Thorn_shrike
Chirping
Today I made the decision to cull a rooster I got about a month before. I feel so bad because if I hadn’t gotten him he would still be at his old home managing hens. The woman I got him from did not want him back (way too many roos already). There were a few reasons I decided we couldn’t keep him. The main one being that he made it extremely difficult to handle the hens. Him freaking out when we came near made all them freak out. One of the last straws was a few days ago when my 7yr old daughter was trying to pick up a hen and he charged her from behind. He charged at her a few more times after that also. We just have a small backyard flock, so spending time with our birds and taming them is the #1 priority. He continued to bite me or attempt to bite every time I was doing anything in the coop. Every day my fingers got bit when I was closing the coop door, feeding, watering, grabbing a hen. He was a bantam so it’s not like he did any damage, but still very annoying. He also started crowing a lot more frequently. We live in a suburban neighborhood, and while there are no ordinances about chickens I don’t want to be a nuisance to my neighbors. He had also begun to overbreed one of my girls.
The culling went very smoothly, I used the broomstick method. I have never intentionally killed an animal before, so I’m extremely grateful it went well and that I didn’t make him suffer. He was very calm (which for him was saying a lot) as I positioned his head under the stick. He didn’t struggle or try to get loose as I lifted his legs up. I just gently lifted until I met the slightest bit of resistance and then quickly jerked back. I was gentle enough that his head did not rip off thank god. I knew to expect the flapping and muscle jerks but that didn’t make it any less horrible to feel his feet tensing and relaxing in my hands, knowing he was gone and it was because of me. I knew he was already gone when he was jerking, his little neck was immediately limp. I just can’t get the sound of his last breath out of my head. I keep picturing the drops of blood in the snow, and remembering how his eyes looked right after I was certain he was gone. I feel so bad. I almost think I went into shock, because looking back it doesn’t even seem like it actually happened.
Just needed a place to say everything.
The culling went very smoothly, I used the broomstick method. I have never intentionally killed an animal before, so I’m extremely grateful it went well and that I didn’t make him suffer. He was very calm (which for him was saying a lot) as I positioned his head under the stick. He didn’t struggle or try to get loose as I lifted his legs up. I just gently lifted until I met the slightest bit of resistance and then quickly jerked back. I was gentle enough that his head did not rip off thank god. I knew to expect the flapping and muscle jerks but that didn’t make it any less horrible to feel his feet tensing and relaxing in my hands, knowing he was gone and it was because of me. I knew he was already gone when he was jerking, his little neck was immediately limp. I just can’t get the sound of his last breath out of my head. I keep picturing the drops of blood in the snow, and remembering how his eyes looked right after I was certain he was gone. I feel so bad. I almost think I went into shock, because looking back it doesn’t even seem like it actually happened.
Just needed a place to say everything.
