From the suburbs and struggling internally with making the plunge into keeping (and slaughtering) meat birds. Need advice!

[HenriettaPizzaNolan]

All of the common slaughter methods -- axe, branch loppers, broomstick, cone-and-knife, etc. -- accomplish a quick kill.

Some will argue about which is more humane than the other, but if the bird is kept calm during the process and is dead before it's more than mildly aware that it's in danger then it's fine.

My goal is for the catching and handling to be the most stressful part and I try to keep that as calm as possible.

Good points. Is is recommended to always hold the bird upside down until it calms before doing any of these methods?

 

[3KillerBs]

Good points. Is is recommended to always hold the bird upside down until it calms before doing any of these methods?

There are several ways to do it and that's one of them.

I was taught to hold the bird in my arms with the head tucked more or less into my armpit and rock it.

If it's not a bird that freaks out from any sort of handling I pet it and talk to it in a soothing voice -- which may or may not do more for me than for the bird, but keeping me calm and focused helps the bird because the calmer and more matter-of-fact the process the quicker it goes.

 

[KRack]

Having killed chickens by breaking their necks with a shovel/broomstick, I'm definitely going with an axe next time. I loved these chickens and have had no luck not getting attached. If I have to care for something in any way for more than 5 seconds, it has a place in my heart.

The solution I've come to for now is that my husband will have to do the killing and I'll do the rest of the work. There's something about that final moment and having them look at me as I talk to them, and their trust in me, that just breaks me even when I'm doing it for the right reasons. I've only had to kill laying hens that needed put out of their misery, and I've only been doing this a year, so I'm hoping with time and doing larger batches, it will be more second nature and less emotional.

 

[fowltemptress]

Maybe a weird tip, but this helped me when i was feeling overwhelmed: watch some nature documentaries. Life for a wild animal is hard, and more often than not their deaths are grisly and macabre. After watching a nature documentary I just felt so good about being able to provide my animals with a comfortable life and relatively swift and painless death.

Truth be told, this worked a little too well on me. I haven't watched nature shows in at least a decade. They're all the unpleasantness of a horror movie without the soothing knowledge that it's fiction.

 

[CNJ]

We were thinking of doing the axe-stump method. Is the kill cone better? My fiance grew up on a farm in Europe and he learned to use the axe method, so that's how we were thinking of going about it.

I drop them in a cone, hold its head and cut the jugular and let them bleed out in a plastic bag. I hold the head until it stops kicking, then I cut the wind pipe and pull off its head while its still in the cone. You will be surprised how easy their head comes off.

I use a hunters knife and pretend I am out in the wilderness.

 

[igorsMistress]

I can definitely relate to your situation, it’s a tough leap. To start, I don’t cuddle or name any of my chickens, even the ones I keep. I do spend time with them, but it’s coincidental because I have to clean and garden. I know my flock has access to a good amount of space and freedom, which is better than anything a store bought chicken gets, and I use every bit of the bird I can so the life wasn’t wasted. Considering cost, it’s not cheaper to raise your own for food when you can run to walmart and get a fully cooked bird for a few bucks. It’s easier on my conscience these days though. You just have to do it and then decide if you can keep doing it or not.

As for anyone concerned about animal rights, I’d dare them to compare your treatment of your own food to the treatment their food gets before it hits the grocery aisle. Killing an animal for food is not unkind. We are omnivores and our bodies are made to eat meat. Just because your neighbor or coworker is a vegan doesn’t mean you have to be. If you can’t find like minded folks locally, you’ll find plenty of them of them here. Come talk to the folks on BYC and skip discussing these things with people who will never understand. It’s not worth the effort to try changing their minds.

 

[HenriettaPizzaNolan]

I can definitely relate to your situation, it’s a tough leap. To start, I don’t cuddle or name any of my chickens, even the ones I keep. I do spend time with them, but it’s coincidental because I have to clean and garden. I know my flock has access to a good amount of space and freedom, which is better than anything a store bought chicken gets, and I use every bit of the bird I can so the life wasn’t wasted. Considering cost, it’s not cheaper to raise your own for food when you can run to walmart and get a fully cooked bird for a few bucks. It’s easier on my conscience these days though. You just have to do it and then decide if you can keep doing it or not.

As for anyone concerned about animal rights, I’d dare them to compare your treatment of your own food to the treatment their food gets before it hits the grocery aisle. Killing an animal for food is not unkind. We are omnivores and our bodies are made to eat meat. Just because your neighbor or coworker is a vegan doesn’t mean you have to be. If you can’t find like minded folks locally, you’ll find plenty of them of them here. Come talk to the folks on BYC and skip discussing these things with people who will never understand. It’s not worth the effort to try changing their minds.

Seems like great advice. Yeah, Walmart has those ~$4 roast chickens, but you have to wonder what kind of life that chicken had if the company can still profit after keeping, feeding, and transporting it. And even if it's not a moral thing, I doubt those chickens have as many nutrients as a home-raised chicken.

Also, on the topic of vegans not understanding, here is an article my vegetarian sister coincidentally sent me on the day I was preordering my meat birds (but did not and will not be telling her abiut the meat birds): https://www.elwooddogmeat.com/?fbcl...POwKMTGwrxorjPBCMEj-blM_v4RiMg7tlZk&fs=e&s=cl

I get what it's trying to say, but this kind of argument doesn't take into account that humans may not have survived throughout history without meat, and that other species of animals kill other animals for food. Should we now also be getting upset at our house cats for trapping, playing with, and eating mice? Not trying to start a convo about this topic because I think we are mostly in agreement here, but I just thought the timing was funny for her to send me that.

So yeah, I'll skip discussing those things with her and just come to BYC.

 

[SheaLoner]

Seems like great advice. Yeah, Walmart has those ~$4 roast chickens, but you have to wonder what kind of life that chicken had if the company can still profit after keeping, feeding, and transporting it. And even if it's not a moral thing, I doubt those chickens have as many nutrients as a home-raised chicken.

Also, on the topic of vegans not understanding, here is an article my vegetarian sister coincidentally sent me on the day I was preordering my meat birds (but did not and will not be telling her abiut the meat birds): https://www.elwooddogmeat.com/?fbcl...POwKMTGwrxorjPBCMEj-blM_v4RiMg7tlZk&fs=e&s=cl

I get what it's trying to say, but this kind of argument doesn't take into account that humans may not have survived throughout history without meat, and that other species of animals kill other animals for food. Should we now also be getting upset at our house cats for trapping, playing with, and eating mice? Not trying to start a convo about this topic because I think we are mostly in agreement here, but I just thought the timing was funny for her to send me that.

So yeah, I'll skip discussing those things with her and just come to BYC.

I like to tell people like that this. Those cute "smart" pigs, or chickens? They will EAT YOU given the chance, and feel nothing about doing so.

 

[3KillerBs]

I like to tell people like that this. Those cute "smart" pigs, or chickens? They will EAT YOU given the chance, and feel nothing about doing so.

A friend's mother walks with a cane and would have trouble getting to her feet without help if she was on the ground.

She keeps chickens, but says that she's afraid to fall in the chicken coop because she couldn't trust them if they were hungry.

 

[Isadora]

A friend's mother walks with a cane and would have trouble getting to her feet without help if she was on the ground.

She keeps chickens, but says that she's afraid to fall in the chicken coop because she couldn't trust them if they were hungry.

I processed a pekin duck this morning. I was plucking it and had to go into the house for something. I came back and one of the chickens was picking at the neck where the head had been removed.
Chickens are definitely opportunists.