How did you prepare yourself (mentally) for first time butchering?

[Fluster Cluck Acres]

As my journey with raising laying hens progresses (including hatching my own eggs), it seems inevitable I will wind up with excess roosters. And I feel that the most logical, humane, and responsible thing is to dispatch and butcher them myself. But, I am not a farmer nor a hunter, and I don’t know if I have it in me.

To be clear- I have no qualms about the butchering process. I’m sure I can learn and would have no problems with someone else’s chicken. My concern is killing, butchering, and consuming MY chicken.

I’ve had a few thoughts about how I may better prepare myself-

#1 raise a small flock of broilers so I know without question what the outcome for those chicken will be.

#2 wait until I wind up with a really hateful aggressive rooster.

#3 just give away my cockerels/roosters and let other people dispatch them and try to shake the guilty feeling that it’s MY responsibility to make sure my birds have a peaceful and humane ending.

Folks on this forum were so supportive and helpful when I had to put down my favorite hen last year. I’d love some more advice or sharing stories of your experiences to help me work my way towards and through this next part of the journey.

 

[Tonyroo]

For me, I needed a reason to butcher my own chickens. And set my feelings and notions aside to make the actual process acceptable. I kept telling myself it was to feed my family.

And now I don't hesitate if butchering is required. It's something everyone needs time to adjust too.

 

[springvalley123]

It may help to remind yourself that everything is on this earth for a purpose, and that your chicks (especially broilers), were bred to serve as food. Thank your God for the meal that the young bird is about to provide you, and then dispatch them. I also find you tube videos of slaughtering the birds helps, so you can visualize yourself in that role. It may also help to know that the life, and the ending, that you're providing is much better and more humane than the chickens in the grocery store.

Hope this helps, and best of luck!

 

[Fluster Cluck Acres]

It may also help to know that the life, and the ending, that you're providing is much better and more humane than the chickens in the grocery store.

Yes! I agree so much with this point, and it is definitely one of the reasons I feel it’s the more responsible choice. Thanks for your reply.

 

[Sussex19]

So how I think about its, is that my hens love to go broody. I feel that if I never let them hatch out eggs and raise chicks, I am kind of being cruel to them.
And of cause, around half the chicks are male.
So I feel that to let the broody hatch them, and for them to have a very good life growing up, with just one bad moment, is the best my chickens could ask for.
There is no way of selling the amount of cockerels I get.
As far as the first time I did it, it was hard, but doable. I knew I wanted to eat meat, so I knew I had to be able to get it to the table.
I asked myself, can I do it, and replied yes I can, and then did it. I think that helped my mind set.
I do like to say thank you, and say a small prayer asking to make me swift and sure, and to do it in the best way possible.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

Schnapps

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Read up on the process. Read some more. Watched a video or three. Sharpened my knives. Set up my station. Did a "dry run" to ensure everything was in the right place (moved the plastic storage bags, cooler, found a better way to hang the hose. Did the dry run again. Satisfied.

Walked into the pasture, grabbed a bird, brought it back, did the deed. Learned a bit.

 

[Isadora]

First bird I ever put down myself was a guinea keet with perosis that wasn't responding to treatment. Knowing I was making a good decision as far as the quality of life made it easier, but it was still a bit of a shock to my system to actual drop the hatchet and kill it. At that point I had been around butchering plenty but hadn't actually done the deed myself, so having the beforehand exposure helped.

 

[FunClucks]

It's because of you that they have any life at all. If you didn't pay for them or hatch them, they wouldn't be alive right now. The whole point of their life is to give you meat.

The quality of life you give them, however short, is significantly better than that on a commercial farm.

I will show respect for their life by using/eating as much of them as possible.

I have dinner chicks right now (Cornish Cross), so processing time will be coming soon. I also have roosters from my eggers that will finish growing out a few months after I'm done processing the dinner chicks.

I've only had to cull one chick so far for abnormalities after hatch, and I've had two dinner chicks pass away prior to two weeks old. I think those will bother me more than slaughtering the dinner chicks at processing time, because in my mind the chicks should get to live their lives first, not die due to abnormalities or random chance before they have a chance to grow up. I told them they were good chickens said prayers for them.

 

[HenriettaPizzaNolan]

Raising a small batch of Cornish X really helped me come to terms with things. I raised them since day 1, took great care of them and saw to their every need, but I knew that ultimately they would have to go in the freezer. I tried to always keep that in mind. The "good" thing about Cornish X is that they will actually start to suffer from leg or heart issues if you let them live too long, so it does serve as motivation to not chicken out on the slaughter.

Like others have probably said, it's about providing a great, healthy life up until that one bad moment. And for me, we tried to pick the method of bad moment that we felt would be quickest (axe and stump method), so we knew there was little to no suffering. It was over when it was over. And you can know you raised birds that had MUCH better lives than the ones in the factories. You can feed your family meat that was humanely raised and slaughtered. There's so much to feel good about, it's just that one bad moment. and I won't downplay it - it sucks to have to take a life and I don't think that part will ever get easy. But the rewards are great and you are ultimately treating the bird with the most respect possible.