Hello all, Apologies if this is the wrong thread but I have a question about humainely killing two cockerels. The problem I have with them is that they are way too aggressive to the hens. I have had to cull a hen before as she was too ill to get better, I tried pulling its neck which wasn't pleasant and It took two attempts. I have an air gun. Would this be an humane way to kill them? If I put them on the ground and shot them directly in the back of the head? This all sounds overly complicated for something that most of you have no problem with but I'm not past the stage of it being personal. Any help would be great Thanks, Declan.
The air rifle may be less humane if it doesn't kill quickly. Do you have an axe? We used to drive 2 nails in a log, stick the neck between them and pull the feet to stretch the neck out and chop the head off. It's very fast but you have to have a sack to quickly stick the birds into or they'll run around like a chicken with it's head cut off. No pun intended. Now days I use a killing cone and slit the throat so they bleed out better. Also, they taste just like chicken.
I think the slit neck is preferable, if they are pretty mean, use a fish net. I had a REALLY mean boy, I popped the net over him, he settled down, I knelt behind him, and slit his neck. He just relaxed and got weaker. Mrs K