Processing Day Support Group ~ HELP us through the Emotions PLEASE!

[hennible]

Fingers crossed they are ladies!

 

[TaraBellaBirds]

I need to vent..........

I had to do a mercy kill today. I had a cull cockerel growing out that had a tail deformity. Well, apparently, he got some sort of wound on his back that went unnoticed. He's been acting fine, no symptoms at all. I found it today with maggots in the wound.

I knew he needed to be put down ASAP and I was the only one home. I got up my courage and took him into the shed and attempted the broomstick method. Attempted being the key word.......I was pulling and nothing was happening. I wasn't stepping on the stick hard enough. On my 2nd try, I got it right. The pop feeling was a bit creepy, but there was less flapping then the hatchet method. Anyhow, he's not in pain anymore.

I still feel awful for not getting it right the first time. Why do I always have to screw it up?

You didn't screw anything up. It all probably felt much longer and worse for you than it did for him. You did what you needed to do, and despite a rocky start you finished! That is doing it the right way!

 

[Amina]

So here are my 14 week old barred rocks that need to be culled (if they're boys, which I feel pretty sure that they are):

Here's the first one. Those sure look like sickle feathers to me!

And then I have two that I can't tell apart, lol! But here are some pictures (they're the two in front in the first pic):




Here's them together at 4 weeks. They had such big combs then already:


What do you think? All boys, right?

 

[ronott1]

So here are my 14 week old barred rocks that need to be culled (if they're boys, which I feel pretty sure that they are):

Here's the first one. Those sure look like sickle feathers to me!

And then I have two that I can't tell apart, lol! But here are some pictures (they're the two in front in the first pic):




Here's them together at 4 weeks. They had such big combs then already:


What do you think? All boys, right?

I think the are boys but that they are still young.

Can you wait 4 weeks? That will be a much bigger bird for you to process. They will still be tender for roasting Then and feed conversion(They stop getting big as fast after that) is still good at this age.

 

[TaraBellaBirds]

All males, sorry!

 

[Tomtommom]

I think you're right. But if they're not crowing, keep 'em around for now.. they'll just get a bit bigger. I was convinced mine were all cockerels and they turned out to all be pullets.. My white rock was all man though!





These birds were the same age, clearly.. he's the man. Loved that boy, but I inadvertently killed him with a no-crow collar

 

[Amina]

Aww, I'm sorry about your white rock!

Well my BRs have to go because I have younger chicks that could really use their space. If I keep the BRs any longer, then I'd need to do some work on the housing for the younger chicks so that everybody's happy. Since the BRs are all male, it makes sense for me to just cull them now.

 

[jajeanpierre]

I need to vent..........

I had to do a mercy kill today. I had a cull cockerel growing out that had a tail deformity. Well, apparently, he got some sort of wound on his back that went unnoticed. He's been acting fine, no symptoms at all. I found it today with maggots in the wound.

I knew he needed to be put down ASAP and I was the only one home. I got up my courage and took him into the shed and attempted the broomstick method. Attempted being the key word.......I was pulling and nothing was happening. I wasn't stepping on the stick hard enough. On my 2nd try, I got it right. The pop feeling was a bit creepy, but there was less flapping then the hatchet method. Anyhow, he's not in pain anymore.

I still feel awful for not getting it right the first time. Why do I always have to screw it up?

For the future, the presence of maggots does not mean the wound won't heal up well. Maggots do NOT eat healthy tissue--they eat necrotic (already dead) tissue. Their presence does not mean the wound/infection is getting worse. Maggots are used in modern medicine to clean up nasty wounds that aren't responding. In modern (human) medicine, the maggots are raised to be sterile so they won't bring in new pathogens to an already difficult infection in a person. Maggots actually help clean up a wound. The maggots in the wild might bring in new pathogens, so are best kept out of a wound. If they haven't introduced a new pathogen, maggots actually help heal up a wound. I know, gross. I couldn't imagine having a doctor put maggots into my own wound, but it is done with very good results.

 

[jajeanpierre]

Don't be so hard on yourself, doing something for the first time is difficult under good circumstances and your situation was far from good. I am proud that you stuck to it and did what needed done...that was hard but you did it anyway!
I will have to watch a few more videos... I normally use a cone but can see how this method could be good to know, especially if something happens when I am home alone.

Can you post links to videos of the broom handle method. I've only seen one and as far as I'm concerned, they really botched it in that video and didn't even recognize it was botched.

 

[jajeanpierre]

I've got three cockerels to cull this weekend, and it's going to be so tough! They are super friendly little guys.


I was hoping somebody might want them for their flock, considering just how friendly they are. Guess not though. I listed them on craigslist, but I don't have any takers.

Amina, someone suggested your birds might be pullets, and I hope for your sake they are right. You don't have to cull them until you are sure. I have a silver laced hen that I was sure was a cockerel growing up as she had long pointy saddle feathers. Certainly the lacing pattern accentuated the pointy appearance of the feathers, but I was careful to take that into consideration--they were still longer and more pointy than the same-aged, same breed pullets growing up with her who were also laced. I have another pullet (don't know if she is laying eggs yet) who has quite pointy hackle feathers. I'll have a look at her saddle feathers, but her hackles are surprisingly pointy and long. The cockerels from the same hatch are now in full mature male plumage and the difference between this pullet and them is now huge, but when they were younger I really thought she was a cockerel. She surprised me. The cape feathers on your birds don't look very long the way a cockerel's cape and hackles are. I'm not an expert in sexing by any means, but you can always cull cockerels later. You can't take back a cull if you get the sex wrong.