((offgridmama)) I'm so sorry.
* * *
I processed my first chickens this morning. I had 2 cockerels start crowing this morning and given the recent neighbor complaints about the beloved Mr. Peep (who was very much a pet) I knew I needed to do something today. I thought about seeing if someone would take them, but they were almost certainly headed for freezer-ville in any case, so I decided to woman-up and do it myself. The first one was so hard. I had to cut the neck several times, and it felt awful to take a life like that. But, I'm not a vegetarian so it'd be hypocritical to think that its not taking a life when someone else does the hard part for you.
I have one other cockerel that is the same age and hasn't crowed yet (I wasn't up to condemning him for the crimes of others, and I didn't have the time this morning). Ugh. I'm proud of doing it, but not eager to do it again soon.