Bleeding out

[mychickenbrood]

I believe the best way to kill a chicken is to have someone hold it upside down. With a very, very sharp knife, the other person puts the blade against the skin (not feathers) high up toward where the neck joins the head. Then slit swiftly and firmly.

The bird will almost immediatley close its eyes and flapping will be minimal, with the first person still holding onto the legs.

I have had the personal experience of hemorrhaging and it would not have been frightening at all, had I not known what it meant. I just wanted to sleep. Kind of like when one is being awakened by the nurses after anesthesia. Most of us just want to sleep.

I've read that bleeding out results in better tasteing meat. I do not know if that is true, but when the head is cut off, it does not bleed as well.

Like many people who have commented, I hate the process of killing and am debating if we will raise meat birds this year. However, the meat tastes twenty times better than store bought so...we'll see.

Also, like many who have posted here, I abhore anything less than humane, quick death in an animal. If I do explore the idea of having a processing plant do it for me, I will have to approve of their methods, but that is a resource I never thought of. The other thing is, I don't want them switching up the meat on me, which I've heard some do.

Okay, that is my take on things.

 

[AlienChick]

Good thoughts!

We use a cone (that is attached to a fence post) to contain the chicken while we slit the throat.
In this way no one has to hold the chicken and get the blood all over them (since the birds flap around a lot).
They do seem to "go to sleep" while resting in the cone as they are bleeding out.

 

[donrae]

We use a kill cone and hang them head down, grasp the head and cut the entire thing off. They bleed out quite nicely. I'm not sure why you're saying they don't bleed out as well when you remove the head vs slitting the throat? Unless you're thinking of the more traditional stump and hatchet set up?

 

[delisha]

We use a kill cone and hang them head down, grasp the head and cut the entire thing off. They bleed out quite nicely. I'm not sure why you're saying they don't bleed out as well when you remove the head vs slitting the throat? Unless you're thinking of the more traditional stump and hatchet set up?

No I am sure they are thinking that removing the head stops the heart from pumping blood and takes longer, versus slitting the jugular and letting the bird bleed out.

 

[donrae]

No I am sure they are thinking that removing the head stops the heart from pumping blood and takes longer, versus slitting the jugular and letting the bird bleed out.

Hadn't thought of that--I'm thinking gravity is doing most of the work at that point anyway..........we always get a good bleed in minimal time.

 

[jdywntr]

I think the thing that people need to remember when not cutting off the head is to not literally slit the throat. The jugulars need to be cut, both of them, and the windpipe needs to remain intact. If you sever the windpipe, you need to cut the spine too. Otherwise, they basically drown in their own blood. I couldn't bring myself to use the hatchet, I tried but it was not for me.

I only process a small number of birds at a time. I don't have a cone. Haven't made one yet and they are EXPENSIVE to buy. I tie 2 slip knots in my hubby's old hockey laces (they are very wide and were available) attach these to a tree branch or something at a good height and process one at a time. I feel better holding onto the beak(I do more ducks than chickens) to aid in bleedout then hold the wings to limit splash and thrash, but when only doing a few, it works.

 

[donrae]

I think the thing that people need to remember when not cutting off the head is to not literally slit the throat. The jugulars need to be cut, both of them, and the windpipe needs to remain intact. If you sever the windpipe, you need to cut the spine too. Otherwise, they basically drown in their own blood. I couldn't bring myself to use the hatchet, I tried but it was not for me.

I only process a small number of birds at a time. I don't have a cone. Haven't made one yet and they are EXPENSIVE to buy. I tie 2 slip knots in my hubby's old hockey laces (they are very wide and were available) attach these to a tree branch or something at a good height and process one at a time. I feel better holding onto the beak(I do more ducks than chickens) to aid in bleedout then hold the wings to limit splash and thrash, but when only doing a few, it works.

We cut the entire head off. Whole thing, one quick, hard cut with a very sharp knife. And upside down, the bird could not drown in it's own blood, cause of gravity draining all the blood out.

You might be suprised what you can make a cone out of! Our current cone is heavy duty plastic pond liner with duct tape. It's soft and folds flat when we aren't using it, then opens into a cone and the bird's body holds it open. The plastic is easy to clean and has held up for two years now.

 

[Turkeytruff]

I think the thing that people need to remember when not cutting off the head is to not literally slit the throat. The jugulars need to be cut, both of them, and the windpipe needs to remain intact. If you sever the windpipe, you need to cut the spine too. Otherwise, they basically drown in their own blood. I couldn't bring myself to use the hatchet, I tried but it was not for me.

I only process a small number of birds at a time. I don't have a cone. Haven't made one yet and they are EXPENSIVE to buy. I tie 2 slip knots in my hubby's old hockey laces (they are very wide and were available) attach these to a tree branch or something at a good height and process one at a time. I feel better holding onto the beak(I do more ducks than chickens) to aid in bleedout then hold the wings to limit splash and thrash, but when only doing a few, it works.

You can make a killcone out of a bleach jug, just cutting the top & bottom off.

 

[gypsychicken]

CONE: cut off the tip of a construction cone, hang it upside down...

 

[BathrobeGardner]

CONE: cut off the tip of a construction cone, hang it upside down...

Great tip.