Raising Meat birds on alternative feeds (ie CHEEP-ly)

[RachelJG]

The last batch I did were flapping and spilling blood all over the place while they were bleeding out   (Is that normal??)

That's where the saying "running around like a chicken with its head cut off" comes from. Very normal.

 

[Findtex]

That's where the saying "running around like a chicken with its head cut off" comes from. Very normal.

Tie their legs together with a looped rope, I use bailers twine, and hang them up, after the act hold the back down till they bleed out. Do not worry about brusing as once the blood pressure is gone they will not bruse.

 

[Whoopsie daisy]

Tie their legs together with a looped rope, I use bailers twine, and hang them up, after the act hold the back down till they bleed out. Do not worry about brusing as once the blood pressure is gone they will not bruse.

Yes I do hang them by their legs and then cut throat, but they flap and mess blood. I feel so sorry for them! I'm going to try and construct some kind of killing cone so that their wings are restrained.

 

[Findtex]

Yes I do hang them by their legs and then cut throat, but they flap and mess blood. I feel so sorry for them! I'm going to try and construct some kind of killing cone so that their wings are restrained.

I did miss 1 important point, while holding their legs also hold their wings; by the tips. Once dispatched hold them back down until the worst of the nervous twitching is over. Remember that once they loose their blood pressure they are dead, the twitching etc. is caused by the reflex arcs in their spin. Once the worst of it is over you can hang by the twine to bleed out. Hope this helps.

 

[Whoopsie daisy]

I did miss 1 important point, while holding their legs also hold their wings; by the tips. Once dispatched hold them back down until the worst of the nervous twitching is over. Remember that once they loose their blood pressure they are dead, the twitching etc. is caused by the reflex arcs in their spin. Once the worst of it is over you can hang by the twine to bleed out. Hope this helps.

I must've done something wrong... They didn't seem dead. They were flapping and cheeping and lifting their heads. And I cut through the throat.

Took under a minute for it to stop, but didn't like it one bit. When I was 13, I was in an agricultural school and we had to process two chickens each on a practical day. I couldn't do the killing part back then, and I still dislike it very much - I suppose we all hate that part the most. I have no problem with the rest of the butchering process.

 

[dellakay]

Hello,
If I am repeating info from another post, please forgive as I didn't take the time to read through all the pages. There are 2 practically free sources of very good quality protein that I plan on using when I get my first flock of girls.
The first one is duckweed. It is reputed to be a very good source of high protein and once you get a smallish water area set up (it can be any shape that is convenient like a long narrow trench that would make harvesting easier), then just find a local pond that has it growing and get a little "seed" batch from there and you should be off and running. It is very fast growing.
The second idea is to construct a bin that will attract black soldier flies so you can harvest the larva. Youtube has several good videos on the particulars of design, and it is NOT complicated or material intensive. Food for the flies can come from anything from veg and fruit garden leavings to a local dumpster. I hope that you can use at least some of the information to help with future feed costs, and the nice thing about "infrastructure" for both of these is, once you take the initial time and few bucks for setup, it is smooth sailin' from there!!! HTH!
Della

 

[Findtex]

I must've done something wrong... They didn't seem dead. They were flapping and cheeping and lifting their heads. And I cut through the throat.

Took under a minute for it to stop, but didn't like it one bit. When I was 13, I was in an agricultural school and we had to process two chickens each on a practical day. I couldn't do the killing part back then, and I still dislike it very much - I suppose we all hate that part the most. I have no problem with the rest of the butchering process.

I think that it important that we respect our food and were it comes from, giving your chickens a good happy life and a quick "painless" dispatch is important, over the years I have seen several methods demonstrated including Killing cones. Personally I think the birds are stressed out by the time it is done. I still use the axe, quick and effective, cut their heads off.

It sounds like you will either have to prepare yourself for the act or find someone else to do it for you. The down side of that is you need to find some one who will respect your birds.

 

[LindaB220]

Hello,
If I am repeating info from another post, please forgive as I didn't take the time to read through all the pages. There are 2 practically free sources of very good quality protein that I plan on using when I get my first flock of girls.
The first one is duckweed. It is reputed to be a very good source of high protein and once you get a smallish water area set up (it can be any shape that is convenient like a long narrow trench that would make harvesting easier), then just find a local pond that has it growing and get a little "seed" batch from there and you should be off and running. It is very fast growing.
The second idea is to construct a bin that will attract black soldier flies so you can harvest the larva. Youtube has several good videos on the particulars of design, and it is NOT complicated or material intensive. Food for the flies can come from anything from veg and fruit garden leavings to a local dumpster. I hope that you can use at least some of the information to help with future feed costs, and the nice thing about "infrastructure" for both of these is, once you take the initial time and few bucks for setup, it is smooth sailin' from there!!!
Della

Hey Della,

Good choices. Keep it up.

 

[LindaB220]

I must've done something wrong... They didn't seem dead. They were flapping and cheeping and lifting their heads. And I cut through the throat.

Took under a minute for it to stop, but didn't like it one bit. When I was 13, I was in an agricultural school and we had to process two chickens each on a practical day. I couldn't do the killing part back then, and I still dislike it very much - I suppose we all hate that part the most. I have no problem with the rest of the butchering process.

Even when you cut the throat it still takes a minute to stop flapping. Just wait it out. Cutting off the head still has flapping.

 

[wsmoak]

Yes I do hang them by their legs and then cut throat, but they flap and mess blood. I feel so sorry for them! I'm going to try and construct some kind of killing cone so that their wings are restrained.

(Somewhat off the thread topic, but since I just looked it up to make one I thought I'd link to this thread on constructing a killing cone: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/389035/how-to-build-a-killing-cone . I've also seen people use the orange vinyl traffic cones, with the top cut off to make a larger opening. -Wendy )