Peeps in Europe!

[abpatchy]

You guys did a really nice job! Love the dialect!

 

[crissy1079]

So folks this weekend I butchered my first home grown cockerels! It was actually a family affair. My daughter's boyfriend actually killed them with his grandmother, and his mum and I plucked all three of them. Amazing to find a family who has passed down the know-how now four generations. The grandmother learned it from her mother... I sure hope they keep it going. So at the moment my flock has the original number I started with, 1 Rooster and 5 hens, I'll have to wait to see what the chicks will be and determine how many I will keep.

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Not sure I should I ask but I’m going to. How do you kill them? I’m not hatching eggs or getting chicks anymore because I ended up with 3 roosters. So far they get along but the main guy can be a bully to my other 2. So just curious if it came to that how you do it. I just love all my roosters. Not sure I could do it. But I’m curious what’s the fastest most humane way.

 

[abpatchy]

I guess the easiest and quickest way is to take an axe and choping block and cut their head off. Some people also cut the artery in the neck and let them bleed out. There are tons of videos online. It's not easy, I'm sure. But there are other people who have more experience than me. I have just helped with one butchering so far. And it wasn't my bird.

 

[pspatbyc]

Not sure I should I ask but I’m going to. How do you kill them? I’m not hatching eggs or getting chicks anymore because I ended up with 3 roosters. So far they get along but the main guy can be a bully to my other 2. So just curious if it came to that how you do it. I just love all my roosters. Not sure I could do it. But I’m curious what’s the fastest most humane way.

I'm in the same boat. Wanted 4 BO hens and ended up with 4 roo's. Have you thought about posting an advert to try and give them away cause I'm afraid their is no "nice" way. As you said, you can only do it quickly and humanely as possible. Most posts I've read go for putting them in a cone and then cutting the arteries along the side of the neck. I've read they become calmer when upside down and pass rather quickly

 

[Erba]

Well the grandmother held them on a big tree stump I have here, that I use as for chopping wood and her grandson, and my daughter's boyfriend wielded the axe. Then she held them until they bled out and stopped moving. It was all very quick. i had the Cockerels ready in a dog and cat crate until they arrived that morning, so they hadn't be fed.

 

[crissy1079]

I'm in the same boat. Wanted 4 BO hens and ended up with 4 roo's. Have you thought about posting an advert to try and give them away cause I'm afraid their is no "nice" way. As you said, you can only do it quickly and humanely as possible. Most posts I've read go for putting them in a cone and then cutting the arteries along the side of the neck. I've read they become calmer when upside down and pass rather quickly

I plan on keeping them all. They are all fully mature and get along. 2 of them just keep their distance from the main guy. And in the coop I have an old rabbit hutch they sleep in and the main guy sleeps on the roost. We just had some snow and they all stay in the coop all day and night and I put food and water in the rabbit hutch so the 2 other guys can still keep a safe distance from main guy and get food and water. So far seems for work.

 

[BDutch]

It has been at least 45 years since I harvested a chicken. However, I have been duck hunting during that time and cleaned them up....so I'm good to go! My son wants to learn, so I guess I'll be making a trip to my chicken lady. She breeds only to sell them, not for show. Obtain 2-3 cockerels and teach him how to do it. I just hate all that plucking of the feathers...esp. with my wurst fingers! Enjoy your week!

I don't have any experience in killing and processing a chicken. But a lot of chickens were killed in our household.

My mother didn't pluck the chickens. She peeled the skin of. This was quicker and cleaner. She probably had a trick for that (maybe something like peeling a tomato?).

 

[Papa John59]

Not sure I should I ask but I’m going to. How do you kill them? I’m not hatching eggs or getting chicks anymore because I ended up with 3 roosters. So far they get along but the main guy can be a bully to my other 2. So just curious if it came to that how you do it. I just love all my roosters. Not sure I could do it. But I’m curious what’s the fastest most humane way.

It is hard the first time, I won't tell you it's not. But it was easier than turning a bull into a steer! At least for me it was!
We were taught to hold the chicken upside down by the legs and to carry them to the chopping block. Hold one of your chickens upside down for a minute and watch what happens...they enter a sleep like state. Then quickly, they were stretched across the tree stump and the ax fell before they woke up. Nice and quick and then hung to bleed out.

 

[Papa John59]

My mother didn't pluck the chickens. She peeled the skin of. This was quicker and cleaner. She probably had a trick for that (maybe something like peeling a tomato?).

WOW! I never heard of this method until now. Then I googled it and found this video (really there were quit a few, but I liked this one the best). I think I will try this method soon! Thanks for sharing your mother's method!

 

[Papa John59]

Well, I finished "buttoning down the hatches" so to speak...checked and rechecked my coop and run. Made sure that the plastic wrap that I enclosed the run with in November was secured and now awaiting for this storm to hit us. They are saying that we will be one of the hardest hit areas and have already canceled school. Two weeks ago, I put in for a weeks vacation so I will be safe, at home with my girls and wife.
Hopefully, those of you in the Netherlands are safe and those of you here in Germany, be safe!