I culled my first bird

[kryptoniteqhs]

So Im a girl and Ive never killed anything before. Anywho, I dont know what did it, but something ripped the leg off my silkie and I culled her today. It happened the night before last and she acted like she didnt even realize she only had one leg. She was eating and drinking fine, hopping around and eating grass. But, this morning when I pulled her out to clean her up, she was covered in maggots. After the maggots got all over me and I realized you cant drown maggots, I decided it would be best to cull her. It really wasnt that bad, not like I thought it would be, but yep. And tonight I will be sleeping outside with my gun to make kill number 2!

 

[maplesky7]

maggots don't drown? really?

they have to...i have a dumpster that is filled with rain water and floating dead maggots.

 

[maplesky7]

oh and i have yet to cull one yet... so you say it wasn't that bad?

 

[silkiechicken]

Good luck on finding that pred and good to hear you were able to do the deed as it was what you thought was best for your bird.

 

[sesa]

Quote:

 

[kryptoniteqhs]

glad i didnt see post #5 as i dont really feel like feeling guilty right now. its something i need to learn how to do. i must do it if i am going to own birds. anywho, im glad i got the first one over and im it was an easy choice as it was definitely suffering with the maggots on it. maybe if i ever have to do it again, i wont be debating it for two days first.

 

[TammyTX]

It's not very pleasant but good for you for taking care of it when you saw it needed to be done.

 

[KatyTheChickenLady]

ugg . . . I am there with you. It is hard. Good luck with the predator! I didn't know killing something would make me so happy until I got that @#$% mink!

 

[kryptoniteqhs]

thanks

....i had other people that would do it for me, but i thought i needed to do it. what happens when those people are no longer around? then what? plus i wanted to make sure it was done in the most humane way possible and to insure that i had to be the one doing it.

 

[Lady_Cluck]

Quote:
I think they do, but it takes a real long time. In June, one of my hens got a nasty cut from a broken board laying in the yard. By the time I found her, the maggots had already found her too. I stuck her in a bucket of warm water to soak the disgusting little things off of her. The water quickly filled up with maggots, and after removing the hen, I left them in the bucket to drown, thinking it would be quick and painless for them. Five hours later -- I kid you not -- they were still swimming in the water. Well, I don't even want maggots to suffer, so I dumped in a cup of bleach hoping that would speed things up and came back a couple of hours later. They were still swimming around, although slowly. It was getting ridiculous, so I dumped the remaining water over the hot concrete driveway, which finished them off, and then super-soaked the area with the hose. Kind of wish I would have thought of that first, but then again, I didn't know maggots wouldn't drown! Ugggh I don't like those things!!!

Sorry to hear about your silkie

and good luck hunting tonight.