Slaughter: ladies, what's your favourite method/tool? I'm still figuring mine out, looking for ideas

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Phoenixxx

Phoenixxx

Songster
8 Years
Aug 8, 2012
725
224
212
Boutilier's Point, Nova Scotia
So, I used to use a great, big machete and had really good success lopping heads in one swing. Thing is, the owner of that machete took it with him when he left some time ago. Since then, I've tried various hatchets (sharp), adjusted the height of my chopping block and even bought a new machete (about a third the size of my ex's, with a razor-sharp edge put on it) and had nothing but disastrous results :( I have a batch of meat birds due for processing soon, as well as numerous surplus cockerels approaching maturity; I'll be sick or die of guilt if I can't provide them with the instant, humane death they deserve!

What is your favourite method, and why? What tool do you use and what makes it work for you? I am addressing this to the ladies because we're just a wee bit different from all you burly, tough-as-nails men out there :p
 
I wish they would make bigger siscors that looked like these dog nail clippers. That way you could just slip it around a neck and clean off.

400


How easy would that be? Lol
 
I attempted pruning loppers - i found they just slid, pushing the poor bird's neck right out as opposed to cutting it like it would an apple sucker :( Mind you, I do have large birds - i'D have to pluck their necks bare for the loppers to even stand a chance of gripping and cutting! And how stressed would they be after the plucking? Not fair, not nice.
 
Yeah, you would really need something that their neck could rest in.

Maybe you need something harder behind your chopping block? A good solid meat cleaver shield also be able to chop a head clean off.

Do you think it's the tools? Maybe you could use a power tool like a sawzaw or a jig saw? I would think even an angle grinder would be able to do it fast
 
pauleberly said:
Yeah, you would really need something that their neck could rest in.

Maybe you need something harder behind your chopping block? A good solid meat cleaver shield also be able to chop a head clean off.

Do you think it's the tools? Maybe you could use a power tool like a sawzaw or a jig saw? I would think even an angle grinder would be able to do it fast
Click to expand...

No power tools. I only have two hands and they'd be messy. A chop saw with a meat blade, maybe... but I don't have the money for that.

Pretty sure it's the tools. I'm using the same block as before. I think it's partly the length and partly the weight - I'm just not getting a swift/strong enough swing to get through all the way. There's a really nice blade down at the army & navy that I think might do the job, but it's $65; that's an awful lot for me to gamble right now, especially if it winds up not working for me.

I've been trying to borrow my ex's machete but he doesn't want to lend it to me for fear of the lives of others (the handle is a bit thick for my little paws - I nearly hit my mother when it slipped from my hand while slicing brush one day). I do have some steel lying around so I'm thinking about just making my own so I asked my ex if I could at least use his (which is a homemade machete) to trace a pattern.
 
when I butchered rabbits, I used nails to hold the head. Try doing something to hold the head, one hand on the body, and et you a good swing going.

Maybe a big meat cleaver or even a nice victorinox chef knife. They are very sharp! Also, do you know how to hone or sharpen a blade yourself?
 
pauleberly said:
when I butchered rabbits, I used nails to hold the head. Try doing something to hold the head, one hand on the body, and et you a good swing going.

Maybe a big meat cleaver or even a nice victorinox chef knife. They are very sharp! Also, do you know how to hone or sharpen a blade yourself?
Click to expand...

Yes, I used head-holding nails for my most recent kill. Normally, though, I can get them to stretch their necks for me (using a trick my ex showed me) but this last guy refused to comply :p

Meat cleaver did occur to me to try, but I wonder if the length would still be too short for me. The blade I used to use is about three feet long, my hatchets and current machete are all half that length, or less. Starting to think I maybe should have studied physics, ha ha!

Yes, I can sharpen a blade and have the tools to do so. Making an edge that will hold on mediocre steel will be a challenge, though.
 
I killed my first chicken yesterday. I actually did 2 of them. I watched a YouTube video called "respectful chicken harvest." The lady holds the chicken, but you could easily use a cone. I did mine the same way she did in the video because I don't have a cone. It was pretty quick and non-violent. You just have to have a razor-sharp knife. I actually used a new single edge razor because my knife wasn't sharp enough.
 
The first chicken I killed, I tied his legs together with baling twine, hung him at a convenient height, and whacked off his head with a LARGE pair of sharp pruning shears. Later I discarded the shears and used a utility knife to sever the jugulars. I like this method a lot better. The utility knife uses razor blades and it is very sharp. I find that the chickens bleed out a lot better this way, and the sharper the blade, the less pain it causes.
 

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