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

[BCMaraniac]

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

We raise out meaties separately from our layers, and the only thing I have ever noticed with mine is that when the meat chicken is taken out of the cage and squawks, our rooster comes running. However it almost seems as if he realizes that the meatie isn't one of his girls, and then just walks away. My layers stay close by in order to get snacks as I gut them, and I think I have seen a hint of a smile from the girls when I toss a testicle their way.....

 

[Beekissed]

 

[undine]

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?


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?

Its sad because the chickens will be losing a friend, and theyll forever think that theyre just missing T_T but idk i tend to overthink things a lot and get overly attached. So i guess whatever feelings that im saying the chickens have, are just probably my own LOL

 

[undine]

We raise out meaties separately from our layers, and the only thing I have ever noticed with mine is that when the meat chicken is taken out of the cage and squawks, our rooster comes running. However it almost seems as if he realizes that the meatie isn't one of his girls, and then just walks away. My layers stay close by in order to get snacks as I gut them, and I think I have seen a hint of a smile from the girls when I toss a testicle their way.....

LOL

 

[lawatt]

Its sad because the chickens will be losing a friend, and theyll forever think that theyre just missing T_T but idk i tend to overthink things a lot and get overly attached. So i guess whatever feelings that im saying the chickens have, are just probably my own LOL

exactly -- we're emotional creatures, but they aren't, for the most part. i remember last fall, one of my two cuckoo marans sisters had somehow cut her toe & was bleeding a bit, and there was her sister, sitting next to her and pecking at that toe to get at the blood... not a lot of sentiment there!

i think that's part of why i like chickens so much -- they're wildly unsentimental creatures, which makes them kind of fascinating.

 

[gypsychicken]

Seems to me that Chix like it when there is more room. I did notice that with more close nit and intimate batches they are a bit bewildered when their bud is gone... but only for a day or so.

 

[aoxa]

They do love those testicles!


My girls don't seem to be bothered by the process at all. In fact, they lick the blood under the cone as we kill each bird.

 

[Sally Sunshine]

you guys crack me up!

 

[3 NH reds]

It is and that is why it seems so popular with people...they just LOVE that video. Of course they do...it teaches them to be selfish about the whole process and concentrate only on how they feel and not the how the chicken is dealing with it.


Thank you! I was expecting to get shredded on that post but it's what I've been observing on these forums for the past 5 years and it seems to be the root of the problem. I am so very pleased you are getting your head around this processing...it's like anything else, the more you practice detachment on processing day, the easier it gets each time. It becomes a job then and less of a drama.

I've been handling a lot of chickens over quite a few years and killed more than most folks here, I figure, I can assure you that restraining them is every bit as stressful as it looks. It can calm some birds some of the time, but they have to have their heads covered and even then they struggle~I know because I use a towel over their heads when I work on them and wrap them in it..and I still need another person to restrain them. Struggling, as you saw in the video of this swaddled bird, is a sign of panic, fight or flight reaction and it's natural when the chicken is restrained.

Hanging them upside down until they stop flapping and calm down works well, so placing them in a cone works for both things..that's why they rest so comfortably in a cone, not because they are restrained, but because they are upside down. The cone merely makes for good gravitational positioning, while freeing one's hands for the job and keeping the movements of the bird to a minimum. They actually bleed out quicker when they move more, but they also make a great big mess, so the cones make things neat and orderly which is great for processing. One bird can be hanging and bleeding out while you eviscerate another. It's just good sense to use the cones...can't really be gutting one bird, with another bird on your lap bleeding out into a bucket.


This is how I do it as well and I agree...they calm right down when placed in the cone. That's why I make it a quick trip from holding place to cone, all the while holding the bird upside down so they can calm down on the way to the cone. If I sat down and wrapped them in an apron to do the processing, it would take me approximately all day to do a few birds...and ain't nobody got time for that, as Sweet Brown says.

That is true! Now I just place them in a dog crate for 24 hours take them out holding the feet so the head is down, they relax and I take them to the wood shed and put them in the cone and bleed them. Quick and over. Giving them a name is asking for trouble. Over handling them only makes it harder for them. Next time I might try to get my wife to gut one just because she has smaller hands but I don't want to push my luck. I tried to shake them by the neck to kill them but it did not work but it did stun them enough to go in the cone and the head was right there no having to pull the head out of the cone.

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

Nope if anything I think they like it. One less bird to compete for the food, water or a roosting spot.

They do love those testicles!


My girls don't seem to be bothered by the process at all. In fact, they lick the blood under the cone as we kill each bird.

Are your birds in the pic Rangers? They look just like my second generation birds just thinner.

 

[aoxa]

Are your birds in the pic Rangers? They look just like my second generation birds just thinner.

No they are red sex links. Layers 12 weeks in this picture