Farm Tales: Fathers Day 2008
on Mar 27 by Rose(Readers discretion advised due to graphic nature of the topic)
There is one thing that never goes away on our farm and that is chicken chores. At present and throughout the summer we have about 650 chickens on the farm. In the morning, you open the coop, water and get the feed. Watering, means hauling 5 gallon buckets of water across the field two at a time and we transport the feed the same way. The morning chicken chores take about 45 minutes. This chore was always done by Clay. He never fussed but I knew that just one Sunday he would like to wake up after the sun, drink his coffee and not look at a single chicken. This brings me to the point of my story.
Last year for father’s day I decided that I would wake up at 5am, do all the chicken chores, water the greenhouse and the seed room and be back by 6:30. That way if Daisy woke up early I could be with her and she would not bother Clay. Then I would make him breakfast and let him sleep in like he was in high school again.
That Sunday morning I went to open the first coop of chickens up. We had 5 coops with about 550 chickens total out in the pasture to water and feed. Inside, all of the chickens had decided to half-peck one chicken to death. Chickens can be very cruel to each other. She lay in the coop with no feathers and half alive. There was no saving her and no real reason since the bunch of them were going to the processor the next week. I had to kill her. This was Clay’s territory not mine but I did not want to wake him on Father’s day to kill a chicken. I got myself ready. Be brave and strong don’t do it half way, you’re a farmer. Don’t wimp out. So I decided to use the whip the chicken over your head in a circular motion and then a hard whip down while holding the neck. The idea, I think is to break the chicken’s neck. Where I saw this method I do not know. And why I thought I could swing a chicken over my head and break its neck I have no clue. So I tried it. Nothing, so I tried it again. Nothing, AHHH I tried it again. Nothing, oh shit. The chicken was still alive. I laid her down in the grass and had a small freak out. Got collected and then decided I would grab a big stick place it on the chickens’ neck, stand on the stick and pull the chicken up. Again I thought this would break the neck. As I stepped down on the neck I told her I was trying my best. I told myself to be strong and pull as hard as I could. I yanked the chicken up. Nothing, I yanked again. Nothing, it was still alive. As I apologized to the chicken I ran with her tucked up under my arm to the wash station of the farm. There I found a knife. I tried my best to cut the chickens head off. Now I was sobbing. The knife was so dull it would not even cut the skin. Plus, chickens have very thick skin. I was now acting like a mad woman, wailing sounds were escaping from my mouth. I ran to the table saw and turned it on. In 2 seconds the chicken was dead. I was covered in blood and shaking. Strings of phrases like “Oh God please take the chicken” and “why, why” where pouring out of my mouth. I still had all of the chicken chores left to do. I did think about going and telling Clay, “I tried.” then climb back in bed but I managed to make it through all the chores.
It is important for a farmer who raises animals to know how to kill the animal he or she raises as swiftly as possible with the littlest pain as possible. That father’s day I was thinking about Clay and him getting a break from being the father of the farm but really, that chicken needed him. Clay can swiftly kill a wounded chicken. He has been called by family and friends and neighbors to come kill their chickens that have been attacked by dogs or raccoons. Clay hates that he possesses this skill of swift chicken killing but it is important and I will never put myself or a chicken through that again.
