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

Good to know, thanks again!

highrockieschic said:

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.

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Thank you so much for this reference. I have never dispatched a chicken but we must do so in future as our laying hens age out and we have an human-aggressive rooster that has to go now, which is why I'm reading this thread. This video is so great and so nice because the woman is a sensitive soul and really addresses the issues. I so relate and I feel really blessed to find this video, so thank you!

There is a couple of pieces of information in the comments section about why this method is superior:
Ideally you want the most ammount of blood to drain out as possible. slitting the jugular allows both the heart to pump to aid in blood draining and causes a drop of blood pressure which causes unconsciousness. A sharp knife reduces any feeling of the cut and therefore the stress involved. Chopping has a pinching action with can seal off the arteries.

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You don't want to chop the head off with the chicken seeing, because she will be scared, and her blood will clot if you would immediately chop the head off. Clot's taste really bad; you'd want them to be semi unconscious, like what she was doing before she slit the throat. The chicken, usually experiences 3-5 seconds of pain with this method. The blood flows quickly at the angle she was at, and the chicken lost consciousness, eventually bleeding out, then you rip or chop the head off.

So, i've been using the broomstick method almost daily now (the cockerels are learning to crow and the meat birds are ready). I've gotten more comfortable with it and it seems to work well, just still not 100% happy with it. I'd like to try that girl's method some time but since the broomstick seems to work really well I'm going to stick with that for now.

Thanks again, everyone, for all your input - i'm sure this thread will be helpful for many more future lady chicken-dispatchers!

My mom used to cross their wings and tie their legs. Hang them over the clothes line and walk along cutting their throats. They bled out good.