Ewww! My first kill today. Am sick as a dog ever since. Any thoughts?

[montyhp]

I know the kill isn't the most pleasant part of raising chickens. But, you do it humanely and quickly, you know where your food comes from and what it eats, and you give the birds a lot of joy while they are alive by letting them run around and eat bugs (especially as compared to factory birds). I think it is important to teach my kids about where food comes from.

Montyhp
So TX

 

[BeautifulPacificNorthwest]

I killed one rooster. One. That's all I could do.

It took me two days to screw up my courage and I chopped his head off with a hatchet. First I was relieved, then the shakes took over and I was totally grossed out. I came into the house, got on Craigslist and posted ads for the remaining roos. They were gone the next day.

Now I know a local high school boy who raises chickens for 4-H and profit and he's offered to take care of them for me. It bothers me a bit that I can't do it myself, and if push came to shove, I could probably work myself up to it again. But, at this point, I choose to contract it out.

 

[feathersnuggles]

Quote:
Yeah! thanks again for sharing, and here's hoping that you will share your experience again, when you have tasted of it! Well, I think I will experiment in January, when I slaughter my rooster. Me gonna age him, European-style, for several days before plucking and gutting!! He will be hard for me to kill, because my flock is small and he is a nice boy and I like him a lot. I love traditional, and I love unconventional. So, this feels right to me.

 

[Tracydr]

Quote:
Yeah! thanks again for sharing, and here's hoping that you will share your experience again, when you have tasted of it! Well, I think I will experiment in January, when I slaughter my rooster. Me gonna age him, European-style, for several days before plucking and gutting!! He will be hard for me to kill, because my flock is small and he is a nice boy and I like him a lot. I love traditional, and I love unconventional. So, this feels right to me.

I had a rooster killed that didn't get skinned or gutted right away but did get chilled. To be honest, even though it smelled fine, none of my dogs would eat the meat, except for the legs and wings. The bird was killed, not sick so I know it wasn't spoiled or anything. Makes me wonder what they smelled? My dogs eat some not so fresh meat at times so it really surprised me when they wouldn't touch it.

 

[feathersnuggles]

Quote:
Wow! I wonder if that is a universal thing? In other words, I wonder if dogs in the UK or Europe don't touch meats that hung with guts, either? If they don't touch it, then I'd definitely worry about what is wrong with aging meat in that way. It would be nice to hear from someone in the UK - about how their dogs react.

 

[2-acre-zoo]

Quote:
Wow! I wonder if that is a universal thing? In other words, I wonder if dogs in the UK or Europe don't touch meats that hung with guts, either? If they don't touch it, then I'd definitely worry about what is wrong with aging meat in that way. It would be nice to hear from someone in the UK - about how their dogs react.

Well that's interesting now. My dog wouldn't eat the liver and lights (as we call em!) or the heart. She was really interested in the plucking and eyed up the bird (the bit that I'M keeping!) and followed me to the freezer where I put him (not eating him yet.....I've too much in my fridge at the mo). When I put the offal down in front of her, she gave me a look as if to say "Is this a test? Are you trying to trick me into eating the chicken?". My boyfriend reckons that she recognizes that this is the roo from the yard. Afterall, she saw it being killed? He thinks that I've trained her so well not to chase or molest the chickens that she had a huge problem with eating any of the roo. It's as good a theory as a dog not going near it because of the smell anyway eh? Also, I usually give her carcasses that are cooked. The only raw meat she gets is on a ham bone. I'd also be reluctant to give her a raw lamb bone in case she got a taste for the flavour, so I reckon there is something in the theory that she can recognize one of OUR dead chickens. What do ya all think?