Long read, kinda sad, kinda comedy of errors, okay in the end:
Got home late in the evening a few days ago (work a full time off farm job) and found blood all over the roost. Turns out a sweet older hen had been having issues laying and was slowly bleeding out.
She was my first cull. I had looked up methods earlier when I first got chickens, decided I would be most comfortable with tree loppers to sever head in one motion, and then didn't really think about it since. Went and found the loppers.
Considered the flapping after death that I'd been warned about, was pretty sure I wasn't going to be okay with being around for that, so needed to make a kill cone. Went to the start of the driveway for the one traffic cone I own (Very long driveway late at night in 2 foot of snow and -10 F weather). Traffic cone was frozen to the ground of course. Walked back to the house, looked for other options, no other options. Ok. Walked back to cone, dug and shoved and cracked it out. And then my flashlight dies. Just excellent
. Dark cold walk back to the house in snow with no light and a traffic cone.
Got a new flashlight, and sawed off the end of the cone to make space for her head. Go to coop and put the chicken in it... But I hadn't cut off enough for her head to make it out the hole. Great. Hen comes back out, a few more inches comes off the cone. Hen goes back in cone, head hangs out now.
Okay, cool. New problem, how do I hold the cone so I can use the loppers. I've never used a kill cone, nobody else is home, and I'm currently holding a cone with a chicken (she totally relaxed and was pretty out of it in the cone which was good).
Tried a few things and end up with the cone sandwiched between two work benches in the garage with a rubbermaid bin underneath. I grabbed the loppers and executed the kill, my heart was pounding but I just wanted to get it done and put her out of her misery. Poor baby. It went right through the spine in a solid stroke, it was easier than I expected, and reassuringly quick and final. I walked away for the two spasms.
However, in going through the last layer of skin and feathers, it twisted the head up and sent blood flying. Its -10 so instantly freezes onto whatever it touches. Garden hoses, textbook, workbench, floor - I hadn't cleared the space around due to impromptu and first attempt and I was getting really cold, and thought my large rubbermaid would be wide enough. No.
I laid the hen's body to rest and cleaned up what I could. The bin had to go into my shower to be cleaned because at this point I find out my outside spigot is froze shut. Stellar. The blood was, blood, but I didn't expect the clotted stuff. Not sure if the clotted stuff was normal or if was because she was already dying. Pretty gross in any case. I dumped that down the toilet in the dark.
Uh. So, first cull happened. It was messy and I feel pretty ridiculous posting the story. Happy that her last minutes were fairly smooth on her part at least (if not for me). I imagine the next one will go a lot better for everybody. I wouldn't mind some advice on how to rig up a kill cone for emergency, especially in winter. I don't do this often where I would build a stand or something, and the -10 and 2 feey of snow made anything outside seem not good. As for the rest of it, I cried the next day, now am shaking my head at it and just wanted to tell what happened. Thanks for listening.
Got home late in the evening a few days ago (work a full time off farm job) and found blood all over the roost. Turns out a sweet older hen had been having issues laying and was slowly bleeding out.
She was my first cull. I had looked up methods earlier when I first got chickens, decided I would be most comfortable with tree loppers to sever head in one motion, and then didn't really think about it since. Went and found the loppers.
Considered the flapping after death that I'd been warned about, was pretty sure I wasn't going to be okay with being around for that, so needed to make a kill cone. Went to the start of the driveway for the one traffic cone I own (Very long driveway late at night in 2 foot of snow and -10 F weather). Traffic cone was frozen to the ground of course. Walked back to the house, looked for other options, no other options. Ok. Walked back to cone, dug and shoved and cracked it out. And then my flashlight dies. Just excellent
. Dark cold walk back to the house in snow with no light and a traffic cone. Got a new flashlight, and sawed off the end of the cone to make space for her head. Go to coop and put the chicken in it... But I hadn't cut off enough for her head to make it out the hole. Great. Hen comes back out, a few more inches comes off the cone. Hen goes back in cone, head hangs out now.
Okay, cool. New problem, how do I hold the cone so I can use the loppers. I've never used a kill cone, nobody else is home, and I'm currently holding a cone with a chicken (she totally relaxed and was pretty out of it in the cone which was good).
Tried a few things and end up with the cone sandwiched between two work benches in the garage with a rubbermaid bin underneath. I grabbed the loppers and executed the kill, my heart was pounding but I just wanted to get it done and put her out of her misery. Poor baby. It went right through the spine in a solid stroke, it was easier than I expected, and reassuringly quick and final. I walked away for the two spasms.
However, in going through the last layer of skin and feathers, it twisted the head up and sent blood flying. Its -10 so instantly freezes onto whatever it touches. Garden hoses, textbook, workbench, floor - I hadn't cleared the space around due to impromptu and first attempt and I was getting really cold, and thought my large rubbermaid would be wide enough. No.
I laid the hen's body to rest and cleaned up what I could. The bin had to go into my shower to be cleaned because at this point I find out my outside spigot is froze shut. Stellar. The blood was, blood, but I didn't expect the clotted stuff. Not sure if the clotted stuff was normal or if was because she was already dying. Pretty gross in any case. I dumped that down the toilet in the dark.
Uh. So, first cull happened. It was messy and I feel pretty ridiculous posting the story. Happy that her last minutes were fairly smooth on her part at least (if not for me). I imagine the next one will go a lot better for everybody. I wouldn't mind some advice on how to rig up a kill cone for emergency, especially in winter. I don't do this often where I would build a stand or something, and the -10 and 2 feey of snow made anything outside seem not good. As for the rest of it, I cried the next day, now am shaking my head at it and just wanted to tell what happened. Thanks for listening.
