It hasn't gotten any easier.

[Quailsong]

Normally I'd agree about mice being better than snakes...till I read a post earlier this year where a user spotted a mouse nesting under a broody during the cold winter nights. Talk about a real free loader. Eat their food, chew their feathers AND get royal treatment, to boot!

 

[bobbi-j]

Sounds like a smart little mouse! The thing that bothers me most about either of them is that even when I KNOW that they're there, they still can make me jump when they're suddenly moving. But I will pick snakes up off the lawn and put them in the grove so they don't get mowed over. DH, on the other hand, has made some pretty fancy designs in the lawn trying to chase them down with the mower.

 

[Quailsong]

DH, on the other hand, has made some pretty fancy designs in the lawn trying to chase them down with the mower.

Eww! I can't imagine what blended snake would look like on the lawn. I bet the chickens would think it was a snake & salad buffet made 'specially for them.

 

[bobbi-j]

Eww! I can't imagine what blended snake would look like on the lawn. I bet the chickens would think it was a snake & salad buffet made 'specially for them.

 

[pinusresinosa]

DH, on the other hand, has made some pretty fancy designs in the lawn trying to chase them down with the mower.

HAHAHA!

 

[num1hogfan]

I culled my first rooster a few months back and it was from incubation to full grown bird. He was mean so it wasn't to hard but I hated that it took me too long to catch him and he was stressed out. I made the deed quick and painless as possible.

Our next roo was a different story. His name was Pollito from Despicable me 2. Kids named him. He was the top cock after Mr. Red was in the freezer. I was hoping the crowing would ease up since he wouldn't have the competition but it didn't. His final straw was a few days ago when he attacked the wife for no reason. He cut her leg and bruised her but she got him back with baking pan she was feeding them with. He thought better of it after that. We are not mean to any of our chickens but they better know who's boss. Well I made up my mind that yesterday would be the day. His time was up. I'm a hunter and killing doesn't bother me probably because its not my bare hands that are doing the killing. I stress over it almost as much as he did. Catching was not easier or quicker with this one and when I did finally get him I wanted it over quick so I wrang his neck. I wasn't sure I could do it but it was easier than I expected. Not the killing but wringing his neck. I have been down for a couple of days and have felt bad about it. The only animals we've had have been cats and dogs and they are pets so I guess I put them in the same group.
His only crime was being a rooster. He only did what he was created to do. I hope its not this hard every time because I don't know that I can do it if it is. I'll have to keep my distance and not talk to them, at least the Roos. I teach my kids that this is how the meat from the stores come from but those animals don't have such a good life. The wife and I have decided that if we want to know were our food comes from this is how it has to be. Thanks for reading.

 

[Quailsong]

num1hogfan, there are ways to make it so roosters are less competitive with humans. But in the end you can't fight genetics & bad luck. I found this BYC user's article to be rather informative (and funny) on roosters. I only saw Reurra's article this month but I'm sure it would have helped me last year when I had a nasty manfighter.

I'm surprised you found wrining necks easy (technique at least). I thought about it before but was put off since I imagined it would feel like the 'snake bite' wringing that kids do to eachother's arms (twisting skin in opposite ends). I remembered it hurt like heck - but then again my arm isn't a chicken's neck & I imagine the breaking of the neck would stop the pain and give a quick death.

Thank you for sharing your story & I totally agree that what you're doing for your kids is a tremendous help. They will see the benefits of home-raised poultry & be able to make better/informed decisions about their food when they're older.

 

[num1hogfan]

Thanks for the thoughts. That was a great article.
Our sole purpose is to have eggs and meat and its either the hens or the roos. I didn't mention that we live in the county and in a sub divided neighborhood. We don't have any restrictions or covenants so we were ok to have them but I don't want to be "those" neighbors. We don't have any fences so the roo was leading the girls into the neighbors yard and he would crow occasionally. That didn't help his cause either. If we lived else were they wouldn't bother me at all.
I should mention that wringing their neck isn't like giving what we kids called an Indian burn its more like a squeeze and a quick jerk/shake, possibly more if the first try didn't do it. I can tell you I was surprised at how fast it happened.
I feel for the hens cause he did exactly what the writer in the article stated on how he would scratch and let the girls have first dibs. He was the leader and now they just wander and cluck like they are looking for him. I dint know what kind of memory they have but mine is much better and it makes me sad.
I have to realize they are here for a purpose and nothing more and it will either be done by me or Tyson's. I at least know they were treated good and feed the good things. They got to be chickens. I really would have liked to keep him because he was so dominant and pretty but our situation didn't allow for it.

 

[bobbi-j]

I culled my first rooster a few months back and it was from incubation to full grown bird. He was mean so it wasn't to hard but I hated that it took me too long to catch him and he was stressed out. I made the deed quick and painless as possible.

Our next roo was a different story. His name was Pollito from Despicable me 2. Kids named him. He was the top cock after Mr. Red was in the freezer. I was hoping the crowing would ease up since he wouldn't have the competition but it didn't. His final straw was a few days ago when he attacked the wife for no reason. He cut her leg and bruised her but she got him back with baking pan she was feeding them with. He thought better of it after that. We are not mean to any of our chickens but they better know who's boss. Well I made up my mind that yesterday would be the day. His time was up. I'm a hunter and killing doesn't bother me probably because its not my bare hands that are doing the killing. I stress over it almost as much as he did. Catching was not easier or quicker with this one and when I did finally get him I wanted it over quick so I wrang his neck. I wasn't sure I could do it but it was easier than I expected. Not the killing but wringing his neck. I have been down for a couple of days and have felt bad about it. The only animals we've had have been cats and dogs and they are pets so I guess I put them in the same group.
His only crime was being a rooster. He only did what he was created to do. I hope its not this hard every time because I don't know that I can do it if it is. I'll have to keep my distance and not talk to them, at least the Roos. I teach my kids that this is how the meat from the stores come from but those animals don't have such a good life. The wife and I have decided that if we want to know were our food comes from this is how it has to be. Thanks for reading.

Don't beat yourself up. You did the right thing by getting rid of the rooster after it attacked your wife. I don't know how old your kids are, or how tall they are, but if they're young, imagine where that rooster would have gotten a small child. Yes, there are articles on "taming" roosters, but just because you have taught them not to attack you, there is no guarantee that they won't go after someone else. Also, "being a rooster" is no excuse for one to attack a human. They are not created to attack people. I had a Brahma rooster for a few years until he got taken by a coyote last summer. He kept his distance, and was never a problem. His son that was hatched out last year has taken his place, is just as well-behaved. There are plenty of good roosters out there who take good care of their hens and don't attack the people who feed them. Your hens will soon get used to not having him around. I think they're more confused than anything, as change tends to do that to chickens. Their pecking order has been shaken up and they will have to sort that out, and a dominant hen will emerge. The hardest part of processing our chickens for me is turning a live chicken into a dead one (and I don't even do that part - I just hold them while DH wields the hatchet) I don't name my chickens. Not all of them, anyway. Practically every rooster we have had has been named Stew so I can remember what they will become if there is a problem. (The one we have now is Black Beard because of his black beard. I rarely call him that, though. He's still referred to as, "the rooster") I will occasionally name a hen that I plan on keeping past her 2 or 3 years of laying. It has to be a pretty special bird around here to earn a name.

 

[BCMaraniac]

Thanks for the thoughts. That was a great article.
Our sole purpose is to have eggs and meat and its either the hens or the roos. I didn't mention that we live in the county and in a sub divided neighborhood. We don't have any restrictions or covenants so we were ok to have them but I don't want to be "those" neighbors. We don't have any fences so the roo was leading the girls into the neighbors yard and he would crow occasionally. That didn't help his cause either. If we lived else were they wouldn't bother me at all.
I should mention that wringing their neck isn't like giving what we kids called an Indian burn its more like a squeeze and a quick jerk/shake, possibly more if the first try didn't do it. I can tell you I was surprised at how fast it happened.
I feel for the hens cause he did exactly what the writer in the article stated on how he would scratch and let the girls have first dibs. He was the leader and now they just wander and cluck like they are looking for him. I dint know what kind of memory they have but mine is much better and it makes me sad.
I have to realize they are here for a purpose and nothing more and it will either be done by me or Tyson's. I at least know they were treated good and feed the good things. They got to be chickens. I really would have liked to keep him because he was so dominant and pretty but our situation didn't allow for it.

I was picking blackberries last summer and my rooster was closer to me than any of the other birds so I tossed one to him. He started calling the girls, and on of them came. I threw him another one and he picked it up in his mouth and carried it and dropped it in front of another hen who had approached. I threw several more berries to them and he didn't eat a single one.