no return, has a bleak future, or I just don't have the time/energy to take care of it, that's when I personally would do the Deed.

Like I said, I have never culled before. But there are several instances where we should have and we didn't. We had a chick with severe scissor-beak. It couldn't eat. It was half the size of the others. Every time I looked at it I cringed, and felt so bad for it because it would distress cheep ALL. THE. TIME. We weren't there all the time and didn't have the time/energy to make accommodations for it. We were going to get it euthanized after waiting 8 painful weeks of its life, but we were too late and it died in my sister's arms that day. I am honestly so relieved that it died, since it had such a poor quality of life. I would have felt better by ending its misery sooner.
Of course there are times where it's a better idea to treat, if you're up for it. We have a chicken with severe MG, possibly coryza. She doesn't show her pain though she's defnitely not having the same quality of life as the others. We went out there 2x a day to get a syringe of Tylan in her mouth. Not seeing any improvement. Might try the treatment for Coryza. If that doesn't work, we might just put the poor thing down. She's 9 years old, it may just be her time.

That's only if I could actually do it, mind you. XD