Struggling with killing a chicken

[Adolph Otto]

It seems to me there would be no benefit in doing that. Even if he lived, nothing would be learned. He'd just be afraid of you.

 

[goats-n-oats]

Don't let anyone make you feel guilty. You were defending your animals and that's a normal human instinct. Otherwise, we wouldn't have been able to keep livestock for millennia.
The big takeaway, I think, is that once a rooster shows you who he is, believe him. He was never going to get along with others. That should make future culling decisions easier.

I just wonder if I should have just left him outside. I basically killed him by bringing him into my barn.

 

[McChooky]

Cull them soon as they show aggression for peace of mind . The broomstick method is preferred by those who can't bear the sight of blood.

 

[Dizzee474]

So he was fighting other roosters... And you smacked him with a pole, in the head, as punishment, and he struggled and died?

I can see why you feel guilty. Never act in anger towards an animal. What even was the situation? How many roosters, to how many hens? Were they introduced properly? Was he injuring them, drawing blood?

I'm sure you were trying to protect your other roosters. But this wasnt handled correctly.
I'm sorry he died

I agree - you HAVE to introduce a new member of the group properly - at night after everyone has 'gone to bed' - roosters WILL establish or challenge the head Roo - always.
there ARE ways to get them to "get along" - we have two "runs" with 25 roos, it is more than I like but hatched way too many roosters this season. they sometimes challenge each other but no blood or anything. hitting with a POLE is very excessive. A "time out" would have been better

 

[My Very First 6 Chickens]

It doesn't get easier emotionally, but it becomes more efficient the more you do. At least that's my experience. How I reconcile to the act of killing one or more of God's creatures whom I've raised and cared for and laughed with since egg-hood:

1. I remind myself they would not exist but for me incubating eggs or allowing them to hatch. Their entire purpose in life on my farm is to produce either eggs or meat to eat. They exist to satisfy my needs, as God created me, and He created animals like chickens and others for that purpose.
Genesis 1:26 - "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth."
Genesis 9:3 - "Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things."

2. I pray. I thank Heavenly Father for the blessings he has provided us with, and ask His blessing on the birds. I ask for His guidance on my hands to give them a quick and painless death, as much as possible. If I have helpers to process chickens, we do this as a group prayer. I have some Native American ancestry, so I'm reminded of the circle of life and how Indians would say prayers for the souls of their animals, too.

3. Next, as I carry a bird towards the processing area, I talk to him or her, and pet them, and thank them for their life and the gifts they are about to give me. It gets especially hard at this point, because the birds are usually so calm and trusting of me, perhaps even imprinted on me. Blissfully, they have no idea what's about to happen and are not afraid.

4. And then I get it over with as quickly as possible. Just grit my teeth and do it. I use killing cones to restrain them and PVC cutters to snip their heads off. Once they are all dispatched, the actual processing is just work, but not difficult to handle at all.

5. Finally, I try to do the birds justice by using every part of their bodies for some benefit. Icky bits and feathers get buried in the garden for fertilizer and compost. Hopefully the blood that remains on grass etc. will convince rabbits and such to stay out of my garden and find their dinner elsewhere. (I do it near the garden gate.) Backs, wingtips, necks, and giblets are boiled for a few hours, and the meat bits and skin are processed for dog and cat food. Broth is either frozen or canned. Fat is skimmed off, rendered, and frozen for later use. Bones, picked clean, are then buried in the garden as well.

And my freezer fills up with bounty to feed my family all year long.

BarnyardChoas, Thank you for sharing.

 

[BelovedBirds]

Hi all, I killed a rooster today. He was aggressive but I had to let him out of the dog crate to put the dog in. He immediately started fighting with the other roosters. I swatted him with a 1x1" wood pole to get him to back off, but apparently it was just too hard and just on his eye. He struggled and died a minute later. It was awful. All the barn animals were watching. I eat commercially processed chicken every day, and raise chickens for this purpose, but am not sure how to proceed with killing animals. How do you reconcile?

So he was fighting other roosters... And you smacked him with a pole, in the head, as punishment, and he struggled and died?

I can see why you feel guilty. Never act in anger towards an animal. What even was the situation? How many roosters, to how many hens? Were they introduced properly? Was he injuring them, drawing blood?

I'm sure you were trying to protect your other roosters. But this wasnt handled correctly.
I'm sorry he died

 

[kodster]

This is what I needed to read today! I have 13 barely laying (not laying at all right now) chickens and I need to thin the flock so I can add more in the spring. I do not eat meat.

The 3 oldest will be 6 in the spring and they have retirement plans so I need to figure out who goes. The mean one is first.

Edited to add: looks like the bobcat made the first two decisions for me, I am down to 11. I have seen it on the cameras at night but it did not worry me, apparently it came back for a daytime feast.

Don't thin! They're not laying because they're spending their energy on staying warm, surviving the winter. The daylight hours they need, to keep laying, have shortened. It's seasonal, completely natural for them to not lay during the season where it would not be best for chicks to survive, if they were laying in the wild (chickens actually are a wild bird species that has been domesticated). The time for the chicks will be in the spring, for them to start laying again. This is completely NORMAL! Yea, they're being free-loaders for now, but this is common. So, don't thin your flock, thinking you can add later on, and then have to wait for the new chicks to come of laying age, which, again, would put you in a shortened laying season before they become free-loaders again for the winter.

 

[kodster]

It wasn't in anger, but I thought (incorrectly) I might be able to teach it to stay away from the other roosters. I have 5 purebred roosters in the larger barn, and all the other hens (and a few cockerels) are in their private garage/coop. This sixth rooster, whom I spoke about in another thread, was bred by my flock last summer. I gave him to a neighbor as a chick, and for whatever circumstances, he exited that neighbor's property a few weeks ago, as an adult rooster, and I received calls from other neighbors saying they saw one of my roosters running in the street. I was able to catch him and bring him to my property, but he immediately started beating up my peaceful roosters and cockerels among the hens (yes drawing blood on their waddles). I put him in a dog crate for two weeks in the larger barn with the other adult roosters, but he beat them up too through the wire. I just didn't have enough cages for all the special needs animals (this rooster and my adolescent Anatolian shepherd).

He was just trying to establish his place in the roo pecking order. They have a pecking order, too, like the hens do. He was new to the flock, and they already had an established pecking order, which is why they were peaceful with each other, until he came along. That's why he was being aggressive. But things happen. Let it go, move on.

When I have to cull roos because they're being too aggressive with me, or each other, they find their way into the freezer camp.

 

[raingarden]

I’ve successfully “reformed” a couple roosters/cockerels but usually just cull them upon signs of aggression. My 2-1/2 year old granddaughter is with me and I can’t tolerate bad behavior that could lead to her getting hurt. I have about 20 roosters spread out among the different coops. Culling for behavior and food happens regularly here and it gets easier over time. I built a covered processing station to go with my scalder and “washing machine” de-featherer to make the task efficient. As they say, the chickens here have a good life - and one bad day

I would like to have it together enough to make a processing station. Please show a pitcher of your washing machine de-featherer. What a lurury!.

 

[kodster]

Older birds are often thinned because they don't lay as well as younger birds.

I get that.... when I wrote the comment, I didn't realize that they were already 6 years old, but depending on conditions, they could still be laying, just not as much as new layers. I won't do it, myself. Not because they're not producing, but because I'm human... would you want to be euthanized because you're no longer being productive to society? Just me.