I don’t think I can do it!

[Eggscaping]

I'm the same way right now. I have 2 Cornish bantam male's and a few male quail that I will have to do in about a month if I can't sell the quail (yes I know they will still be food most likely). I know the physics of doing it, at least with the quail and got the equiptment, but these are guys that i eagerly awaited to be shipped and I've handled them all, so I'll feel a bit bad. The Cornish are so gosh darn big for their age That I still have to find the best method for them.

Yes, I empathize. The 3 boys are all eggs I hatched, and one in particular, Carl, I strongly aided, as he was 2 days late to hatch. He tumbled out, all wet and pathetic, into my hand. I named him Carmen, but sadly, he's a Carl. (You can see them all in this video I made)

So it's going to be hard to kill them. But we can't keep roosters, so the best I can do now is to make his life happy, his death quick, and honor him by eating or using every part of his body.

 

[Eggscaping]

Here are some of my Cornish bantams I have, I have 10, 1 dark/mottled one, 5 blue/splash laces red and 4 white/splash laces red


View attachment 2213902View attachment 2213903View attachment 2213904

Very pretty!

 

[AltonaAcres]

OP, If you've done a rabbit, you can do a quail.

 

[FloorCandy]

In reptiles it’s common to use CO2 chambers for feeders. I found an old thread here on BYC that talks about that.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/baking-soda-vinegar-ratio-for-euthanasia.455836/

Tbh I just processed my first quail last week, I didn’t know if I could do it. It went fine, my husband and I did it together, I felt good about being able to do it and grow food from egg to table. We just used sharp shears, quick and painless. They never suspected anything.

 

[FloorCandy]

OP, If you've done a rabbit, you can do a quail.

Strongly agree

 

[yolkoroo]

I have quail for meat and eggs.. but I don’t know I can actually.. do the deed for the meat part! Killing the quail then processing? How did you get passed it? I have too many males and I was thinking about processing one of the really small females. But how???

Need to know how this ended. I am in the same situation, not really by choice. I got some quail that were supposed to be female and they are not...now the seller is not responding, so I am stuck with about 7 males and 6 must go. I can't seem to find it in me to do it but I was thinking this morning I don't want them to kill each other so I might have to do this to be humane. My family, however, has refused to eat them. We are going to go vegetarian for a month because of this by the way. I could eat them because I do eat meat, but I didn't set out on this venture to have meat birds.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Need to know how this ended. I am in the same situation, not really by choice. I got some quail that were supposed to be female and they are not...now the seller is not responding, so I am stuck with about 7 males and 6 must go. I can't seem to find it in me to do it but I was thinking this morning I don't want them to kill each other so I might have to do this to be humane. My family, however, has refused to eat them. We are going to go vegetarian for a month because of this by the way. I could eat them because I do eat meat, but I didn't set out on this venture to have meat birds.

Just curious why this is causing you to be vegetarian for a month. There is a video on YouTube by Slightly Redneck (I think) on how to butcher

 

[yolkoroo]

If my family can't eat meat that we process, I think we should consider not eating meat. Again, I didn't want to have male quail and have the prospect of processing them, but I am responsible for them now however that came to be. I can't seem to give them away, and they are already starting to be aggressive at 7 weeks. Big mistake on my part, but it led to a whole discussion about eating meat. We are going to try plant-based diet for a month to see if we could really give up meat.

 

[Pandaisy]

I'd rather eat my home grown meat. I raised it, fed it, cared for it and then humanly ended it. I can keep my good conscience, knowing they had everything they needed.

 

[NY Coturnix]

Just went through this myself. I hatched them, raised them, and didn't want to have someone else kill them. I knew even though I didn't want to do it I'd rather know it was done right, quick, and humanly rather than drop them off and wonder. It's really not as messy I thought it would be. There are tons of video's on youtube. Kind of have to just tell yourself. I gave them a great life and now I'm going to make sure they die as quick and humanely as possible. With me I had 8 males that fought so bad that I truly felt it was better to process than leave in a pen where they were torturing each other. Also told myself I need the pen so that can add more hen's/chicks. Once I separate the eggs from the meat the meat gets fed and cared for but I don't spend any extra time getting attached.