Aren’t they sweet? The Children of the Pellet live placid lives. I provide all their needs and keep them safe from all dangers…except one.
Today I separated out the pullet with the broken leg, which is looking kind of bedraggled and is hiding in corners but doesn’t seem to have started going physically downhill yet. And I’d have done that last night if that was when I read this paragraph in my book:
I strongly recommend isolating birds to be slaughtered overnight without feed. Do provide water free-choice. The brief starving of the birds clears the gastrointestinal tract, making for easier, more sanitary butchering.
I’d really worked myself up to losing my farmer virginity this morning, and to be honest I wasn’t happy about waiting. But I decided to see what kind of shape the poor little thing is in, and decide then. But it hasn’t gone downhill any further, so it probably won’t hurt to wait a day. She’s destined for Landlady’s freezer, and I’ve no desire to present the lady with a bag of meatless bones.
So I separated out the broken one and caught it, stuffed her in a dog carrier, and brought it to the Lair. It’s in the Fortress of Attitude, which is the only all-day shady spot I can guarantee, and in it she will stay until morning. And then…
And if you’re wondering how a stiff old one-legged guy catches a single pullet in a crowd, even one with a broken leg? I wondered the same thing. The answer is…
Technology!
Day before yesterday my neighbor D said he was going to the next-nearest town, about 35 miles away, which happens to boast a sporting goods store. I handed him some cash and said, “Buy me a fishing net.” He looked a bit bemused, but complied.
That works great.
That’s what we use to catch them too, only we have a long handled version, works slick!
D thought the same thing, and along with the net he gave me a length of old ABS that just fits the handle. It’s way too long, and I figure I’ll cut it to size if I decide I need more length. But this morning the net worked fine without the extension.
Brilliant!
If you’re going to pursue the conversion of birds to food, you might do well to investigate the use of a “killing cone” for the procedure. Experience has shown that attempting to hold the bird with one hand and manipulate a hatchet with the other can have . . . um . . . unexpected and occasionally painful results. Seriously.
My son in law improvised a killing cone (they are expensive to buy) with an orange traffic cone (I have nooooo idea where it came from….) he had to make the opening at the top of the cone bigger, which was easy to do, then he nailed the cones to the barn, stuck the chickens in, head first, and chopped off their heads. Easy peasy, We also let them stay in the cones to bleed out, as we had several cones and had an assembly line of sorts.