Post by Lannie on Sept 3, 2007 19:38:09 GMT -5
It was one of the "pullets" we got this spring. He was about 6 months old and becoming an absolute terror. He had one of my hens with her head stuck in a hole shivering, she was so afraid of him. (Not to mention the ugly gashes on her where he rakes her with beak and claw.) When I saw that, I said no matter HOW much I don't want to kill a "pet," he's got to go.
Wonder of wonders, I stuck with it. I told my hubby Rich this morning that we needed to remove Apollo from the flock, and he said he'd do it. I've never butchered a chicken in my life (I hate killing things), and I've never seen it done, so I watched. It wasn't pretty. Then I found out the last time Rich butchered a chicken he was in high school! LOL! So he ended up being skinned rather than plucked (the plucking was going badly, and I won't even get into the fact that the axe wasn't sharp enough - ugh!), but now I have nice lean homegrown chicken chilling in my fridge.
I went ahead and cut up the carcass rather than leaving it whole, so I could give the back to the dogs. I've been wanting to try out the whole raw food thing with them, but I was raised to "NEVER GIVE A DOG A CHICKEN BONE!" Of course, they forgot to say, RAW chicken bones are just fine. The sad part is, our dog Flash didn't know what to do with his section of the back. He figured it out eventually, but it was sad to watch a dog with a part of a carcass, puzzling out how to eat it. The other two dogs didn't have any problems at all! LOL! Funny thing is, both the other dogs came to me as adults (rescues) and Flash we got as a tiny puppy. So maybe the other two had experience rummaging through garbage cans or something. Flash was raised on kibble.
Anyway, I'm really proud of myself for going through with it and not waffling. My hens were really suffering, though, and when he had my very favorite hen literally hiding her head, I knew something had to be done. Now that I've been through the experience, I think it's possible for me to raise meat birds next year. I've been putting it off, with one excuse or another, but the simple fact is I wasn't sure if I could actually kill birds I raised. I found out it depends on my feelings toward said bird. I'll miss Apollo's juvenile crowing (his voice had just changed and he was starting to get it right), and I'll miss seeing him, because he was the prettiest bird I had, but I definitely won't miss his terrorism toward the other birds, and more than likely, he would have been mean to us eventually, too. Now that I know I can handle it emotionally, I can raise the meat birds as meat birds, not pets, and I'll be OK with it.
Boy I did run on, didn't I? I guess I'm just really proud of myself for not being a wimp at the last second. There's hope I can become a farmer after all! LOL!
~Lannie
Wonder of wonders, I stuck with it. I told my hubby Rich this morning that we needed to remove Apollo from the flock, and he said he'd do it. I've never butchered a chicken in my life (I hate killing things), and I've never seen it done, so I watched. It wasn't pretty. Then I found out the last time Rich butchered a chicken he was in high school! LOL! So he ended up being skinned rather than plucked (the plucking was going badly, and I won't even get into the fact that the axe wasn't sharp enough - ugh!), but now I have nice lean homegrown chicken chilling in my fridge.
I went ahead and cut up the carcass rather than leaving it whole, so I could give the back to the dogs. I've been wanting to try out the whole raw food thing with them, but I was raised to "NEVER GIVE A DOG A CHICKEN BONE!" Of course, they forgot to say, RAW chicken bones are just fine. The sad part is, our dog Flash didn't know what to do with his section of the back. He figured it out eventually, but it was sad to watch a dog with a part of a carcass, puzzling out how to eat it. The other two dogs didn't have any problems at all! LOL! Funny thing is, both the other dogs came to me as adults (rescues) and Flash we got as a tiny puppy. So maybe the other two had experience rummaging through garbage cans or something. Flash was raised on kibble.
Anyway, I'm really proud of myself for going through with it and not waffling. My hens were really suffering, though, and when he had my very favorite hen literally hiding her head, I knew something had to be done. Now that I've been through the experience, I think it's possible for me to raise meat birds next year. I've been putting it off, with one excuse or another, but the simple fact is I wasn't sure if I could actually kill birds I raised. I found out it depends on my feelings toward said bird. I'll miss Apollo's juvenile crowing (his voice had just changed and he was starting to get it right), and I'll miss seeing him, because he was the prettiest bird I had, but I definitely won't miss his terrorism toward the other birds, and more than likely, he would have been mean to us eventually, too. Now that I know I can handle it emotionally, I can raise the meat birds as meat birds, not pets, and I'll be OK with it.
Boy I did run on, didn't I? I guess I'm just really proud of myself for not being a wimp at the last second. There's hope I can become a farmer after all! LOL!
~Lannie