DIY HUMANE way to Kill Slaughter Chicken (Stun-kill, Gas)

[DawnSuiter]

I have rather enjoyed reading this thread, I'm glad it hasn't gone away.
Some dark humor, some humorous imagery has been discussed in the process demonstrating which methods result in what.

I think the most important lesson I got was from the first few pages in that I shouldn't expect it to be easy or comfortable, nor should I aim to become desensitized when taking another life to sustain my own. That is helpful, very helpful. It's a deed that needs to be done, and the varying ways we all carry it out surprise me.

Thank you all for your contributions.

I myself, try to avoid the killing so far, but have put up 9 or so roosters in the last year. I first used shears to remove the heads completely at once.. it was easy but broke my shears on the 2nd roo. Now I hang, pith, slice & drain into a large plastic storage tote, not obsessing if I cut the windpipe or not . Then I rinse out the tote and put in a trash bag and remove the head and cut the skin around the legs and across the bottom and skin them where they hang. After that, I drop them into a trash bag, finish everyone up to that point and take them inside where I finish at the kitchen sink. If I'm taking too long, I'll refrigerate whoever I am not yet working on.

I would like to switch to cones.. finally bought my first large bleach bottle.
I need a very sharp knife and a new pair of shears for the final head removal.
Plucking is a waste of time for me, I don't want the skins anyway.
But still, I find it difficult to do... I feel STRONGLY as if someone disapproves of what I'm doing! My husband isn't very supportive of the whole thing, perhaps I worry too much what he'll think of me for doing it. He helped with the first couple but after that I've been on my own.. he couldn't do it. I recently practically gave away a pack of 7 roos ready to butcher... just so I wouldn't' have to do it. I have a few more that'll be ready mid winter... I'll just have to wrap my head around it and get some new tools before then. It's true.. once the head is removed it is very much like store bought chicken... so really the WORST part takes 5 minutes if your slow about it... after that... seems quite normal actually.

 

[GBov]

Quote:
Many people do feel strongly about you feeding your family the way you should, both for and against

I'm in the for camp by the way lol

My hubby said I could raise anything I wanted to and had the room for but not to expect any help from him or him to eat it. I dont get any help but if I dont tell him what we are eating he will eat it. Silly man thinks I am mad but he loves me so puts up with my madness

We are renting right now so no chickens and are trying to buy a house in a town that I now find has stringent regs AGAINST any form of poultry or hoof stock so not even pet pigs or goats allowed

so after the move I am going to be looking for a bit of land to lease so we can once again have the joy of raising and processing our own meat

Oh, and long handled loppers will work better and for longer than shears. I disassemble 200 pound plus pigs using mine and the odd time take the head off a Craigs List rooster or prune a branch or two. LOVE them, most usefull tool ever!

 

[dancingbear]

I recently watched some of the Polyface Farm videos on YouTube, the ones for slaughtering chickens, and eviscerating. I highly recommend both. I'm killing 3 roos this evening, and trying out what I've learned from them. I'll post my results later tonight.

 

[greengirl512]

So, I'm new, and this is the first time I've ever raised chickens. I got 25 cornish crosses a few months ago (along with some silver-laced wyandottes for eggs). Husband initially said he would handle all of the slaughtering as long as I raised them, fed them, and cleaned the carcasses. BUT...he didn't want to do the last 10 birds, so that ended up being my job, too.

I read most of this monster of a thread before I started, and I decided to go with pithing the birds (aka the brain scramble method) and then slitting their throats. Is it normal for them still to flap when you do it like this? From reading other people's posts, I got the impression that weren't supposed to flap around very much at all, but they did. They almost looked conscious, even for a short period of time after I cut their throats.

Is that normal, or did I do something wrong? I really hate to think that I might have hurt them more than necessary, and if that happened, I sure as heck would like to do better next time I raise birds for meat.

Going to go drink some wine until their eyes stop haunting me, but if anyone has any input or pointers, I'd appreciate it.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

There seems to be a way that they flap their wings when they are truly dead & just moving reflexively. It's a faster-paced movement, and when you're able to recognize it for what it is, it's noticeable for being an atypical type of movement. I don't know if I'm describing it well enough, but after dispatching enough birds I can recognize it when it happens.

I just go directly for the jugular cut and think that is effective in getting them to the Other Side almost immediately, as soon as that first cut is made & there is so much blood loss.

 

[dancingbear]

Quote:
An excellent observation, about the flapping! Now that you mention it, I know exactly what you mean. I hadn't thought of it quite that way, though. Thanks for that insight.

I've recently switched to the same method you use, it seems the quickest and therefor most humane to me, too. I noticed that the roos I dispatched in this way bled very fast, and the flapping was over much faster than with any other method I tried. I think the flapping reflex sets in at a certain point of blood loss, (the bird is dead and senseless by then, I'm certain that death occurs in just a few seconds after the first cut) and stops when the bleed-out is pretty much over.

 

[95yj]

i'm sorry, but if your that uncomfortable with the slaughter maybe you just shouldn't eat chicken. slaughtering them sounds alot worse than it really is, the bird can be made to feel very comfortable and content right before you slice the neck and then it may feel it, but it's gone in like a second, sure it may flap around for a minute or so but its gone after less than a second. and is it really healthy to ingest all the CO2

 

[jjparke]

Seriously mods? 27 page thread? This one was dead a long time ago. I only kill chickens my way and if you do it different you are inhumane. No my way is better you are wrong. I don't kill my chickens they are my pets. I need to be done with BYC it's getting polluted.

 

[Beekissed]

 

[GBov]

Why is 27 pages of people getting informed and impowered something wrong