My wife and I have been building up the courage to start butchering our own chickens for meat. Today was the day we decided to make our first attempt. I went a couple hours before the time we’d planned to do it, and caught 2 of them and put them in some old nesting boxes to keep them calm and separate from the rest of the flock. I did this specifically because we planned to butcher after the flock retired to their coop, and it would’ve been very difficult to get them out of the coop based on how it’s designed. It’s not exactly easy to access for humans. Well, as you already know from the title, when we went to get them from the boxes to butcher, they were both already dead.
Help me figure out what we did wrong.
Both were year old Plymouth Rock hens that free range pretty much full time. Healthy and happy as far as I know. They came from a flock of 9 hens and a rooster.
It was warm today, but they were kept in a pretty cool spot and it was dusk. Though I did drape a sheet over most of the boxes that may have decreased circulation.
They’d obviously spent time in these boxes before while laying, but never had they been confined in one, or in a similarly small space.
My working theory is that the sudden confinement caused too much stress and ultimately a heart attack.
I’d love to hear any other theories or stories of similar experiences, as well as pointers for what we could do next time. This was a major bummer for us, both because of the preparation we made to do it, and because we know the chickens died in stress.
Help me figure out what we did wrong.
Both were year old Plymouth Rock hens that free range pretty much full time. Healthy and happy as far as I know. They came from a flock of 9 hens and a rooster.
It was warm today, but they were kept in a pretty cool spot and it was dusk. Though I did drape a sheet over most of the boxes that may have decreased circulation.
They’d obviously spent time in these boxes before while laying, but never had they been confined in one, or in a similarly small space.
My working theory is that the sudden confinement caused too much stress and ultimately a heart attack.
I’d love to hear any other theories or stories of similar experiences, as well as pointers for what we could do next time. This was a major bummer for us, both because of the preparation we made to do it, and because we know the chickens died in stress.
I don’t like to feed mine within 12 hrs of processing them because then their crop is full of the feed. But water is water, so I let them have access to water up until the moment I grab them to carry them to the chopping block.
