Hesitating with dispatching them

[CascadiaRiver]

I've pushed off dispatching twice, just a total shutdown I was extremely confident going into this, but now that it's time to buy a nice pair of shears and sit down and do it, I'm second guessing myself. What if I don't have the stomach to eat them? What if I feel sick gutting them? I wanted to start with quail since they're smaller and easier than say a rabbit or chicken but now that it's time I'm feeling guilty and icky. If I feel sick and unable to eat them, it's a life wasted. I'm not sure if someone would buy cockbirds, I'm doing a final sexing today. I wanted to do this, but now I'm just I guess geeked out. Anyone been in a similar boat? Easier once you've done it? Advice? Do I just need to man up?

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Or you look around in your area for a butcher or meat processor who takes them live and whole, you go out for coffee, come back a couple hours later and collect nice meat packages wrapped in brown paper. You may have to go to the outskirts of the city but most places have a business like that in the area. I think I paid about $5 a bird. A friend and I went in together so the price was cheaper as the amount of birds usually factor in the cost.

I can dispatch a bird if I need to. I can gut okay as my grandma taught me as a child on the chicken farm. I hate the smell and hassle of plucking. I blame it on my bad back and some arthritis in my hands, but honestly if I never smell hot soggy feathers again it's fine with me. Ugh.

You might be lucky and have a mobile butcher in the area who comes on site with a big truck. Daddy would bring a calf home from his hobby ranch and raise it in the pasture by the house until it was beef size. Then we'd call the mobile butcher.

There is more than one way to get a job done.

LofMc

 

[Tstraub]

When I butchered my first chicken I was a pretty nervous about it. I had cleaned the fish I caught as long as I could remember so I thought it wouldn’t be any different. When the day came it did feel different at first.

As soon as I make the first cut everything just seemed pretty normal to me and had no regrets. I was just overthinking the situation I guess. I give them a good life while they are here then a quick death when the time comes.

 

[kattabelly]

Do you know anyone who's either done this before or something similar (hunting or fishing maybe?) who could help you, or even just be there for a bit of moral support?

 

[CascadiaRiver]

It's gonna be at most 4-6 quail, it seems like it should be small and manageable and yet it makes me freeze up now thinking about it! I was so confident in this previously, I'm not sure the butcher near me would take such a small amount of animals, and the cost would be over $5 a bird. Nobody that lives here has done this, but I used to hang out with my dad when he would gut fish (he isn't here anymore). I'm sure my mom would accompany me if she absolutely had to, but I know the whole concept of growing & butchering your own meat would gross her out entirely, she has already stated she couldn't eat the meat from them regardless so I wouldn't want to make her attend their final moments.

I swear I'm not even that attached to them, the ones I suspect are boys have been not as tame & affiliative, and ultimately I know I just want 4-6 females which means the boys gotta dip. The only friend I know who has dispatched anything is a friend on the east coast who has done chickens via axe & block so a little bit different but I'll reach out to him anyways. I truly did not expect this when I was planning this project, I spend 3 years planning it out and suddenly I've lost my nerve