Sometimes you just don't think when faced with a " difficult" situation
You just react.
And that does not always work out the way you would wish.
This evening, just as I was encouraging the tiny Useless little buggers into their coop
Bogbrush the aggressive silkie cockerel
Hurtled forward and started to kick the shit out of the tiny male bantam right in front of me.
Without a thought I swung the tin feed bowl I was holding and clacked Bogbrush smartly on the head with it to teach him a lesson in manners
And unfortunately this was the result
RIP Bogbrush
Life is hard sometimes
When you are a bully
There is always someone bigger than you
awwwww. :(
ReplyDeleteWhat else could you do - can't abide bullies.
ReplyDeleteOh John...I'm so sorry. I know you probably feel badly but really...the little b****r gave you no choice.
ReplyDeleteYou reacted with the best of intentions. It was all you could do.
ReplyDeleteso sorry John...you were defending the underdog or chicken in this case
ReplyDeleteToo bad something so beautiful was so stupid!
ReplyDeleteI know I am bad...but good aim!! I hate when I get a bad hen in the bunch. xoxoxo
ReplyDeletei heard the cockerel police are on the way...run for it!
ReplyDeleteIt's a fair cop gov...I done it
DeleteOh shit!
ReplyDelete"a hush grew over the flock, as the remaining hens stared at their once full of life handsome leader, his white feathered robust roosterish body askewed on the dirt-the same dirt they had just recently scratched up together to taste the sweet treats nature provided in the bright sunshine...and as this deathly silence penetrated the closing night, they one by one slowly turned up their little fluffy heads, staring with beaks gawkily open at the scruffy tired constantly in pain keeper, who stood there in shock, the murderous tin in hand, hanging, dangling, now dropping to his side, and finally to the ground..."
ReplyDeletetold you that you should have that butt of yours looked at - its one of those continual murderous pains, and those be trouble, mister...you better have that looked at before you EVER go into the public to buy a scotch egg again...
hugs to (((john))) xxx
Oh lord...you make it sound like a bleeding slasher movie x
DeleteThat was excellent!!!
DeleteLol! Feral woman! You are hilarious. It's the middle of the night and I started chuckling. Out loud. I hope I didn't wake my shug!
DeleteCindy Bee
Bravo, wild applause Feral Woman. Kind of goes with that black and white photo in the right hand column of John's blog. Went the day well lady lifting "something" over her head to strike at an unknown "something".
DeleteCannot believe this. I very much enjoyed the life and time of Bogbrush. I can never forgive this!!!!!!!!!And my students will react with horror. You've damaged a generation of kids. Killer.
ReplyDeleteOh dear..........it was an accident dindin
DeleteThat's rather harsh, dindin. It was an accident. I would think this sad tale would be an excellent point of discussion with your students on life, death, accidents AND over-reaction. Especially over-reaction.
DeleteAww how sad, but bullies never prosper.... or so my mum used to tell me.
ReplyDeleteSeems like she could have been right. Sorry for your loss John.
Jo in NZ
You just don't know your own strength, John.
ReplyDeleteI am all man thomas
DeleteI know how you feel, I once shook the bird cage outside just to clear some chaff and a wind gust caught the poor canary and it hit the side of the cage, and that was all there was to it. Bogbrush was never up to his father's standard anyway. Oh the younger generations...
ReplyDeletei just realized that bogbrush did not 'go gently'!
ReplyDeleteJust quickly
DeleteWhat a bloody cock-up!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteWord will spread about this! Like wild-fire!
ReplyDeleteMaybe, just maybe, the whole approach to bullies ought to be revamped! Hope the BBC doesn't get hold of this. Nice knowin' ya, John! lol
Oh! That gave me quite a shock to read that you actually KILLED poor Bogbrush.
ReplyDeleteIt may be a while before I can forgive you.
Poor Bogbrush . . . RIP.
:( :( :(
It's all in the title, Rambler.
DeleteThat's the life of a rooster. Like the highlander, there can be only one in the end.
ReplyDeleteI'll use one of my favourite phrases..."Shitty death".
ReplyDeleteJane x
Maybe the others will learn from this. No more bullies in your hens I suppose :-)
ReplyDeleteAww, you were defendng the little one from an agressor, Don't let it keep you down. DG
ReplyDeleteAlas poor Bogbrush, felled by a feed bowl, an ignominious end for a handsome (though pugnacious) chook. But you did the right thing in defending the tiny ULB.
ReplyDeleteOh John, I leave your blog alone for a few days, and just look what happens! I can empathize--I once slammed an innocent hen's neck in a door while leaving the chicken coop with another under my arm. The poor thing shuddered itself to death in front of me within seconds, and I'll never forget the guilt. At least Bogbrush suffered the consequences of his own bastardly actions.
ReplyDeleteI also wanted to wish Chris a belated happy birthday, but, um...oh hell, happy birthday Professor! Have some chicken soup!
Chicken and dumplings for Sunday dinner.
ReplyDeleteI had a battle with a Mottled Houdan for a year. Every time I turned my back, the boy would think he could spur me. The tail ended with a home run with a stacking stick. He lived the rest of his days with one eye and never bothered me again.
I think this goes under the catch all heading of SHIT HAPPENS.
Accidents happen. Try not to feel bad.
ReplyDeleteThese things happen -- it was probably for the best. Around here, we accept critters of all stripes -- the incontinent, the dumb, the smelly, the noisy, and the obnoxious (all of which will, no doubt, one day describe me). But the rule is that the true bullies can't stay. There just isn't room for them.
ReplyDeleteWhat Terry said. It was an accident and extreme coincidence, I'm sure.
ReplyDelete*hugs* ♥
Well let's put it this way John, now you have Sunday Dinner. Waste not want not.
ReplyDeleteIf you've got a short stick handy, and you shove it 'you know where', you'll have a very fine..... erm.... bogbrush!
ReplyDeleteIt's plain from reading even one or two posts how much you care about animals of all kinds ... so sorry this went the way it did ...
ReplyDeleteOoops... but easily done.
ReplyDeleteI awoke to the sound of a cockerel this morning and thought I'd locked ours out of the henhouse for the night, but I hadn't.
Maybe it was Bogbrush getting his revenge on chicken keepers everywhere from chicken heaven!!
I bet they all duck next time they see you with a feed bowl.....lol!
ReplyDeletePretty much how my second husband left this earth. Fortunately that was long before blogs and their damning pictures of proof.
ReplyDeleteDonna.. Now your story WOULD make a bloody excellent blog entry
DeleteOh I have just lost another follower........... My halo has slipped
ReplyDeleteI hope they are vegetarian. Do they think their frozen chicken patty had a prettier death?
DeleteOops! Don't worry - lots of us still here. It was an accident and fast and as many have said - a bully in the group does not a happy group make. Now get that slow cooker out.
ReplyDeleteI notice one of the ladies is taking advantage of the fact she can give him a sharp peck without fear of retaliation!
ReplyDeleteAt least it was a quick and painless death, unlike the one he was trying to dish out to the poor ULB.
ReplyDeleteWas just thinking, what do you do with your casualties? Is it chicken for dinner again?!
Such is life. Such is death.
ReplyDeleteI remember when I was very small our cockerel attacked me and my father threw a stone at it and the stone killed it. So this brought back memories John.
ReplyDeleteBut why is it that little cocks (and I do mean that in the nicest possible way!) are always so much more aggressive? Reading back through this I am not sure that there isn't a double entendre there somewhere.
omg. how sad. just shows how fragile life really is.
ReplyDeleteRIP Bogbrush
Oh Lordy never realised a tin bowl could be classified as a lethal weapon! ;-)
ReplyDeleteNever mind stuff happens so don't feel guilty for too long .... Roast chicken for lunch then?
You do seem to have a problem with cocks.
ReplyDeleteLLX
f*ck is right! I probably wouldn't visit those chickens again without that tin bowl.
ReplyDeleteOk, so....so far this weekend you've had one wedding and a funeral......and it's still only Sunday morning......can't wait for the rest of the day to unfold.....it's all go down your neck of the woods, eh J?Try and have a good one. x
ReplyDeleteOh sorry for your loss, John but you reacted like many of us would have. Did you roast Bogbrush? for Sunday lunch? This trophy would not go to waste in Africa, although years I was stared at [in horror] by the African gardeners while I buried my pet Bantan hen called Nando after my dogs killed her. Greetings from Jo
ReplyDeleteWell, rough justice, but what could you do. Definitely a case of chickenslaughter not premeditated chickencide, I am sure you will get off with just a suspended sentence!
ReplyDeleteI hated it when I did something like that without thinking. The outcomes were rarely benign. Although, I never actually killed anything.... the only thing I hit in the head with a feed pan was a yearling bear, and considering the size difference, it didn't phase him much.
ReplyDelete.... ended up having to chase him away with my car....
As I never read the comments before me, I might be the umpteenth follower of you who hums "Another one bites the dust..." - while you may play Mick's "Heart of Stone" against me - so let us make a deal: "Little red rooster" might be appropriate :-)
ReplyDeleteOMG! If there's any justice, for this act alone you deserve 10 years in Purgatory at the very LEAST!.
ReplyDeleteAh the frailty of life! I once dropped a bowl on a chick and squashed it flat! Since you and I were not aspiring murderers I am sure the Universe will forgive us, but then can we forgive ourselves!
ReplyDeleteOooooh S**t! Lunch then ...!
ReplyDeleteP.S. Bet you couldn't do it twice if you tried!!!
ReplyDeleteTo borrow from your sidebar: "Went the day well?" Now I wonder if you'll draw a chalk outline in front of the coop and perhaps join the hen-killing driver (if you can find her) in a toast to the departed? I know I felt very badly when I accidentally squashed a spider I was trying to rescue from the shower. In my departed but beloved mother's constant words: "Chin up; it builds character"
ReplyDeleteNancy in Iowa
The say a bad temper may be one's ultimate demise, point proven...
ReplyDeleteHe was a 'looker' nevertheless.
I once had a pet rabbit that bit my dad's finger, without thinking and in reaction he flicked it's nose, it fell over dead.
~Jo
Oh my...RIP Bogbrush.. I am sure that "you didn't mean to do it"..at least he went quickly.
ReplyDeleteNothing to do with Bogbrush's demise but have you seen this, John? It'll make you laugh. (Well, I laughed, anyway.) From the Bad Lip reading website: Bad Lip Reading from The Walking Dead.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=jR4lLJu_-wE
I wonder what the sentence for Poultricide is?
ReplyDeleteSo Sorry John - cie la vie - he had it coming - poor old bog brush RIP - Jane
ReplyDeleteI feel bad about it, but I laughed at the post title. Picture sobered me down a little though. Shame, he was rather lovely.
ReplyDeleteIt is a sad thing, however the word, "poultricide", gave me a chuckle.
ReplyDeleteAnd fried chicken for dinner.
ReplyDeletecertainly looks a much cleaner way of killing cockerals than my last attempt. I might give it a go. Cheers for the tip!
ReplyDeleteA sad story. Cockerels can be so aggressive - what else could you do?
ReplyDeleteHave you eaten him? There aren't many people who can say they've eaten their bogbrush.
Thank you all for your comments... I loved the poultricide comments especially.
ReplyDeleteApologies for not answering all of the comments ..... Been on night shift xxx
I hope those that are upset with my " tin bowl attack" will forgive me
X
The bully died doing what he did best.
ReplyDeleteI've got a parrot that normally is the most mild mannered, loving pet I could imagine. But, occasionally and without warning, it will turn into a demon. It will either bite my hand fiercely--refusing to let go--or it will fly up onto my bald pate, scratching my head and biting my ears until it draws blood. When this happens, I fly into an ungodly rage and do anything I can to dislodge the bird. Kali says that if she made a video of me during these episodes, I'd be truly ashamed and utterly alarmed. (She can say that, can't she?--the bird's not biting her unmercifully). So, while Bogbrush's demise is truly sad, I can't say that I don't blame you.
ReplyDeleteI don't think I have ever commented on your blog before but I felt as if I had to today. If anyone had ever really read your blog for any length of time knows that you really love all the animals at your place and would not intentionally harm them. Sometimes things happen on an instinctive level. I am sorry that this has happened. Just know that those of us who (feel as if, even if we have never really met) know you, also know that this is not the norm. Don't let this get you down for to long.
ReplyDeleteI hope that Bogbrush's life was not in vain and that you pluck him, gut him and consume him with some roasted potatoes and garden peas.
ReplyDeleteDang. I got to get me one of those tin feed bowls for Christmas shopping...
ReplyDeleteYou did the right thing, defending the little banty rooster. I hope Bogbrush is delicious.
ReplyDeleteoops ! Bullies beware !
ReplyDeleteJust desserts?
ReplyDeleteHoly crap, you beat your cock to death!
ReplyDeleteSorry, someone had to say it and it might as well be me....