I usually put a quote here on Friday’s but I wanted to continue the rooster ethical kill discussion.
If you’d read the comments after the post (and those on facebook) you’d realize that although most people understand the reasons behind doing this, they would rather I not.
Guess what? I’d rather I not too. We’re in agreement there.
I could try to find a home for our rooster but if I did (and I have in the past for our other 3 roosters) I’d be lucky. Not every one who raises chickens has access to a larger network of other chicken owners.
I could try to bring the chicken to a slaughter house but most slaughter houses won’t take small orders (and one rooster constitutes a small order.) Again, you might get lucky or you might be out of luck.
I’ve corresponded with Stephan before and he knows my opinions on the following subject.
I would NEVER advocate putting a bag filled with gasoline or ether (presumably for the fumes) over the head of a chicken in order to kill it. Not only would you be terrifying the bird, but you have no idea how long the suffering (and trust me, in my book that is suffering, would last.)
Shooting the chicken? What are you going to use? And you’d better be well acquainted with chicken anatomy because unless you shoot the head off at point blank range (which is just about the only way I can figure out of hitting such a small target), if you aim for the body, you run the risk of again having the rooster suffer until it dies. Which may not bother you but that’s something that would give me nightmares for the rest of my life.
I also would not release a chicken or rooster to the woods, are you kidding? I grew up with Born Free. (little known fact here, when I was a kid I so loved the book I wrote to Joy Adamson and she WROTE BACK!) Birds that have grown up in domestication do not have the skills to defend themselves. By releasing the birds you are simply turning a blind eye on the problem and hoping that the fishercat down the road will do what you can’t bring yourself to do.
Lastly, I have heard of animal clinics that will take chickens and roosters and while the egg layers have a chance of finding a home, for the most part after awhile the roosters will be put down. It’s a true but sad fact that roosters just don’t feel the love in the fowl kingdom.
This conversation makes me (Marc and Trevor) even more determined to do this the right way this weekend and then to report back.
I’m all for urban chicken owning. Although we don’t eat our chickens, if we did, they would be a source of clean meat, something you can’t find in your local grocery store. Urban chickens eat kitchen waste and provide clean eggs all at very little cost. They are one of the best things you can do for you and your family’s health.
Also, if you are willing to listen, chickens also have much to teach you about life. (if you doubt me, go back to the beginning of this blog and start reading.)
As strongly as I feel about chickens however, I also feel that, because of the noise, roosters just do not belong in an urban chicken setting and while sex-linked birds take care of some of that problem, if you choose to have other breeds a rooster or two is going to sneak in.
I could at the last minute find a home for our boy but how is that going to help others who run across this problem? If urbanites are going to start owning chickens (and more and more towns are allowing this) then urbanites are going to need to learn how to deal with this problem. Crowing roosters will be the surest and fastest way to get towns to repeal the allowance of chickens and that would be far sadder than the ethical killing of one bird.
I invite any and all discussion on this topic. It’s a tough one, but one that needs to be addressed if chickens are to be allowed in backyards.
