Tips for getting through first cull.

[Sally PB]

So glad for both you and him. Hugs!

 

[Morrigan]

Glad you found him a home. Lucky boy!

 

[CreveChris]

Also just thought I'd mention, there is a wildlife shelter around me that will take excess chickens, and humanely cull, to feed to the eagles.

And we have The Alligator Farm, a secret popular local roo disposal. Folks want one of my hens to pair with the roosters, so I'm keeping my boys in the bachelor pad until the first round of hatchlings ensure the lineage. I'll have a couple of layers to place with the roos in the spring, fingers crossed.

 

[Egg Snatcher]

Thats a relief! I understand it just seems such a cruel way to kill it.

The reman Roos didn't go to waste. We ended up eating them. That's why we hung them up side down to get the blood out before they got butchered.

 

[SulkyBantam]

The reman Roos didn't go to waste. We ended up eating them. That's why we hung them up side down to get the blood out before they got butchered.

I'm not blaming you, just shocked at bleeding a roo to death.

 

[3KillerBs]

I'm not blaming you, just shocked at bleeding a roo to death.

This is standard butchering practice.

There are several means of obtaining a quick, clean, merciful kill for a meat animal. Bleeding is one of them.

You need to educate yourself instead of reacting to everything with emotional impulses based on lack of knowledge and experience.

 

[SulkyBantam]

This is standard butchering practice.

There are several means of obtaining a quick, clean, merciful kill for a meat animal. Bleeding is one of them.

You need to educate yourself instead of reacting to everything with emotional impulses based on lack of knowledge and experience.

There's no need to be rude. I'm not as sensitive as you think.

 

[Kimmyh51]

I need advice.

The thing I am trying to overcome is, killing an animal that is perfectly healthy, causing no problems, and has the desire to live. I feel selfish for taking that away.

A while ago I bought three 2 1/2 months old "pullets" due to Covid I couldn't see them before bringing them home. Once I got home I opened the box and was 99% sure two of the three were actually roos. I confronted the lady but she insisted they were girls and wouldn't take them back. I got my first chickens at the very beginning of April so I'm still fairly new to chickens, but obsessed enough that I spend all my free time on BYC reading everything possible. She has had them for years. I figured "What do I know" and kept telling myself they were pullets till the saddles and sickle feathers came in. I bonded with the two of them, so giving them away is hard, let alone culling.

With my first batch of chicks I got straight run Ameraucana's (NOT Easter Eggers)
All four Ameraucanas, the single EE I had, and one of the cochin x brahmas were roos. I kept the brahma x cochin and managed to give the rest to breeding homes.

I was left with only two ladies so I needed some more girlies.

The three pullets I bought were supposed to be two lavender orpingtons, and one BR. I managed to rehome the barred last weekend, the other LO roo is still looking for a place. (They are not actually LO, they are blue EEs.) I don't want to give him to someone to be meat. I figure if his fate really is to become dinner, it might as well be for me. I have put too much time, money, and love into these birds, just to give someone a free dinner.

If I were raising cornish X I imagine this would all be easier for me. If I didn't harvest them, they would be miserable and have a hard time walking, not a fate they should have, and wouldn't live very long anyways. I also wouldn't bond with them as their purpose would be food, not eggs and company like layers are.

I just can't get over the fact that he wants to live and is not causing problems by living. I also don't need the meat, so I feel cruel for taking away his life.

Any advice on how to get over this guilt hurdle?

That sucks that this person has passed this dilemma on to you to deal with and is refusing to take them back.
It’s a really hard issue to deal with. I can’t offer any answers as I can’t bring myself to cull my drakes even though I need to. I’m going to be spending the next 7-8 months before next spring where I live, building a large number of runs to separate the drakes into next spring, so they don’t gang rape the females or each other...... I just barely got away with the drake to duck ratio this spring, but because I absolutely have to reduce the number of ducks in my flock and can’t reduce the drake numbers tomgood homes as fast as I need to, I am going to rehome a number of ducks, which means I will have to separate the drakes not just from the girls, but from each other next spring....

Having said that, are there any chicken rescues in your area? I live in Nz so it’s no help at all to you (assuming you are probably overseas) but where I live there is a Chicken Rescue who take roosters, and have a pretty good success rate with rehoming them. I guess because they are known within the poultry community locally they have a larger base of people who they can communicate to when they have Roos or cockerels needing homes, so if there is a Chicken Rescue local to you, they may have contacts and a reputation that means they can find homes for your roosters with people that your own advertising and so on might not reach.
Suggest you do some searching for anypoultry Rescue within driving distance and then get in touch with them and ask them if they firstly will take your boys and secondly what they realistically see your chances of rehoming them as being. Possibly if they don’t have space, they can if nothing else take your contact details and keep an eye out for any suitable homes while the roosters stay with you.

It does suck though, not their fault they are roost3s, not my boys fault they are drakes. However if roosters can cause injury and distress to your chooks like too many drakes can to ducks, perhaps it will help if you do end up culling, to remind yourself that it is for the health and safety of your ducks.
And if you believe in god and heaven you can say a little prayer over each one asking for them to be given eternal life in heaven in a place there where you will find them again one day when your time comes.
And also remember for many birds, life is not only much shorter than your roosters have had, but also filled with misery, suffering, and ended with a terrifying painful death. Your roosters will always have had a good, loving happy life, which ends with a dignified, caring death in the presence of someone who loves them.

 

[SulkyBantam]

That sucks that this person has passed this dilemma on to you to deal with and is refusing to take them back.
It’s a really hard issue to deal with. I can’t offer any answers as I can’t bring myself to cull my drakes even though I need to. I’m going to be spending the next 7-8 months before next spring where I live, building a large number of runs to separate the drakes into next spring, so they don’t gang rape the females or each other...... I just barely got away with the drake to duck ratio this spring, but because I absolutely have to reduce the number of ducks in my flock and can’t reduce the drake numbers tomgood homes as fast as I need to, I am going to rehome a number of ducks, which means I will have to separate the drakes not just from the girls, but from each other next spring....

Having said that, are there any chicken rescues in your area? I live in Nz so it’s no help at all to you (assuming you are probably overseas) but where I live there is a Chicken Rescue who take roosters, and have a pretty good success rate with rehoming them. I guess because they are known within the poultry community locally they have a larger base of people who they can communicate to when they have Roos or cockerels needing homes, so if there is a Chicken Rescue local to you, they may have contacts and a reputation that means they can find homes for your roosters with people that your own advertising and so on might not reach.
Suggest you do some searching for anypoultry Rescue within driving distance and then get in touch with them and ask them if they firstly will take your boys and secondly what they realistically see your chances of rehoming them as being. Possibly if they don’t have space, they can if nothing else take your contact details and keep an eye out for any suitable homes while the roosters stay with you.

It does suck though, not their fault they are roost3s, not my boys fault they are drakes. However if roosters can cause injury and distress to your chooks like too many drakes can to ducks, perhaps it will help if you do end up culling, to remind yourself that it is for the health and safety of your ducks.
And if you believe in god and heaven you can say a little prayer over each one asking for them to be given eternal life in heaven in a place there where you will find them again one day when your time comes.
And also remember for many birds, life is not only much shorter than your roosters have had, but also filled with misery, suffering, and ended with a terrifying painful death. Your roosters will always have had a good, loving happy life, which ends with a dignified, caring death in the presence of someone who loves them.

Good advice! But it is about to be rehomed actually.

 

[Kusanar]

There's no need to be rude. I'm not as sensitive as you think.

That comment was not rude, it was the truth. And coming onto a culling thread and then leaving crying face emojis on everything is either rude, overly sensitive, or uninformed. Also being alarmed that people are considering killing a rooster in the most common and one of the most humane ways is certainly uninformed.