How to raise cockrells to eat? And how to hummanly kill - tell me all

[cw]

the old man up the road used to kill em like that.
he would chicken like i aint never seen but i aint in that big of a hurry , he would spin them by there heads as well
but sometimes they dont always die, that was one i forgot to put on my list of things that shouldnt be done

 

[Miltonchix]

I've tried a couple different ways and like the killing cone method. (BTW thanks JAKU, nice cones!)
The only thing I'll do differently in the future is have more than one cone. 2 or 3 would be ideal for the # of birds I process.

 

[jjparke]

soak them in saltwater for at least 24 hours before you prepare of freeze them the meat will be much more tender

 

[hankus]

We keep ours in a grow off pen (its just a small pen) till cleaning time. For dispatch we use a hatchet.

 

[Doopy]

hankus - I'm one of the new kids on the block so I have lots of questions.

What is a "grow off" pen?
Why do you put them in a "grow off" pen?
When you say until cleaning time do you mean until you kill and process them or do you actually clean them before you kill and process them?

When I was growing up the only way I ever saw a chicken killed for processing was to hold it's head down on a chopping block and whack it off with an axe or hatchet. My Mom used to let them flap and jump around but I always held them under my arm until they settled down. I don't remember how my Dad did it.

 

[halo]

I would suggest taking some time and reading this particular Meat Birds forum. There is so much amazing information on here, that people have taken a lot of time and effort to post. Theres many different answers to all of your questions that have been covered in this forum already. Pop some popcorn, pour yourself a drink, sit back, and read this forum. You'll find better information here than in any book (or 3!) that you could find elsewhere.