# Do you eat all the chickens you cull?



## Happeesupermom (Aug 29, 2012)

I'm not in this situation yet, but just curious to know if you prepare & eat every chicken you cull, or how do you decide if it wouldn't be good for eating? 

Example: you find an egg layer dead one morning, of unknown cause. What do you do with it? Or maybe I should be asking when do you NOT eat a chicken?


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## Apyl (Jun 20, 2012)

Cull is to kill an undesirable member of your flock. Butchering is to kill for comsumption. Every bird I butcher we eat. IF the bird is sick, died of unknown causes, or trauma from injury, or culled for any reason other than the intent to eat I dispose of the body. Luckily this has only happened twice with my flock. We had to cull a baby duck and we had a duck killed by an eagle. Since both birds we culled was due to injuries we burned them. I have not had a sick bird yet so I will have to look into what I need to do in that case.


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## Jim (Sep 26, 2012)

I agree with apyl.


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## robopetz (Oct 16, 2012)

Oh my! I never knew what cull meant, now I do and it should be illegal!!! So sad, sorry y'all!


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## Sundancers (Jun 20, 2012)

Apyl said:


> Cull is to kill an undesirable member of your flock. Butchering is to kill for comsumption. Every bird I butcher we eat. IF the bird is sick, died of unknown causes, or trauma from injury, or culled for any reason other than the intent to eat I dispose of the body. Luckily this has only happened twice with my flock. We had to cull a baby duck and we had a duck killed by an eagle. Since both birds we culled was due to injuries we burned them. I have not had a sick bird yet so I will have to look into what I need to do in that case.


Apyl is correct ... 



robopetz said:


> Oh my! I never knew what cull meant, now I do and it should be illegal!!! So sad, sorry y'all!


Illegal ... I think not (Sorry)... Sometimes you have to do what is right for the bird and/or your flock.


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## kimberley (Sep 8, 2012)

our chickens at home are treated better than the ones you get at the store for eating. ive never any of mine but i only have 11.. Does anyone know how to butcher and is it something you could tell someone how to do? altho i dont know if i could do it.


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## Apyl (Jun 20, 2012)

kimberley said:


> our chickens at home are treated better than the ones you get at the store for eating. ive never any of mine but i only have 11.. Does anyone know how to butcher and is it something you could tell someone how to do? altho i dont know if i could do it.


Watch some youtube videos. Its easier to learn by seeing then reading. I use the hatchet method.


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## Apyl (Jun 20, 2012)

robopetz said:


> Oh my! I never knew what cull meant, now I do and it should be illegal!!! So sad, sorry y'all!


If it were illegal you wouldnt have any backyard chickens. There would be diseases running rampant, none of the breeds you see today would be worth their name because the deformed chicken would be allowed to breed. By culling you are managing your flock by removing diseased and deformed, as well as putting a severly injured bird out of its missery. Personally I feel it would be cruel to your entire flock if you didnt manage it properly. In nature all this would happen but now that chickens are all domesticated it becomes the responsibility of the owner.


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## doubleoakfarm (Jan 1, 2013)

robopetz said:


> Oh my! I never knew what cull meant, now I do and it should be illegal!!! So sad, sorry y'all!


So, what would you do with an injured bird who will slowly bleed to death over the next two days? I'm curious if you think letting it suffer is a better option. What about a diseased bird. Would you let it infect the rest of the flock and then slowly watch them all die?

I really want to understand you reasoning and how you would handle these situations without culling.


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## twentynine (Jul 11, 2012)

No I would never eat a bird that died of unknown causes.

I eat very few of the chickens I cull, I do not allow them to grow to eating size if they have an identifiable deformity/injury.

I do slaughter and eat all the extra roosters left over from my hatching operation. But, I provide them good clean food, water, space to grow and shelter. If my freezer is full and I have roosters on hand, when some one buys chicks I'll offer up a rooster as a free chicken dinner, kind of like lanappe (spelling incorrect cajun french word meaning something extra-free). Or I do have a few customers that will buy roosters for their own meat business. My experience with this is it's usually a losing proposition, cost way more in feed and time than you can make back.

robopetz
Before hand I will apologize for being so direct, and I do not want to offend you in any way, but it is what it is.
Life is hard, sometimes it's real hard. I absolutely hate when I am forced to cull a sick/injured bird. I believe myself to be a kind hearted generous individual, and as some one who tries very hard to practice good animal husbandry. To cull a bird means in my mind that I have failed, I did not protect it or care for it properly.
That being said, by definition unfortunately culling is part of practicing good animal husbandry. When an animal suffers a "quality of life" issue, what must be done--must be done.
Several years ago I got a setting of Rhode Island Red eggs from a friend, I hatched them out, with out a doubt they were the most canabalistic birds I have ever had on my place. In no time at all it was one after the other, two or three at a time. I tried all manner of cures, applications and additives, nothing helped. Larger brooder, nope! After raising these guys for a few weeks, losing over half the hatch, I was forced to face facts, I did not want the characteristic in my flock, and I didn't want to sell them to anyone else. I culled the remaining chicks.
Would I want a law enforcement entity to judge whether or not I was justified in my use of culling, nope, no way, to much goverment now, getting into my business.


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## dandmtritt (Jan 13, 2013)

kimberley said:


> our chickens at home are treated better than the ones you get at the store for eating. ive never any of mine but i only have 11.. Does anyone know how to butcher and is it something you could tell someone how to do? altho i dont know if i could do it.


My suggestion is search How to Butcher a Chicken on You Tube then you get a good visual. Not a hard thing to do though.


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## Happeesupermom (Aug 29, 2012)

Thank you for clarifying that for me! I appreciate all the help I get here, since I'm still learning!


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