On killing chickens

If anything, its gotten harder to kill the chickens we are going to eat. It was always hard, but after 18 months of doing it, its even harder.
Maybe its because we are currently killing a couple of young Buff Catalana roos a week, and they are SUCH sweet chickens. They act wild, and they are subject to quick panics, but if you catch one, they settle right down in your arms. THey don't scream or try to peck you or anything that the others will do, even fairly tame ones. Its weird, because the Buffs didn't get much handling as babies, either. For the first time, we kept the brooder box up in the coop instead of on the front porch, so they didn't get picked up and petted a dozen times a day. They just seem to be nice, nice chickens.
Its almost easier to kill the ones that flap and scream and carry on, because you want to get it over with.
Either way, I don't think you should eat meat unless you are willing to kill it yourself. DH and I do it together. I hold and pet them and he quickly snips off their head with pruning shears. Quick and clean.

Predator loss

I know this is retribution for being smug about no predator losses, but we lost a mother hen, a Dark Cornish, to the neighbor(1/2 mile away)'s dog yesterday morning between 6:30 when my DH lets them out of the coop into the yard, and 7:30 when I went up to feed them.
There were feathers everywhere, and at first I couldn't figure out where she had gone, as the fencing had fallen back down over the hole.  I went out of the yard and walked the perimeter and found the tracks, then identified the hole.  I was just sick.  The 6 baby chicks are all right; they and the mama were the only ones in that coop and yard.  The youngest ones are 3 weeks old, and this IS central Arizona, so they are feathered enough to be OK. 
I have been seeing poop from a strange dog near the coops, and somebody got into our trash the last time we butchered, so should have been prepared for this to happen.
I phoned the neighbor and left a message asking if his dogs had been out at that time, since they had tried to get into a coop about a year ago and failed. He showed up at the house almost immediately, very apologetic.  His dog had actually taken the carcass home with her to chew on at her leisure, I guess.
He offered to pay for the chicken, but I refused.  If this happens again, and I have to shoot the dog, I don't want him thinking we had a deal to trade dead chickens for money. He assured me it will never happen again, but did tell me that she had killed all his daughter's chickens at their other place; they have only lived here about 4 years. She's an Aussie, and I love the breed, but a wrong Aussie can be very, very wrong and too smart to be thwarted in something they really love.
When my DH got home last night late, I told him and he was all for going over to the neighbor's house and thrashing him, but I was able to deflect him, thank goodness.  I really hate being enemies with the neighbors, and if it never happens again, I want to avoid that route. 
DH really prizes his Dark Cornish, and she was one of 3 out of 4 Dark Cornish to go broody AND do a good job of it.
Forgive me for this rant, but I needed to get it off my chest.

 

 

 

Buff Catalanas

I ordered 25 Buff Catalana chicks from Ideal back in March, and lost 4
the first few days. So, of the remaining 21, I seem to have 13 girls
and 8 boys, one of which is definitely NOT a Buff Catalana. We will
eat him first, as he is of no recognizable breed. I plan to keep 2
cocks, so I have left those 2 with the pullets and separated the other
6 to a grower pen.
Of the 8, 2 have bright blue earlobes, and 2 or 3 of the pullets do
too. Has anyone else seen this in Catalanas?
Like Jesse's Buckeyes, there is a lot of size and feather variation,
but I will keep choosing and choosing to try and improve the next
generation. One cock was/is always the first to try anything and the
biggest from the very beginning. Regrettably, he is also the lightest
colored, with the shortest tail of all the boys. I am hoping his tail
will catch up.
I'll probably switch my keepers a dozen times before it is time to eat
the others, but it is fun.
I phased out my Fayoumis, as the eggs were just too tiny, and the hens
too aggressive. Wali, my roo, is now living the good life with a
mixed flock of heavy layers with my DH's boss. I have only a
BR/Fayoumi pullet, pure black, and an Ameraucana/Fayoumi pullet, dark
grey, who saved her own life by starting to lay green eggs.
My DH is in love with Dark and White-Laced Red Cornish, and of his Dk
hens, 3 have set, 2 successfully, with 4 and 2 chicks respectively and
of 2 WLR, one set, with one chick hatched. All the chicks are WLR. The
Dark cock turned out to be infertile (we also tested him on other
breed hens) and made excellent chicken and dumplings. That is surely
the reason for the poor hatch rate too. THey all started with 7 or 8
eggs, and one poor DK didn't hatch a single one. She has gone broody
again, and I will get her a few feed store chicks then end of this
week. Poor thing, wants to be a mama so bad.

 

 

Edgar(1 year) and Robin(3 mos.)

I have finally gotten around to taking some pictures of Robin and the chickens by leaving the camera in my fanny pack and wearing it whenever I go outside with Robin. A necessary step, since she is no dummy and knows perfectly well where the clicker and treats are. The little devil goes her merry way if I don't have the bribes and behaves like a Companion Dog Excellent if I DO have them.
I originally hated the idea of abandoning all the dog training ideas I've had for the past 40 years and using treats and clickers to train, EVEN though my reading and talking to others have convinced me that its a better method. It just didn't seem right to me to bribe the dog. The book that finally convinced me is called Katz on Dogs, by Jon Katz. His explanations of how dogs minds work made more sense to me than anything has before. And I must admit that I haven't kept up at all with the dog fancy when we were dogless. So many new ideas have come and gone, but this one really works. It took 2 tries and Robin knows Sit. 2, not 10 or 15. Come is still iffy, depending on what else she is doing, but she will improve. She's just a kid, after all.
We had Robin help put the chickens away yesterday for the first time since both of us were home to prevent any damage to chickens or dog. She DEFINITELY has herding instinct, and went right out around them to try and bring them to us. Sloppy, but it was evident what she was doing. To me, anyway. So DH stood beside the door we wanted the chickens to go through and I danced around to keep Edgar from jumping on Robin. She didn't really try to catch a chicken; she just wanted them to MOVE. It was fun, and took just a few seconds to get them into the coop, and boy, was she proud of herself. Not something to try when DH isn't home, as Edgar needs somebody to guard him until the dog gets bigger and more sure of herself. Fun!