I unintentionally killed a Rooster..

Izzyrael

Hatching
Apr 28, 2016
4
1
9
Hey everyone, I don't know how to feel about this, and I've been crying a lot. This community seems nice, so I wanna hear your opinions.

I'm a Caucasian male. I woke up this morning to my pregnant mother crying, I rush downstairs to see what's wrong with her. Apparently, our rooster, the alpha, attacked her. She fell on the ground and proceeded to be attacked by him. Then she ran inside with some injuries.

When I heard this I was furious. Our roosters are kind of feral, they escaped their enclosure multiple of times (We prefer to do our chickens free range, so they were free to begin with.) and started resting in the trees. Our alpha, he seems pretty angsty, and beats up the other roosters, including humans.

Once I heard he attacked my mother, and possibly injured my unborn brother or sister, I was very angry/upset. I ran upstairs, put my hair up, put on my shoes, grabbed a bat, then went outside. I wish I didn't act on impulse.. Right when I saw him, he entered a fighting stance, and I gave him one good swing.

After i hit him, I immediately felt weird, and awful. He started flipping out, flapping his wings everywhere. He looked like he was having a seizure, which he probably was. After about 20 seconds of this, he stopped. In the middle of our grass. With blood just leaking out of his head.

I stood looking at him for a moment, shocked. I then ran inside, and started to freak out. Because I took another creatures life. I felt, so awful.. I still do. I started to hysterically cry, and freak out. Wishing I didn't do that. I wasn't trying to kill him, I was just trying to make a statement. I didn't understand how fragile roosters really are.. I cried for another ten minutes, saying he didn't deserve that, and that it's not his fault he's feral. My mother is trying to calm me down, saying we were gonna kill them anyways (Which we were, but.. I killed him out of anger.). But I still felt awful..

I went into my room, cried into my pillow for what seemed like 5 minutes, but then I remembered his body is still there. I couldn't just leave it.

I went outside, my face felt sticky from all of the tears that I shed. I sat down next to him, and did something like a prayer. I profusely apologized, wishing he would be reincarnated into a human, so he could live a better, happier life. If reincarnation exists.

I put on some gloves, went behind our house into the forest, and then I started to bury him. I dug the hole, and put him in gently. I prayed one more time. Before completely covering him. I have felt like the most terrible human being on the face of this earth ever since. It's not like I can even thank him for dying, it's not like I ate him. I just brutally murdered him in cold blood.

One thing that's been helping me, is one of our baby chicks we bought is looking sick. So I took her inside, and put her in her own container, with a heat lamp. I really hope I can save her...

Sorry if it was long... I guess I just had to rant. Feedback is greatly appreciated.
 
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Helo and welcome to BYC!

I am so sorry. Dont beat yourself up about this. Some roosters are mean and when they attack our loved ones, we retaliate. You did what you felt you needed to do at the time.

Roosters can do serious damage to people especially little kids. So in the long run, you may have saved others from bodily harm. No doubt this rooster would have needed to be put down in the future, regardless.

I know taking a life can cause stress and confusion. Natural feelings. But it sounds like it needed to be done. I hope your heart heals soon.

Love and hugs to you. :hugs
 
I'm sorry you feel so badly about what you did, and I think your reaction shows that you have a soft heart, which is nothing at all to be ashamed of. Think of it this way- he didn't feel any pain or fear or suffering. I know you said he was flopping around, but he was already dead at that point, it was just a bodily reaction. It wasn't a cruel death at all and it was better that it was taken care of right away. Don't feel like you murdered him in cold blood, like you said. Your protective instincts for your mother and her baby kicked in, and you did what was the right thing.

I hope your little chick gets better soon and brings you some comfort.
 
Izzy, people come first. Your instinct and reaction was to protect your mother and unborn sibling. That rooster was a deficit in your yard and needed to go. A quick blow led to a quick death. No one likes to kill, but when necessary it should be quick. If he were in my yard, I would have done the same thing.
hugs.gif
 
Thanks for all of the kind support guys, yesterday was pretty rough for me. I still don't know how to feel about it today, it's like I can't let myself forget about it. All of this amazing feedback brought me to tears though, I really appreciate it, thank you!

Update on the Chick: She was doing fantastic for a while, but she wasn't walking. I think she got trampled on by the others, and it might have broke her leg. Me and my mother walked over to check on her, but she was already gone.

Two deaths in one day! So I went behind the house and buried her too. All these deaths get to me.
 
Thanks for all of the kind support guys, yesterday was pretty rough for me. I still don't know how to feel about it today, it's like I can't let myself forget about it. All of this amazing feedback brought me to tears though, I really appreciate it, thank you!

Update on the Chick: She was doing fantastic for a while, but she wasn't walking. I think she got trampled on by the others, and it might have broke her leg. Me and my mother walked over to check on her, but she was already gone.

Two deaths in one day! So I went behind the house and buried her too. All these deaths get to me.
It takes time to get over events like this. Death is so final and can rattle you for a while. Give yourself time to heal. And most of all, don't feel guilty. Guilt is useless. Forgive yourself and move on.

I am so sorry about the baby. These things happen. Many of us have been there with losing birds in the flock. I recently lost my most favorite hen of all time. I found it extremely hard to let her go. But it's ok. Life is short and fleeting. Grab joy while you can.
hugs.gif
 
Hey Izzy - You did the right thing with the rooster. I commend you for having the courage to do what had to be done. It's part of the responsibilities of raising animals - protecting yourself and/or others when necessary. That bird surely would've did the same thing again and the next victim might have been even more vulnerable, so I just see it as someone taking care of their responsibilities. As far as the chick goes, well that was really out of your control. You did all you could to save it and went above and beyond by taking it in the house. Losing birds comes with the territory so just do the best you can and learn from your experiences. I lost three broilers in the past two weeks and as much as I hate to lose them I wouldn't give up raising chickens for anything.
 
If you were planning on killing him anyway, killing him with a blunt blow to the head probably ended his life just as humanely as any other process would...
 
I hope so. I think him flailing about, looking like he was in pain. Is what really got to me. I just felt so awful that, that was how his life was ended. So, chaotically.

You guys are probably right, with the fact that he was probably already dead, and if he was. Well, I really hope he was. I wouldn't want him to have had to live through that. I just imagine, what if it was me? What if it was me who got his head smashed. I dunno, this has been a moral conflict for me.

One thing, well really, a couple things that I've gotten out of this experience is; Life is beautiful, but is also very fragile. Just like TwoCrows said, it's also very short and fleeting. A life can be ended easily, I think that can be said for anything. I've learned that... If I have to fight, in any point in my life. That I should fight to protect. Causing harm to another, is a very serious thing. I dunno, I guess I didn't fathom the magnitude of it before.

Nevertheless, everyone on this thread gives me a little more hope and happiness. I do feel bad that i took his life so abruptly, but you guys are definitely helping me with these emotions. Thank you once again.
 

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