Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[Lacy Blues]

oh lawwd, I've seen enough poop today at the animal shelter (I work in the cattery) ! And now I come on here and there's MORE poo! lol

Bee, I watched some of those field dressing videos. I didn't know you could just pull a pheasant apart like that... The breast and skins came off so clean! Can you do the same thing with a smallish cockerel? I wonder how much strength it would take. I don't think I'd want to try it that way with a bigger meat bird.

I dispatched a whole bunch of bantams this past summer after chopping the heads, and they quit flopping, I just pulled them apart like this. Very neat and clean! I couldn't do a small cockerel though because of my back but I imagine someone without any lower back issues could do it just fine!

 

[nyanamia]

I dispatched a whole bunch of bantams this past summer after chopping the heads, and they quit flopping, I just pulled them apart like this. Very neat and clean! I couldn't do a small cockerel though because of my back but I imagine someone without any lower back issues could do it just fine!

sounds like a good way to get a little meat off a scrawny ol' hatchery-mistake cockerel

 

[galefrances]

Here are the links to some good tutorials on slaughtering/dressing out chickens that I saved on my Pinterest board.
I hope you find them helpful. I'm still trying to work up the courage!

http://razorfamilyfarms.com/animals...-kindness-how-to-make-and-use-a-killing-cone/

http://thedeliberateagrarian.blogspot.com/2006/08/processing-chickens-with-my-son.html

http://www.cultivatinghome.com/2008/10/how-to-butcher-chicken-easy-way.html

Okay, I don't care what any of you might say about me, and yes I know you shouldn't own chickens if you can't cull, BUT.......I can't do this. Nope, nope, nope, not me, not ever. Mine better die of old age. That's all I have to say about this.

 

[Beekissed]

Sometimes it's hard to be a grown up.

 

[galefrances]

Sometimes it's hard to be a grown up.

But for the good of the flock, culling is imperative and the new generation that is squeamish about killing will never learn to keep healthy flocks if they cannot learn to judiciously kill certain birds. You can only "rehome" so many roosters until the your area is flooded with ads on free roosters. That signifies many people who do not want the full responsibility of keeping animals but do want the dividends that these animals provide. It shows poor stewardship and a childlike viewpoint that often works towards the detriment of their flocks~a have my cake and eat it too mentality. Never good but still very prevalent these days. I'm hoping this thread and the OT thread bring home the fact that, with the pleasure of keeping animals, comes great responsibility and tough decisions that any adult should be able to face up to and perform. If not, care of another creature should not be in their hands.

Wow. That was very hurtful and harsh. I certainly don't consider myself irresponsible. As a matter of fact, I take keeping my animals very seriously. I strive to learn everything I can regarding their care. And I don't believe that being unable to personally kill one of my animals speaks to a lack of responsiblity or maturity. Not everyone has been raised around people schooled in animal husbandry. Killing an animal is just as unnatural to me as not being able to kill one is to you. I spent my entire life in the city. I know nothing about animals or farming of any kind. So I read everything you write. I study and implement everything I reasonably can. And if the day should come when one of my animals should need to be killed...I will pay someone to do it for me. No animal of mine will ever suffer.

I have to tell you Bee that I am really upset. I think you have a lot of nerve saying that people such as myself should not have the care of another creature in their hands. That was really uncalled for and...mean.

Well, you don't have to kick me off. I will not post another word on this thread. But, you can't stop me from reading, because despite being offended, I still need to learn.

 

[bruceh]

speaking of poop. i found the main egg eating culprit. it is one of the big old leftover freedom rangers. i found this out by looking and the eaten eggs and finding a big snowed capped mound of poo ( like a cat poo ).right in the nesting box and the 1/2 eaten eggshells were right there. well them freedom rangers are going when i do the cx's . the freedom rangers are horrible layers and eat way to much. just not for my flock. some people like them i do not

 

[Beekissed]

Quote from galefrances:
This is why I teach these things....this is an important part of keeping animals, particularly livestock. Vets don't often treat chickens and they are easy to dispatch at home when they are suffering.

Gale, it was most certainly not meant to offend in any way and I certainly never meant to be mean to you....I value your input to these threads and think you are a wonderful person. That opinion is just mine and doesn't have to be adopted by you or anyone but it is something which I have had experience with in people that I know, even family. All that I have known who are reluctant to kill animals are also those who let them suffer out of that reluctance and those who also will not kill to improve their flocks...another thing that usually leads to animal suffering.

This whole forum is full of posts about those who will not kill a suffering animal but will treat it mercilessly until it finally dies...all the while it suffers while they get pats on the back for their heroic efforts to "treat" the bird. I'm not a big fan of this type of animal husbandry. Treating simple things like parasites and poor conditioning is quite different than something that is causing a bird to need a quick death.

It makes no matter how you are raised, when stepping into the realm of raising livestock it takes some fortitude and..yes..a grown up attitude about reality. An animal could be suffering at 2 am in the morning...will you then call up the person you have hired to kill your animals to get them to come out to kill your chicken? It's not a realistic scenario and I'm sorry if it offends you if I am practical in my teaching this concept. Eventually when you keep these animals there will come a time to kill...will you always have your back-up plan in place or will you do what is necessary, as any adult should?

It was said in a teasing tone to your post but it had a true message. As an adult, we have to do a lot of things that disturb us and cause us emotional grief. That's life and not very often you can duck out of that when things don't go the way you planned.

I would hope that you could see past your hurt feelings over this difference in our opinions and accept my apologies for hurting your feelings...it was not meant as a personal attack on you, Gale. I wish you could have seen some of the things I have seen when it comes to adults who will not ease the suffering of an animal because they cannot kill an animal...it would turn your knees to water and your heart to a weighty stone in your chest for the "feelings" of these people. You could then maybe understand why I hold this concept so dear.

Some things are worse than death and sometimes true compassion means you get tough and give the hand of mercy to those animals you hold dear.

 

[Ashdoes]

I really do believe being able to humanely stop your animals from suffering is very important. My sister in law had a dog that walked circles, peed in her own bed and had it's back broken twice. She kept it alive two years too long because a Vet said, if she's eating, she's fine. What? I felt awful for that dog. I could barely look at her.
While I'm certain I would cry my eyes out, if it was necessary, I would kill one of my chickens.
Side question~
Why does everyone use the word cull? Why not just kill? They're so similar, and a little confusing. For the longest time I thought cull meant to just get rid of, or stop using.

 

[Beekissed]

Because people get their feelings hurt when we use the word kill in the same sentence as our chickens. It's just a euphemism to get past people's feelings, really.

 

[Beekissed]

I could tell you such stories about such things that would make you cry and crawl under your bed and beg for me to stop....horrible, horrible things done in the name of "loving" animals too much to kill them when they suffer. I've seen a dog that had chewed off its own leg after repeated snake bites and the owner wouldn't kill the dog nor take it to the vet. The dog was in such pain that it just tried to gnaw through the leg to get it off its body....incredibly heart rending.

My own sister won't kill anything...and the animals on her farm suffer the most horrific deaths I've ever heard of~and I'm a hospice nurse. Calves with rotten breast bones after being "treated" by her feeble efforts for 2 months for bloat. Deformed ducks drowning and freezing because they had a neurological problem from birth. Pigs born without hooves forced to live and crawl around on their knees until they are bloody, others born with spinal problems, who can barely stagger around. Sheep die from repeated prolapse. Blind and old dogs peeing, circling, running into walls and having seizures until they die...yes, that's how animals often die of "old age".