Hatched and dispatched

Last July my Cochin bantam hatched 3 eggs (not her own). Two of the dear little fluffballs developed into hulking great cockerels (Pink Leg and Yellow Leg) who have been eating like horses, screeching fit to burst and treading the hens - and the ducks (including the drake) - almost without cease. Their poor papa has been severely challenged by the constant rivalry and the hens have been getting stressed by the attentions of these indefatigable sex pests. There were two cocks too many. I tried to find homes for them but there were no takers. Only one route was left... but I chickened out. Instead I asked our next-door neighbours who rear table birds if they would do the deed in their slaughtering facility.

Time ran out for the two miscreants today and they were installed on Death Row. Easier said than done! Well, Pink Leg who is (was!) bold and greedy was lured easily enough with breakfast but Yellow Leg, sly and suspicious, proved more tricky. Finally I corralled him in the duck house where he flew up to the beams and had to be trapped with the prawning net. When next door's chicken man came to collect them I think they had begun to suspect that they were not going on holiday. I was reminded of the executioner Albert Pierrepoint's boast that he could whisk a condemned man from cell to drop in 7 seconds flat and I hoped that the procedure would equally 'merciful'.

The rest of the day has been very peaceful here. The cockerels have not returned yet but when they do I expect them in an oven-ready form. We have fed them for almost a year and now they will feed us. After all, we could have eaten them as eggs.

See here for a previous in-house procedure - involving Guinea Pig Zero.