Need Advice-I'm too soft hearted to butcher the cockerels

[dancingbear]

You'll also feel better when you see how much calmer and happier the hens are, without all those hooligans pestering and chasing them. That's a big part of what helps me through the whole thing.

And, ya know, cooked in the crock pot til the meat falls off the bones, roosters make fantastic tacos, tamales, and enchiladas. Pot pie. BBQ sandwiches. Dumplings....mmmmm, roosters!

 

[Rooster Cogburn Jr.]

Quote:
Well luckily these guys are only 14 weeks old. So they're still good and tender

 

[dancingbear]

There you go. Yummy!

 

[farmin'chick]

The ones that harassed others in the meat flock AND attacked me got banded with little yellow zip ties...plenty loose for them to grow in....and they got moved to the TOP of the soup list! Any chicken I picked up to evaluate that bit the fire out of me got to be NEXT, even if they were skinny, and the ones that cuddled up when I evaluated them got a reprieve for the day, even if they were fat.

Moral: Don't bite the farmer! Don't pick on your peers! A cuddle may just save your bacon!

 

[weaveagarden]

Apologies if this has already been said.... (didn't read all the posts tonight).

Don't do this alone the first time. Have someone else along for the ride. I know that I will need to have someone to share the darkly humorous jokes that I will need to make as well as any difficult moments. And then I can share some of the meat with them in the end, or at least cook up a great chicken dinner for them the next day or so.

And then I can help them in the future if they need help with their "D"day.

 

[Rooster Cogburn Jr.]

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My Mom took the day off to come over and help. Then my brother helped when he got off at 5. My Mom was raised on a farm in Southern Missouri. When she was growing up. They would do 50 a weekend for 4 weeks. One weekend my Great Grand Parents and my Grandmas 2 sisters and their husbands would come over and all 8 of them would do 50. Then the next weekend they would go over to my Great Grand Parents house and do their 50 and so on till everyones was done.

 

[Bridget399]

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That's a tough issue for a lot of folks to face, especially those of us accustomed to our modern urban culture. It's an unfamiliar concept, to kill an animal by ourselves for our own food, to kill an animal we're not frightened of, or threatened or disgusted by. That's why it really helps to consider them like produce you grew for the table. You wouldn't say "oh that's such a beautiful tomato, I could never eat that! Instead I'll pick these from the branch that poked me in the head, and those ugly ones there."

Thanks, I will try looking at it was "produce". I really hope that I can overcome this.

I DO eat deer meat (actually really like it), but it's never from the deer from our property. I would really like to know if my chickens do taste better than that frozen crap from W@l-M@rt.

DH tells me that we put money into their feed, coop, etc. And it's just what you do...If you didn't reap what you sew, you'd be throwing your money away... He thinks that roosters are only good for one thing... the freezer.

 

[SunnyChic]

farmin'chick :

The ones that harassed others in the meat flock AND attacked me got banded with little yellow zip ties...plenty loose for them to grow in....and they got moved to the TOP of the soup list! Any chicken I picked up to evaluate that bit the fire out of me got to be NEXT, even if they were skinny, and the ones that cuddled up when I evaluated them got a reprieve for the day, even if they were fat.

Moral: Don't bite the farmer! Don't pick on your peers! A cuddle may just save your bacon!

How true...great advice for chickens!​

 

[Rooster Cogburn Jr.]

Quote:
That's a tough issue for a lot of folks to face, especially those of us accustomed to our modern urban culture. It's an unfamiliar concept, to kill an animal by ourselves for our own food, to kill an animal we're not frightened of, or threatened or disgusted by. That's why it really helps to consider them like produce you grew for the table. You wouldn't say "oh that's such a beautiful tomato, I could never eat that! Instead I'll pick these from the branch that poked me in the head, and those ugly ones there."

Thanks, I will try looking at it was "produce". I really hope that I can overcome this.

I DO eat deer meat (actually really like it), but it's never from the deer from our property. I would really like to know if my chickens do taste better than that frozen crap from W@l-M@rt.

DH tells me that we put money into their feed, coop, etc. And it's just what you do...If you didn't reap what you sew, you'd be throwing your money away... He thinks that roosters are only good for one thing... the freezer.

You can do it. I knew I was going to keep some roos but not all. I only named 3. Those 3 I could never kill. One RIR named Little Red jumps up on my knee hoping I have crickets. I haven't given them crickets in a while because they would all come running when they'd see me and it was hard to walk with 40 chickens under your feet. I picked out the roos that had some sort of defect. One NHR had 1/3 size comb of the others. And 2 more flopped to the side.

Really Im glad I did it. Cause my pullets that would only hang out in the woods all day for fear of being chased were all out in the yard scratching by the end of the day. And I was shocked to see my 3 Russian Orloffs out of hiding a strolling across the yard well before dark. They've even quit going in the coop at night because they were harassed so much. Funny how out of 40 free range birds those 3 always stick together.

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

sounds like a convert to me.....


now you can spread the word also to folks who dont think they can do it.

hey farmin' chick - that's HI-larious... 'a cuddle may save your bacon'... i've been laughing about that all morning.

however, them pigs... i just hate 'em! and no amount of cuddlin' will save THEIR bacon

hee hee