KILL IT is never something you want to hear about your chickens !

[Blue]

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I would bet money on it he means to kill it. In fact, I had to go in the house when he came over to get his chickens I couldn't find homes for. He gave my two sons a first hand lesson in killing chickens with your bare hands (underneath a plastic bag). It was quite horrible. I had to dig the deep hole to bury them.

That always seems like his "go to" solution. I try and find alternative ways first.

Why did you bury them? Was there something wrong with the meat? It always seems like a waste to me to kill them and then not eat them. Chickens are tasty!

I still haven't worked up the nerve to kill any of mine. My dad would do it for me if I asked, but I'd like to be able to do it for myself. Right now, there's an old farmer who lets my dad hunt on his land who had been taking our extras for his free range farm flock (he's always losing birds to predators, and he occasionaly eats one himself), but I'm sure I'll have to learn to do the deed at some point if I want to stay in the chicken raising business.

 

[Illia]

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In the fact that single combs are recessive to walnut comes it is best NOT to use her, as the recessive single comb will keep popping up in future generations and it will be a pain to get rid of.

 

[EM Squared Farms]

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Thanks for sharing your opinion. Glad to hear you have a heart for animals. Not everyone does, especially men, I think.

I guess you can't really save every chicken, just the ones you really want to.

Yeah, I've seen some quail at the fair and they are so tiny ! I've seen little cornish game hens in the freezer section at the grocery store too. They seem teeny tiny. I think I saw them cook them once on a cooking show, splitting it down the backbone to make it lay flat.

Well, we don't eat our chickens. We have this friend of a friend who comes to get some roosters every once in a while.

Thanks !!

 

[Blue]

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I know that some of the bantam breeders eat their culls. They are small, so you'd probably want more than one to make a meal. I'd imagine 3 or 4 OEGBs would make a good meal. I have the habit of making pets out of my bantams, too.

I have a OEGB pair that I got from Ideal early this past spring, and I absolutely adore them. I, however, do have a RIR bantam rooster that I wouldn't mind stuffing in a pot sometimes. He can be a mean little bugger!

 

[EM Squared Farms]

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Yeah, I've heard that people catch those mourning doves to eat.

I know people also shoot squirrels to eat.

Well, I guess they're on the list to this Spanish family (we'll start with the biggest ones first and work our way down and see if they want them).

Thanks for your comment/post !

 

[EM Squared Farms]

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I meant to ask you about dogs eating chicken bones.

I've always heard to never feed chicken bones to dogs because chicken bones are hollow or their bone splinters inside cause problems for dogs ?

How do you serve up a chicken to your dogs ? Whole ? Just curious, not that I would do something like that. The cats are occasionally "licking" some wild animal they caught (dead wild mouse or squirrel).

 

[Illia]

Dogs shouldn't be fed bones that are cooked

I feed my dogs raw chicken, whole or cut into segments. The raw part of it is the most important feature, as the dogs are getting essential enzymes they never do with dogfood. Cooking or Processing/Pasteurizing food destroys more things than people think.


And don't get me wrong, I love animals far more than most do, and I'm one of those people who think they should have more rights than a lot of people think, but I also think that a quick humane death after a good pastured life with plenty of attention and good care is not a bad thing. Especially considering that I don't waste any part of the chicken.

 

[EM Squared Farms]

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Thanks ! Yes, this was our first time hatching out chickies. So, there wasn't really a plan, except to sell everyone.

I heard second hand the opinion of our poultry judge/chicken friend. I wasn't personally there. I think my husband and son were, when they were talking to him about the single-combed silkie. Maybe his response would have been different if I were the one asking, considering he knows how I feel about killing them for culling them.

We do know the family pretty well (a friend from church's friend, who have come to visit that church a couple of times). They've come over almost a handful of times. The first time she was very pregnant and had 2 or 3 boys. This time, she had her baby and he's a year old already. The husband was willing to crawl through a chicken-sized door to help my son catch some rooster and get them into the box securely.

We're pretty content with having them come over to get them. She's a good friend. She also has another chicken friend who sells home grown chickens for $15 a chicken for food.

We'll definitely be thinking about what to do with all the ones that don't sell as we begin to hatch out more eggs soon.
We are organizing a fundraiser local swap/sale with the 4H club. I signed up my husband as part of the fundraising committee. So that may turn out into a wonderful opportunity to place homes for birds.

 

[EM Squared Farms]

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Thanks for that tidbit of info. It's good to know, but not something we would do.

We'll just move him into the layer pen whenever my son gets around to it. We want to mark the date we moved him so we'll know when one month later is after his removal in case any of his black silkies are old enough and begin to lay.

We're getting ready to bred one pair of Ameraucanas soon too. Maybe he can just move them all on the same day to make it easier on the calendar to track. The Ameraucanas are already laying and we feel like we are racing the clock (waiting on a customer to pick up a couple chickens - then we can move them around and set up a breeding pen for that pair of Ameraucanas).

Thanks again for sharing that.

 

[EM Squared Farms]

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I guess I need to ask which chickens you are talking about ?

The ones I personally buried ? Long story...it was lunch time. He came over to give us new birds to sell and take the old cockerels that didn't sell. They are his birds. He lives in more of city area, we live in the country. I wasn't sure how he would dispose of them, so I offered our back yard to bury them. We bury all our dead.

So, I guess it was a spur of the moment thing. They weren't our chickens.

The single combed silkie cockerel is alive and well and is going to be moved out to the layer pen as soon as my son gets around to it. It's rainy today. Plus I make him use the cat carrier to move chickens, instead of just holding them. He'll get in trouble if I catch him doing that. Why take a risk when you don't have to.

My husband is wanting to teach my son how to kill a chicken by shooting it in the back of the head with the rifle. I'm not so sure I'm ready for that day to come so soon.

I don't really believe in killing animals like that (or really at all). But obviously my husband has a different point of view.