Struggling with killing a chicken

[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.