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

[Abirdbrain]

Myself I love all life, and find killing chickens a bit disturbing. Anyone who ENJOYS this part of the activity of providing food, should be tested for other dangerous traits. No matter. I use a limb lopper to cleanly remove the head from a dangling bird. A cone, wire, burlap sack, or rope with bobbin to restrain the bird upside down, preferably with the wings restrained, so you dont get a headless flyer. Gramma used the T-shaped post for the laundry line to hang the bird, and the gunny sack. She prefered the slit.

My former farm girlfreind would grab the bird by the feet and then stand on the birds head, and just pulled. The headless bird would be hung for a few minutes to bleed out.

I dont know that you can nicely kill anything. It seems a conflict in terms.

Headless seems to me the quickest and surest path.

 

[luvmychicknkids]

I have never killed anything in my life so am obviously NOT the person to answer this. However, I am working up the nerve to do it and after so much reading here is what I plan to try. Have a hook secured to a tree so the cone can be taken down and put back up easily with two nails the approximate distance of a chicken head below it (like nails would be placed on a chopping block). Hold chicken upside down and place in cone, hang and secure neck, and use a hatchet or axe for head removal. Seems like the "best" of both worlds. Head is removed quickly so you KNOW it is done right and you have gravity causing quick bleed out. I know right now this is purely theoretical,but I HAVE to have a humane method or I can't even try!

 

[luvmychicknkids]

I also wanted to add, I had a mean roo years ago I was trying to train. I grabbed him and held him upside down briefly to she him I was boss. He passed out! I am hoping this is common with a semi relaxed, upside down chicken?

 

[EweSheep]

About gassing, are you going to eat these birds? If you are trying to raise birds for meat, then you should be trying to raise healthier meat, with as little chemical pollution as possible.

Use a sharp Axe. Hang them from their feet, even if it seems mean, the funnels are a waste of time and money, the chickens flop out of them, and roll in the dirt, very un-clean.

If you don't want to do this yourself, use a processor. The quickest, most humane way is to remove their heads, it is over instantly for them.

If the chickens flopped out of them, it is due because it is not the correct size for them.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

Quote:
I am wondering about the logistics of this. I don't think you could get the chicken's head & neck to extend far enough out of the end of the cone to get an accurate chop. You would also be swinging the axe horizontally, rather than vertically straight down. You'd be working against gravity and have to swing harder. Unless you had a way to hold the bird's head still against the tree you'd risk them moving, and missing your mark. You'd also be wounding the tree, and possibly whacking your cone.

Most folks who use the chop method have their birds secured on a flat surface like a stump or board and bring the axe down hard & fast. Gravity helps the downward motion. Sometimes they'll drive 2 nails into one end of the stump, wide enough to hold the chicken's neck just behind the head. Then they pull the legs a bit to stretch the neck, and chop.

After the chop the bird could be quickly placed into the cone, but it could get messy that way. You'd be holding a flapping, bleeding bird.

I had to try several different methods, over several different sessions, to find the way that worked best for ME. I found that I lacked the arm strength to get an efficient chop with an axe or machete. The man who taught me could easily remove the heads with one swift blow, but it didn't work as well for me. Now I put the birds in cones and can almost instantly help them "Cross The Road" by slicing their neck arteries.

 

[Working Dog Doc]

I cradle them in my non-dominant left hand like a football, grab the neck behind the head with my right and break the neck with a fast "down, out and then up" motion (if that makes sense), then hang them upside down and cut the vessels with a scalpel blade.

 

[ButchGood]

When I bought chickens I did knowing that some were going to be used as meat. I treat all the birds very well all through their lives and I take solace in that. Those birds you buy in the market are treated terribly. They are miserable till the very end. My birds are happy, well fed, and treated with the utmost respect through their entire lives and butchering process. I dont feel good when you butcher an animal, hell, your not supposed too. But when I sit at the table with my family and partake in the bounties we supplied for ourselves I get a very good feeling inside. Everything you raise to consume you self tastes better, its better for you and it was prepared in a very humane and less harmful process than anything you can get in town.

 

[ButchGood]

I forgot to tell you my process. Its the killing cone. I use a scaple. So sharp the bird dosn't feel the blade. From what I understand its pretty much like falling asleep as the blood drains.

 

[Barbedwirecat]

I did my first birds today, older so destined for the stew pot. I used the surgically sharp knife and killing cone method. I found if you leave them in it upside down for a little bit before you cut, they do seem like they go to sleep. Killing things is not "FUN" in my book, but when you roosters are just about mating your hens to death I knew it was time. I did thank them before they went.

I have been reading about the CO2 method using dry ice. It seems interesting and something I may try later.

 

[galanie]

IMO the CO2 and stuff is inhumane as all get out. They basically suffocate. That can't be as humane as what we're discussing at all.