Should I buy eggs or wait it out?

[Wishing4Wings]

Haha! My husband would have a harder time than me! And the boys.... I can't stand upsetting everyone. At least I grew up on a farm of sorts and we dealt with animal death. I just never had to do it myself. I think I could manage, but I will tell everyone that I sent the chicks back so I don't have to see the sad (boys) and sympathetic (hubby) looks from everyone. I'll take them up to the old farm and make it quick. Then they can join my two hens in the circle of life out in the orchard.

I'm really torn. If my other birds stay healthy, the chicks have to go.

If my flock catches the crud

, then the chicks can stay. Sad choice. I suspect it is mg, which can be managed with Denagard in a closed flock. Should know the necropsy results in a week. So, do I cull to reduce the risk to my other birds that may already be exposed? Do I wait? Because if my other birds are already infected, the new pullets can live amongst the carriers.

What to do???

 

[chickenlindz]

I think the humane way is the old fashion slit of the neck/chop of the head.

Just tell yourself that it's ok to be a wimp but what makes you comfortable isn't necessarily the most comfortable for the bird.

I have been reading up on gas (CO and CO2) but haven't come to a conclusion on whether it's humane or not (I go by ag schools and published literature).

Now with all that being said I have 4 boys I have to send to freezer camp and I know I can't do it myself. I can process but no the actual kill.

One of the things that made me most upset with the dog attack was the thought of finding an injured bird and knowing I would have to do the deed... thankfully the only dead one was dead and the other 2 were just shocked, not hurt.

 

[Wishing4Wings]

Thanks Clindz. I thought about a dry ice/CO2 chamber. Carbon dioxide is not a hard way to die. It just keeps oxygen from getting in the lungs, and they would pass out before the actual death. Maybe I could do a combo method, because it's really having to look into their eyes that makes it so hard. If they were already sleeping...

 

[Scrambles55]

I am with you CLindz.... I can process, not kill with my hands. DH raised chickens when he was a kid and they ate them. I know a man whose first job and a kid was to kill chickens.

EGADS!!! Can you imagine having that job?

 

[evemfoster]

I am with you CLindz.... I can process, not kill with my hands. DH raised chickens when he was a kid and they ate them. I know a man whose first job and a kid was to kill chickens.

EGADS!!! Can you imagine having that job?

Oh yes no trouble imagining it at all. It was typical on a small farm for the kids to do or help with the butchering of the small stuff.

I'm an old lady now and i still remember my job was collecting ingredients for the pot. Digging root vegetables, picking the salad and butchering whatever small critter was for dinner that night.... Well to be honest the first one was a rabbit, i think i was 5. Rabbits and chickens weren't too bad before we got a freezer, we only cleaned one critter at a time and didn't do another until that one was all gone.

After we got our first freezer Dad got the whole family together to help with the whole flock of chickens because we could freeze them. We would usually do a hundred at a time. We all would catch a chicken, chopped then plucked. When all the chickens were plucked mom and i would get to clean them all. Dad considered cleaning the little animals women's work so my brothers got out of it.

The scariest part was feeding the innards to the hogs. I swear they would have ate me alive if they could get a hold of me after waiting and smelling the butchered chickens all day long.

 

[Wishing4Wings]

Wow, eve, that way of life is so uncommon these days, but I think it would be a very good education, life skills and all that. I believe it is easier for kids to accept processing animals for food than it is for adults to start doing it. My semi-farm life as a kid gave me experience with a slaughterer coming to dispatch the steer, euthanizing animals that were suffering, and watching the neighbors wringing chicken necks (not a good method, in my opinion). My parents were both raised in suburbia and had no previous experience with animals other than household pets. For them, the experiences were traumatic. After seeing the first steer killed, they sold off the rest of the cows, not willing to repeat the experience. As a kid, I was only traumatized a little bit. Culling these chicks, if I have to do it, will be the first real test for me.

Hogs are scary. We had quite a menagerie on the farm, but never sheep, which are too stupid, nor pigs, too smart, according to my dad.

 

[lindz8504]

Wow W4W. I'm sorry you have to worry about that! I'm not sure what I would do...... if I was sure that my flock hadn't been exposed then I definitely would cull. But if you think your flock has been exposed then it is already too late and I would probably just close the flock and cull the sickest birds.
When I culled the rooster a while back, I slit their necks. I would definitely recommend a really really sharp knife and making sure you get a good clean and deep cut.

 

[evemfoster]

Wow, eve, that way of life is so uncommon these days, but I think it would be a very good education, life skills and all that. I believe it is easier for kids to accept processing animals for food than it is for adults to start doing it. My semi-farm life as a kid gave me experience with a slaughterer coming to dispatch the steer, euthanizing animals that were suffering, and watching the neighbors wringing chicken necks (not a good method, in my opinion). My parents were both raised in suburbia and had no previous experience with animals other than household pets. For them, the experiences were traumatic. After seeing the first steer killed, they sold off the rest of the cows, not willing to repeat the experience. As a kid, I was only traumatized a little bit. Culling these chicks, if I have to do it, will be the first real test for me.

Hogs are scary. We had quite a menagerie on the farm, but never sheep, which are too stupid, nor pigs, too smart, according to my dad.

We had cows and steers, sheep (i agree stupid as well as a lot of trouble), rabbits, chickens, Hogs (southern ridge backs, mean as all get out), ducks, geese and bees. Pigs (the smart pink ones you see now days) I didn't even see one until high school. Chickens was always the easiest to dispatch, we used a hatchet.

Chickens was also my favorite bird to just watch. Chicken TV before dad got our first TV. We had laying hens as well as meat birds and sold the eggs to the local Safeway. Safeway would put the eggs into reused egg cartons to sell them. This was before "the war on hunger's" introduction of expiration dates. The customers would bring the old egg cartons back to the store to be refilled for a small deposit. I think that is why people still save stacks of old egg cartons to this day.

 

[mortie]

w4w - sorry you are having to face this I was a first timer when I processed my little roos this summer and I wanted to cut their jugulars because I saw a lot of youtube videos showing it and it looked easy and quick and the chickens didn't fuss. The thing is you don't want to cut the trachea...they can have a hard time breathing if you do and I didn't want them to suffer if I could help it. When I had the birds in position and ready to go, I didn't think I could cut the jugular without hitting the trachea and I just wasn't comfortable with it so I went with the good old fashioned "off with their heads" approach. Quick and you know you did it right first try. I used heavy gardening shears.

I did not enjoy it. I don't like making a living thing into a not living thing. I realize that by eating meat and what not I am responsible for many, many, many living things being turned into non living things but it's hard to do it with my own hands. I viewed it as a necessary part of the process of being an omnivore and turning a blind eye to the fact that my chicken nuggets used to be chickens is useless. I used it as a chance to grow personally and connect with that part of the food chain. I also know I might have to cull a bird or dispatch a suffering bird in the future...it's part of having chickens. I want to learn not to be squeamish about it. One doesn't have to enjoy or relish it, and I definitely think people should have reverence for the lives of other creatures. So there is a balance there. I love my birdies but when the time comes I hope to have the strength to do what I have to do. Hubs won't do it because it's unpleasant and these are "my" chickens so that kind of thing is left to me. I hope you don't have to cull them but if you do, I hope you can find a method that will work for you and be humane and effective. I have killed two chickens and I hated it and I hope I get my way and my current chickens live forever in good health and with good production so I never have to dispatch another one!

 

[mortie]

Stupid question but what does close the flock mean? Does it mean you don't bring any more birds in or hatch any more?