Rooster culling advice - first time

[Niamh]

I’m going to cull my rooster due to being aggressive multiple times towards my little daughter and now me lately.
And also with my ladies even though he has plenty of them. I posted him on craigslist for free but no takers so far.
Yesterday when I closed their coop up I always check on them and I found one leghorn with blood all over her face. I’m pretty sure its from him because my leghorns are usually on top the pecking order and this looked way worse. I took care of her and he is in time out right now (in a dog kennel) until my husband gets home.

Anyways... Here is my question. My husband wants to shoot him with a 22. But will the meat be usable after that?
And he is a Easter Egger almost a year old. Is he to old to be roasted or should he be going into the crockpot?
This will be our first time doing this. So advice is appreciated
Thank you

 

[cavemanrich]

You have to do WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO.

I know its not pretty and chickens are processed all the time. Usually they are done in a killing cone. The jugular is cut and chicken expires. The blood leaves the body. If you are going to need to use the 22 to end the chicken, then do a clean shot thru the head. Then cut off head and hang upside down to let blood to drain. Meat will be fine to eat. It will not be as tender as 8 week broilers, but it will be tasty. When ready to process, have a pot of boiling water on hand to dunk chicken in. The feathers then come out easily. I do not process any of my chickens, (pets only) but if I had to , there is a butcher nearby that can. Its like AC-DC song.. "Dirty deeds, done dirt cheap" $4 per bird.

 

[Niamh]

Thank you for your reply.
I know... I'm not happy about that either because he is really pretty and was not that bad at first. But now he is getting out of control.
The last time my daughter was attacked he scratched her about half inch underneath her eye and she was not even standing too close by. She was just playing in the snow like 15-20ft away while I took care of chickens and checked the coop.
That was the main reason why I've been thinking of sending him to freezer camp. Because maybe next time we wont be so lucky and he scratches out her eye.
I think i'm ok with processing the chicken. But I don't think i'm ready yet to kill it.

 

[cavemanrich]

I'm glad to hear that your daughter did not sustain worse injury. Roo, sure has to go. Family Safety FIRST.

 

[Niamh]

Thank you!
And I agree - Family Safety First

 

[donrae]

Depends on how good a shot your husband is.

My Honey has dispatched roosters with a head shot from a .22. You do have to be very steady, it's a small target and moves unpredictably.

After the bird is down, you'll just hang it and bleed it out, then butcher. I wouldn't roast a bird that age, I'd crockpot or braise or simmer and use the meat for casseroles, tacos, sammiches, etc. Be sure to let it rest for 3 days or so before you cook, and brining in salt water is a good idea also to help the meat be tender.

 

[Mdm Cluck Cluck]

We don't have a killing cone. I wrap the hen (no roosters) tightly up in a towel. We have a device on the wall (can't nb name), sort of like scissors but isn't. It has a gap for head and neck and you just bring it down. It doesn't cut off head, it breaks neck. Quick & humane although obviously you do feel death throws. My friend's husband is a farmer and he just holds under his arm and snaps neck with hand. It's so quick I've never been able to really figure out how he's done it. That's why I rely on the other method.

If that rooster is dangerous, it's just not worth the risk.

 

[strangeanimal]

Hi ,
I also use to have a rooster like this and did not have the guts to do it myself actually , I went totally pale by the idea itself first so I also started looking for a new home for the young guy but that is such a sad issue , who wants them if they are male , sad in fact because nature provided them for a reason , producing babies , yes but other than just having a rooster watching over the ladies and being daddy , what is he ' worth' to us , I totally understand your situation as I had the same experience , with myself , my Rhode Island Reds and ow dear my little girl started to say " stupid chickens no I dont feed them , I dont like them " , that shocked me since I didn't notice it first that weird thing on her leg , untill she went to bath and she started telling me that mister right had been jumping up with his feet and pecking , poor girl is almost a few inches taller than the rooster so I decided to take him to that new home and same old same old , no new home , went by a farmer in the area here who eats lots of rooster but he began to teach me how since I had / have also lots of very old chickens just like him .

In the case of him being that violent you think about shooting it , how will you be able to get the powder or bullet out without hitting organs ??
Probably , in my opinion not such a good idea , I was tought the following :
in case of agressiveness wait till dark , go catch it as u know where it sits , immediately cut the throat ( arteria ) or you can use the method of chopping of the head but I think that is a bit overdone , a clean cut is the fast way to cull it and let it bleed right away .
They say sometimes that those moslims are cruel etc , no they are not if you see how they cull their chicken , it is the cleanest and fastest way ever , now recently even proven by science . the animal also doesn't suffer since he bleeds out , what is needed also , you cant wait to let him bleed , it has to happen in the first two hours tops and best is ofcourse when the animal is still having warm blood .

After doing that you have now let it bleed , so you can dip into some hot water or ( just a good tip I use ) if the animal is still warm you can already start plucking it and in that last case start with the pinfeathers as they are hard to get off if it is cold , even if dipped into hot water , do not let it in there for minutes , just a ' dive ' into the hot water untill feathers are better to pluck , you will be busy a while ( I still struggle with time in plucking after 12 times ) .
Another tip in plucking : if you hold the animals skin stretched a little bit , not wrinkled etc plucking goes without doing damage to the skin much easyier . and after that you can either first cook the rooster for 15-20 minutes or first remove all the guts etc and then cut it and prepare it but make sure you always have two bowls of water :
you need : 1 with cold water for cleaning the animal ,
1 with hot water since first time plucking can easy take up some time and the animal gets too cold to get the feathers of so you might have to dip it in again .
The cutting is probably explained already thentousand times here so , also since this is long info ( sorry my way of writin is due the english ) I'll leave it up to this , hope you got something on this info !
P.S. : If we love our animals and families we respect it , culling it the most gentle way , securing it won't be shot 89 times lol , is also respect for the animal . Don't feel bad about this , it's nobody's fault and is neccisary ...
kind regards out of Belgium

 

[strangeanimal]

Depends on how good a shot your husband is.

My Honey has dispatched roosters with a head shot from a .22. You do have to be very steady, it's a small target and moves unpredictably.

After the bird is down, you'll just hang it and bleed it out, then butcher. I wouldn't roast a bird that age, I'd crockpot or braise or simmer and use the meat for casseroles, tacos, sammiches, etc. Be sure to let it rest for 3 days or so before you cook, and brining in salt water is a good idea also to help the meat be tender.

 

[lilwildrabbit]

to shoot one is kinda hard to achieve a good kill don't want body shots best way is place the roosterbon its back hold it there ado a short while it will automatically relax and it goes into a trance then you can safely sever the head or just cut the artery your choice but seems the easiest way