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

[undine]

Sorry i have a stupid question to ask..will the whole flock hate me after they see me take a chicken away to process?

 

[fisherlady]

Sorry i have a stupid question to ask..will the whole flock hate me after they see me take a chicken away to process?

Not a stupid question... and in my experience there is no problem at all. In fact, our birds have seen the processing in progress and the only thing that upsets them about it seems to be that we don't allow them to steal from the gut bucket! Any culls we have done from the main flock has caused no change in the way the birds have interacted with us at all. There may be some 'reshuffling' of pecking order birds, and a few squabbles while that issue is worked out, but no, they don't hold it against us.

Actually, there are times I think they are grateful for our removal of a bird if it was a problem in the flock. Our flock almost always seems much more settled/relaxed after we cull teenage roos since they can cause so many disturbances.

 

[undine]

Not a stupid question... and in my experience there is no problem at all. In fact, our birds have seen the processing in progress and the only thing that upsets them about it seems to be that we don't allow them to steal from the gut bucket! Any culls we have done from the main flock has caused no change in the way the birds have interacted with us at all. There may be some 'reshuffling' of pecking order birds, and a few squabbles while that issue is worked out, but no, they don't hold it against us.

Actually, there are times I think they are grateful for our removal of a bird if it was a problem in the flock. Our flock almost always seems much more settled/relaxed after we cull teenage roos since they can cause so many disturbances.

Thats a relief! Though i did watch a vlog of this one lady who lost one pullet from a fox..and the other chicken who witnessed the attack from the fox and survived went through a withdrawal. She had stopped laying eggs for weeks

 

[lawatt]

Thats a relief! Though i did watch a vlog of this one lady who lost one pullet from a fox..and the other chicken who witnessed the attack from the fox and survived went through a withdrawal. She had stopped laying eggs for weeks

it's more likely that the other chickens were also very frightened by the fox itself (not just witnessing the other chicken being killed) -- my flock is much more jumpy around my housecats now, after a bobcat attacked earlier this summer -- but i think they have learned to be afraid of a cat-shaped creature that might chase them, i'm not sure they're smart enough to understand that a human processing a chicken is killing it. if you chased them wildly around the pen & then whacked a head off, they might make the connection...

and for what it's worth, they still win any stare-down contests with my cats, and several chickens will actively chase the cats -- they just sound a bit more alarmed than they used to when the cats are moving around.

 

[jajeanpierre]

Sorry i have a stupid question to ask..will the whole flock hate me after they see me take a chicken away to process?

I don't think it is right to slaughter in front of other animals. They understand dying to some degree. I think Temple Grandin advises that animals should not be exposed to other animals being killed, that it increases their stress levels. They might not care, but why take the chance?

I do not think they will hate you, though. Most chickens view their caregivers as a predator.

 

[Beekissed]

I've seen sheep get distressed over a flock member getting killed but I've never seen chickens show any sign whatsoever of any stress...they will even wait eagerly to drink the blood that is let in the process. The dog now shows some level of discomfort when animals die in front of him but that seems to have come with age for him and the lack of having a pack member of his own.

But chickens? Never have noted any changes in behavior when they watch a processing, no matter how many times it happens. They will watch with much interest, dart in to drink the blood and wait to fight over the entrails with the dogs. They are opportunistic eaters and as such, their instinct is to eat when there is an opportunity and that even means a flock mate.

 

[undine]

I don't think it is right to slaughter in front of other animals. They understand dying to some degree. I think Temple Grandin advises that animals should not be exposed to other animals being killed, that it increases their stress levels. They might not care, but why take the chance?

I do not think they will hate you, though. Most chickens view their caregivers as a predator.

Yea same with you, but i didnt mean it like that. I meant like if the chickens saw me carry a chicken away somewhere and then never returning WITH the chicken, would they think something was up, and how would they feeel(anger) towards me then.

 

[jajeanpierre]

Yea same with you, but i didnt mean it like that. I meant like if the chickens saw me carry a chicken away somewhere and then never returning WITH the chicken, would they think something was up, and how would they feeel(anger) towards me then.

No, they don't seem to think that way. I've seen footage of herds of antelope calmly grazing almost next to a pack of lions that are devouring one of their herd mates. They certainly remember former flock mates, though. Today a cockerel I rehomed next door came over to the fence after leaving weeks ago. The group he was raised with all gathered excitedly at the fence. The chickens that were not raised with him completely ignored his presence.

 

[undine]

No, they don't seem to think that way. I've seen footage of herds of antelope calmly grazing almost next to a pack of lions that are devouring one of their herd mates. They certainly remember former flock mates, though. Today a cockerel I rehomed next door came over to the fence after leaving weeks ago. The group he was raised with all gathered excitedly at the fence. The chickens that were not raised with him completely ignored his presence.

aww.. that's sad :\

 

[lawatt]

Yea same with you, but i didnt mean it like that. I meant like if the chickens saw me carry a chicken away somewhere and then never returning WITH the chicken, would they think something was up, and how would they feeel(anger) towards me then.

it's pretty well established that chickens can't count (for instance, you can add or subtract eggs from under a broody hen and they don't react a bit), nor do have that kind of sense of a causal relationship -- and they're not particularly emotional creatures, beyond immediate needs/interests in food, sex, or shelter/safety. if you carry a chicken away, it's simply not-there for them, it's not like they spend a lot of time pondering its absence?

aww.. that's sad :\

and why would it be sad? just because they recognize a chicken that returns doesn't mean that they "missed" him while he was gone.

i haven't slaughtered any of my own chickens yet (still learning), but if i walk away carrying one that's ill, and then it dies & i don't return with it, there's zero response from the flock -- if the chicken gets better & i reintroduce it, they recognize her (although she may have some catching up to do in the pecking order, if she's been isolated for long), but if she doesn't come back, they don't mope around or sigh longingly or look angrily at me. they just ask, do you have any snacks with you?