The Kuk-kuks that was supposed to be more hens than cocks, but who turned out to be some strange looking birds, neither hens, nor cocks, was up for slaughtering, and Jan again got advice from his all knowing friends, something I swore never to do again after the fiasco with my rafters and the creosote that was supposed to kill the wood eating bugs, but instead of doing that, kept me from using the room for two years!
In the end Jan decided to chop off the chickens's heads from now on, as that sounded to him like the fastest and most humane way after the previous attempt when the poor chicken ran around with its face looking to the back instead of falling dead after it was 'strangled!'
So the chicken that was to be slaughtered for dinner was laid on a wooden block, it's legs nicely tied together, and at that stage we all again ran for something behind which could await the blow, and Jan's announcement that the cock was dead!
The blow came after a long time, with Nina and the kids begging him to get it over with, and self, who wanted to keep chickens both for eggs and eating once I stopped working in Scotland, crying like a bally idiot!
I heard the blow, and waited for Jan's voice to tell us that the coast was clear, but instead there was one loud cackle, and the sound of wings being clapped furiously, and then one unrepeatable word from Jan clefted the quietness, so we all emmerged from our different hiding places, just in time to see Jan going at top speed chasing after the cock, blood spurting from his comb--I mean the cock's comb.Oh, it was actually hilarious, , but the funny side hit us only much later, and Nina gave him some lip for not tying the legs properly!
It took some doing to catch the furious cock, who was telling the world in a much enraged voice about the stupidity of man, who chop off chicken's combs, and the whole family now joined in with operation catch a bleeding cock! When the poor thing kind of collapsed because of loss of blood I think, he was taken home, and Jan went on the internet to find a way to kill the chickens without harassing both the cocks, and himself!
He came out some time later, and found the poor cock being nursed by his family, but at least he now had found a decent way on the internet, and he was going to try that, swearing that if that failed, he would just sell the chickens and buy ready slaughtered ones.
The tip he got from the internet proved to be good, both easy and much more humane than chopping off heads, and from then on the family regularly had their own chickens on the dinner table, and after a while the kids and Nina actually started to do the plucking and the cutting open and so forth. I was in a bit of a two way road, as I just knew that I would never be able to slaughter a chicken!