The road less traveled...back to good health! They have lice, mites, scale mites, worms, anemia, gl

[delisha]

MO,
Good for you! Welcome to the group!

 

[maggiemo]

I think the biggest thing to remember the first time you kill something is to be resolved to deliver a fatal blow, one, not several. I know that sounds obvious, but I have seen some chickens being butchered and it wasn't as 'fatal' as it could have been. It took a couple of slices with a knife to get to the jugular. Or a couple whacks with the ax. That wasn't ok with me.
I had a knife and I took 4 of the hens heads off with one slice, that is how committed I was. The other 3 spurted blood with one slice and were dead in less than a minute.

The other thing that I did was hold them. Like I say, I have seen this done and watched a ton of videos and I am just not comfortable with them flopping around and dying alone. I held the hen between my legs, breast up, and pulled her neck very taught and made a very quick, deep slice. Then I held them until they quit spasiming. All our hens, my friends and mine, are used to being held so it was comfortable for them to have me touching and holding them. I didn't want them dying alone. Might be dumb, but it got us through the ordeal.

 

[thedragonlady]

Blue jays and crows are notorious for taking chicks and ducklings .

Blue Jays taking chicks???? These must be Serama chicks. I keep my chicks, VERY LARGE ORPS, under cover until they are 4 weeks old...roughly 4 -5 times the size of a Blue Jay.Never have seen a Blue Jay after any kind of chick in over 50+ years with chickens. A crow might grab a stray bantam chick,or a dead one,, but I've never seen it happen. RAVENS WILL kill chicks though. Different breed of cat.

 

[aussie pete]

thanks for the link for the hoop coop Bee,think that will be my next project .do u remember what size the cattle panels were to get the right height of the hoop? i might have to hunt around here in aus to find them, thanks Pete

 

[maryhysong]

They make great range shelters for meaties and free range or pastured layers. Easy to build, cheap to buy the materials. I don't know more folks don't use them for quicky coops.


Guess what y'all? My boys are coming in this weekend!!!!!

Two of them get to stay all week and the oldest and his new wife will be in for three days. I'm so excited and happy to have my family all back in one home again...it has been a long time.

Oh what a wonderful Thanksgiving for you! Yippeee! I am hoping my son will be able to be home for the holidays next year; right now he's in Afghanistan and one daughter is teaching English in S. Korea; she thinks she might be home end of next summer, but it's a wait & see kind of deal. Tickets cost a lot of money!

 

[maryhysong]

I think the biggest thing to remember the first time you kill something is to be resolved to deliver a fatal blow, one, not several. I know that sounds obvious, but I have seen some chickens being butchered and it wasn't as 'fatal' as it could have been. It took a couple of slices with a knife to get to the jugular. Or a couple whacks with the ax. That wasn't ok with me.
I had a knife and I took 4 of the hens heads off with one slice, that is how committed I was. The other 3 spurted blood with one slice and were dead in less than a minute.

The other thing that I did was hold them. Like I say, I have seen this done and watched a ton of videos and I am just not comfortable with them flopping around and dying alone. I held the hen between my legs, breast up, and pulled her neck very taught and made a very quick, deep slice. Then I held them until they quit spasiming. All our hens, my friends and mine, are used to being held so it was comfortable for them to have me touching and holding them. I didn't want them dying alone. Might be dumb, but it got us through the ordeal.

Great job! I have occasionally botched a job and I think it distresses me as much or more than the animal. I think sometimes my mind wanders at the wrong moment or something. I love a nice quick clean kill. I hold some of the bigger ones and even if I hang them I hold onto them so they don't flop and flap all over the place; less likely to get blood spray that way too.

And I'm sure you learned a few things about those birds looking at their insides; now you can correlate some of what you see on the outside with what you can see on the inside. And of course now you have some room for a few new birds to come along.

 

[Beekissed]

thanks for the link for the hoop coop Bee,think that will be my next project .do u remember what size the cattle panels were to get the right height of the hoop? i might have to hunt around here in aus to find them, thanks Pete

They are standard sized here and we just cut them down to fit projects. 15 ft x 4 ft.

Oh what a wonderful Thanksgiving for you! Yippeee! I am hoping my son will be able to be home for the holidays next year; right now he's in Afghanistan and one daughter is teaching English in S. Korea; she thinks she might be home end of next summer, but it's a wait & see kind of deal. Tickets cost a lot of money!

Oh, Mary! I will be praying that you see them soon! Give your boy a phone hug for me and thank him for all his hard work over there and for our country.

 

[aussie pete]

thanks Bee ,will post some pics when done ,have a great time with yr boys cheers Pete

 

[Beekissed]

Another good way to cradle your chickens for processing and still keeping your hands free is to use a killing cone. I make mine from 2 gal. bleach jugs and they fit all sizes of birds. I just mount them on the side of a tree and this lets me get things done without worrying about flapping birds and spraying blood.

 

[maryhysong]

Update on injured birds; Well the Muscovy drake did not make it. The two ducks are pretty chipper this evening tho and were eating and drinking on their own just a bit ago. Compared to the drake and my roo they have pretty minor injuries. I think their thick down coats probably saved them there. One BO pullet has a good size tear in her back but has been pretty alert this afternoon, tho not moving around a lot. My roo is also pretty alert and was eating and drinking with the ducks while ago. He does have a heck of a hole in his back and can't move very fast at all; has a bad limp on that side. The other pullet has deep puncture wounds on top of her head and spent the day just sitting with her eyes closed. I did get some warm ACV water down her while ago and will try some more before I go to bed. Depending on how active they are I might put the other four back outside tomorrow or Sat (also depending on the weather, expecting at least a small storm). If the one pullet doesn't perk up at least a bit by Sat morning I will put her down. (the weather only concerns me because of the extent of their injuries)

Also while the dish of food I gave them today was their regular layer mash FF I think I am going to give these guys FF chick starter; they could use the extra protein to grow new meat and feathers.