Processing Day Support Group ~ HELP us through the Emotions PLEASE!

[BirdbyGavin1103]

Yes, it does help a lot.

I did read the NRA's 10 Commandments and will follow safe practices, although I am aware (and hopefully will remember at the time) that stress is going to knock all my book learning out of my mind at the time.

I have shot the rifle once from a short distance, using a can for practice.  Guns make me very uncomfortable and I have no experience or history with them.  I'll set up a situation as if I were killing a chicken and practice until I am comfortable.

I  did buy eye protection.

Why not touch the back of the head?  Is it because the bird might move because of it?  I'm out in the country on a 2-acre lot, the smallest in the neighborhood.  My one neighbor's house is fairly close, so I will do it behind some buildings and keep the ricochet/misses/through and throughs in mind.  A bucket of  water sounds like a good idea.  I don't like the idea of spreading lead pellets around the environment or where my chickens could pick them up.

Kassaundra doesn't bleed them out, claiming they bleed out very well from the head wound.  Do you bleed them?  Kassaundra mentioned in a recent post that after shooting, they immediately went into death throes.  If you bleed them out, do you do it then, with them struggling?  Insight into this will be most helpful.

I like to have everything planned ahead so that I know what it will look, feel and sound like.  Hunters and farmers must just laugh their heads off at people like me, but I really do want to become comfortable enough with it that I can buy some chickens for the purpose of slaughtering them.  The chickens I am now slaughtering are the unwanted byproduct of trying to get pullets for eggs.

I really, really appreciate all the hand holding I get here.  Thanks so much everyone.

I'm a hunter, and I only laugh at the vegans and PETA nuts. Anyone who wants to have a more hands on approach to their food is ok in my book, and a lil "hand holding" is to be expected. Btw I belong to the other "PETA" people eating tasty animals lol.
I decapitate and bleed them out after they have stop moving before I take them down. The hole left by the bb isn't enough to properly bleed them, in my opinion, but a pellet may leave a big enough one.
I don't touch the head only because, since they hang, it does cause them to start moving.
I'll try to get my son to tape it next time I do one.
Placing a can or bottle in the approximate position as the head would be is a great idea, and way to practice.

 

[jajeanpierre]

I'll be interested in this bird's neck as well...I'll do a close filming of where I cut so you can get an idea of where I found it to be the most easy. Every bird has an earlobe and a jawline and I'm thinking if a person just held back the hair fibers from that area with a thumb you could find a place to do a cut.

I'll be doing a meat portion comparison between the LF roosters, my own WR hen, and this little silkie and will post the pics. I'll even take the scales and do a weight comparison between these birds so one can get an idea how many small breeds it takes to equal one larger breed chicken.

They are all roosting on the roost bar except the silkie...

I'll be really interested to hear your comments on the slaughtering the Silkie. Some of mine had beards and muffs, so you couldn't even see their faces or combs. The fluff was like a mat, not like feathers that will lift in a line. That's the way I found it, but again, it might have been me and my inexperience that had the problem.

Silkies aren't good perching birds. Some do, but some sit on the ground. I actually am enjoying the Silkie pullets, but the cockerels were--all except one--just plain nasty always trying to bite me. I have big parrots so know what a real bite is--I was really surprised a little chicken could hurt when they bit me.

I'll check out a fermenting feed thread. I have a cockerel that I wanted to keep that has some issues with a slow crop. I'm going to put him on nystatin just to see if it isn't something that a little bit of modern meds can solve. Otherwise, he might be my next slaughter bird. Gosh, I hope I can slaughter him after giving him nystatin. I think I just need to withdraw it for three days

 

[199787]

I went out and bought a pellet gun yesterday.  The sales person I dealt with in person was worried a 400 to 550 fps velocity of a hand-gun style CO2 powered pellet gun would not have enough energy to do the job.   I bought a rifle-style pellet gun (1100 fps) with pointed hollow point pellets.  I guess it is powered by a spring.  It shoots one pellet and then will have to be reloaded and recharged, so I want to make darn sure I do it right the first time.  I can't believe these things don't fall under firearm legislation.  It is surprisingly loud, but that might be because it shoots at about the speed of sound.

Okay, one more time for the learning impaired (me!), how do I go about killing my chickens with a rifle at point blank range?  I have zero experience with firearms and to be honest, am not at all comfortable with it.

I do not have a killing cone so want to make due without one.  I could buy a bottle of bleach or something like that if it was really needed.

I can't find much on the internet.  Most chicken-slaughter videos demonstrating bleeding out, and anything related to killing with a gun deals with large animals not birds.

Thanks for all your patience and hand holding.

I know you already bought yours, but this one is what I use (see below). It is a pistol style hand pump. 10 pumps is 600fps. It's at Fleet Farm or Amazon.com for around $50. The shorter barrel makes it easier for me. My husband held the one we just had to put down facing away from him tucked in the crook of his arm. He didn't get any blood on himself. There was no exit wound. The brand is American Classic.

 

[Beekissed]

I'll be really interested to hear your comments on the slaughtering the Silkie. Some of mine had beards and muffs, so you couldn't even see their faces or combs. The fluff was like a mat, not like feathers that will lift in a line. That's the way I found it, but again, it might have been me and my inexperience that had the problem.

Silkies aren't good perching birds. Some do, but some sit on the ground. I actually am enjoying the Silkie pullets, but the cockerels were--all except one--just plain nasty always trying to bite me. I have big parrots so know what a real bite is--I was really surprised a little chicken could hurt when they bit me.

I'll check out a fermenting feed thread. I have a cockerel that I wanted to keep that has some issues with a slow crop. I'm going to put him on nystatin just to see if it isn't something that a little bit of modern meds can solve. Otherwise, he might be my next slaughter bird. Gosh, I hope I can slaughter him after giving him nystatin. I think I just need to withdraw it for three days

We'll see...I never really got to spend any time looking him over real well when I got him, just dusted him for lice and coated his feet in castor oil, gave him a dose orally and turned him into the pen. I was watching him today and he seems to have adequate waddle space where one could make a good jugular/carotid cut on him...I don't think he is a quality representation of the breed, so may have less total poof than one with proper breeding.

The gals on the FF thread want me to take plenty of pics of his innards, black testes and all.

I'll be doing a meat portions comparison for them as well, so I'll post all those pics here as well. I'll see if I can get my ol' ma to film me doing his kill so you can get a good idea of where I am cutting. All we have for filming is a digital camera, so it's not the best quality but I'll see what I can do.

 

[jajeanpierre]

We'll see...I never really got to spend any time looking him over real well when I got him, just dusted him for lice and coated his feet in castor oil, gave him a dose orally and turned him into the pen. I was watching him today and he seems to have adequate waddle space where one could make a good jugular/carotid cut on him...I don't think he is a quality representation of the breed, so may have less total poof than one with proper breeding.

The gals on the FF thread want me to take plenty of pics of his innards, black testes and all.

I'll be doing a meat portions comparison for them as well, so I'll post all those pics here as well. I'll see if I can get my ol' ma to film me doing his kill so you can get a good idea of where I am cutting. All we have for filming is a digital camera, so it's not the best quality but I'll see what I can do.

I had some with a sickly tan colored testes, some with black testes. I've seen the insides of cockatoos when my friend, an avian vet, was surgically sexing hundreds of birds for a zoo. They were jet black. Mine were hatchery Silkies, and the colors of the waddles and combs were too red, so they might not be as pigmented as they should be.. The lungs had black streaks in them. If you have no problems, I'll go on record now to say it is because your Silkie doesn't have as much fluffy feathering or beard and muffs than mine do/did. Can't be anything to do with lack of experience!

Seriously, though, I did have some that had really thick muffs and beards and they were a little more of a challenge to do.

 

[Kassaundra]

I do not have silkies but do have Fm carriers (black skin/organs/bones/flesh to varying degrees) the lungs are streakedblack and testes jet black.

 

[jajeanpierre]

I know you already bought yours, but this one is what I use (see below). It is a pistol style hand pump. 10 pumps is 600fps. It's at Fleet Farm or Amazon.com for around $50. The shorter barrel makes it easier for me. My husband held the one we just had to put down facing away from him tucked in the crook of his arm. He didn't get any blood on himself. There was no exit wound. The brand is American Classic.

I looked at that one and almost bought it, but got a bit scared that it just might not be quite enough. In the back of my mind was a comment Kassaundra made saying that you needed 1000fps. I couldn't imagine anything worse than having a mangled, suffering chicken and then my having to reload and try again or grab a knife. I went for over kill.

How many chickens have you killed using this pellet gun?

 

[199787]

1 rooster so far. I also read she said 1000fps, but my husband said 600 would be ample to do the job, so that's what he bought. It was an instant kill. Neck went limp instantly, some flopping and flapping then still. Base of skull aimed at a slight upward angle point blank. I say upward angle because the rooster was not upside down. We looked up where the brain /spinal cord would be and aimed for it.

 

[Kassaundra]

I was saying the 1000 fps based on what people on several gun forums said, not my own knowledge. It might work w/ less velocity, or it may be w/ perfect aim velocity isn't as important. I do know thatwmy / aim and velocity it works for me.

 

[1TurkenLover]

I do not want to offend anyone here, if I'm too blunt :

what breed did you kill, small med large.? then what ? bleed out with cone? Process .? any Pic would be good.. . I do not think I could Cone them then Bleed out. This shot to the head I could do,