Ralphie---Great idea! I think I may have to adopt it for next time. I used elbow grease and my 14 birds tired out my arms. If only I had Popeye and his forearms at my disposal .
Linda--- I am sorry about your eggs! Hopefully they are just fashionably late?
Jessica--- I was initially okay with letting them go to 9 weeks (a mixture of me wanting them to have as many nice sunny days outside before freezer camp, and a mixture of prolonging the inevitable)-----DH had been called in to work the whole weekend, and that put the cabash on my initial plan to process on the 28th at 8 wks old. What happened is I had a very bad experience killing one (I figured if I could do 5 a day, I could still get it done on my own without DH that weekend), it didn't die instantly, and I pleaded my case to DH, so it was agreed that he would kill them and I would process them. That Tuesday, it was cold but sunny, and I heard two of them wheezing. I knew that even though they (most of them) were doing great, they were likely having things going on inside that I couldn't see until they were symptomatic, and that was not fair for me to prolong it. DH came home from work at 5 (he was on day 14 with no day off), and I asked him if he would please help me (I went to the beer distributor and bought a case of lemon shandy in anticipation of what was to come). My wonderful DH, as tired and crusty as he was, helped me and we processed 5 of them. The next day we did the remaining 9 again after he got home at 5. The two wheezing ones had fluid on their hearts. Two more had fluid, but were asymptomatic prior to dispatch (I'm sure it was only time before they too began wheezing).
It hurt my heart because they didn't fear me. I would catch them and deliver them to their death. BUT I knew it had to be done. DH and I would pet them and talk to them and calm them before he ended them, so they weren't afraid. I fed them right before hand too, even though I know everyeone says NOT to. But they were SO hungry, and it was their dinner time, that I didn't have the heart to dispatch them on an empty stomach. I did NOT have poop issues while processing, btw. I then spent the evening coming to terms with what I had just participated in, over a few beers.
It had rained heavily the day prior to processing, and they were muddy and crusty from running around in the mud, so rather than pluck them, we skinned them. It saved a lot of time. I soaked them for a day in a brine, and then froze them. Doing it in two batches helped.
When Thurs am rolled around and it was time for me to send the last 9 off to freezer camp.... MY POWER WENT OUT. The whole dang house. I ran to the breaker box and couldn't get it reset. As fast as I could (it took an hour) I bagged them up and put them in my chest freezer (it was just purchased from craigslist Monday, so wasn't full of ice crust to help tide it over in the power outage, and I was so afraid of losing my meat!). I had to supplement with ice to insure they'd get cold enough. Turns out a power company employee ran into a pole and tripped the whole country stretch of power. Eventually it came back on, and I stopped stock piling ice lol.
Lesson learned----can not prolong the inevitable. It would be doing them a disservice just to spare my own hesitations. It got easier for me the second day of processing, after I had an evening to mull things over.
Looking forward already to getting another batch of CX this spring. It was sad dissembling their tractor. BUT it was the denouement to a really neat chapter in my new chicken-keeping life. Couldn't have done it without you and everyone on here!
Linda--- I am sorry about your eggs! Hopefully they are just fashionably late?
Jessica--- I was initially okay with letting them go to 9 weeks (a mixture of me wanting them to have as many nice sunny days outside before freezer camp, and a mixture of prolonging the inevitable)-----DH had been called in to work the whole weekend, and that put the cabash on my initial plan to process on the 28th at 8 wks old. What happened is I had a very bad experience killing one (I figured if I could do 5 a day, I could still get it done on my own without DH that weekend), it didn't die instantly, and I pleaded my case to DH, so it was agreed that he would kill them and I would process them. That Tuesday, it was cold but sunny, and I heard two of them wheezing. I knew that even though they (most of them) were doing great, they were likely having things going on inside that I couldn't see until they were symptomatic, and that was not fair for me to prolong it. DH came home from work at 5 (he was on day 14 with no day off), and I asked him if he would please help me (I went to the beer distributor and bought a case of lemon shandy in anticipation of what was to come). My wonderful DH, as tired and crusty as he was, helped me and we processed 5 of them. The next day we did the remaining 9 again after he got home at 5. The two wheezing ones had fluid on their hearts. Two more had fluid, but were asymptomatic prior to dispatch (I'm sure it was only time before they too began wheezing).
It hurt my heart because they didn't fear me. I would catch them and deliver them to their death. BUT I knew it had to be done. DH and I would pet them and talk to them and calm them before he ended them, so they weren't afraid. I fed them right before hand too, even though I know everyeone says NOT to. But they were SO hungry, and it was their dinner time, that I didn't have the heart to dispatch them on an empty stomach. I did NOT have poop issues while processing, btw. I then spent the evening coming to terms with what I had just participated in, over a few beers.
It had rained heavily the day prior to processing, and they were muddy and crusty from running around in the mud, so rather than pluck them, we skinned them. It saved a lot of time. I soaked them for a day in a brine, and then froze them. Doing it in two batches helped.
When Thurs am rolled around and it was time for me to send the last 9 off to freezer camp.... MY POWER WENT OUT. The whole dang house. I ran to the breaker box and couldn't get it reset. As fast as I could (it took an hour) I bagged them up and put them in my chest freezer (it was just purchased from craigslist Monday, so wasn't full of ice crust to help tide it over in the power outage, and I was so afraid of losing my meat!). I had to supplement with ice to insure they'd get cold enough. Turns out a power company employee ran into a pole and tripped the whole country stretch of power. Eventually it came back on, and I stopped stock piling ice lol.
Lesson learned----can not prolong the inevitable. It would be doing them a disservice just to spare my own hesitations. It got easier for me the second day of processing, after I had an evening to mull things over.
Looking forward already to getting another batch of CX this spring. It was sad dissembling their tractor. BUT it was the denouement to a really neat chapter in my new chicken-keeping life. Couldn't have done it without you and everyone on here!
