What I’m I doing wrong when processing my meat birds?

[Molpet]

I Hope you dont buthcer egg laying hens because egg layers can live long and for taht to lay an eggg it pain they work so hard and lose nutrition because of it you Should keep old hens to ur flock they also make great pets older hens are more nicer and docile than younger hens they also keep the pest down and eat rats and mice a laying hen can live up to 11 to 15 years. Now I can understand if you kill Cornish cross because the have no chance even tho they suffer from it so there is no better. But laying hen a sick hen desserves to surive and tooken to vet ALSO old hens do lay egg 5 year old 8 year old lay egg but not as often there also good with protecting young hens and have more experince with a hen they also tend to go even tho there 8 years old if the do they make great mothers because they have more experience

If they are just a few as pets that's doable. I have 40+ hens and couldn't afford to keep all of them and 40 new layers....plus they make good soup.
I keep them 2 to 4 x as long as commercial laying houses, and they have a good life. Better than commercial eggs

 

[iwltfum]

If they are just a few as pets that's doable. I have 40+ hens and couldn't afford to keep all of them and 40 new layers....plus they make good soup.
I keep them 2 to 4 x as long as commercial laying houses, and they have a good life. Better than commercial eggs

lol yeah my egg business would be sunk if I kept all of my hens for 15 years because they are nice. I do develop an affinity for one or two that end up sticking around and dying a natural death. But We have a 150 bird flock right now. I can't even afford to properly cull and eat all of my spent hens. Most of them go into the compost pile unfortunately. Makes some great compost though. Some of them get sold to chefs in the know, but most places want commercial style birds with big breasts.

 

[M-H-Fielding]

I Hope you dont buthcer egg laying hens because egg layers can live long and for taht to lay an eggg it pain they work so hard and lose nutrition because of it you Should keep old hens to ur flock they also make great pets older hens are more nicer and docile than younger hens they also keep the pest down and eat rats and mice a laying hen can live up to 11 to 15 years. Now I can understand if you kill Cornish cross because the have no chance even tho they suffer from it so there is no better. But laying hen a sick hen desserves to surive and tooken to vet ALSO old hens do lay egg 5 year old 8 year old lay egg but not as often there also good with protecting young hens and have more experince with a hen they also tend to go even tho there 8 years old if the do they make great mothers because they have more experience

I don't eat layers, only eat meat birds. Could never do that to my flock of layers, I'm guilty of being attached to them.

 

[SweetLittleChicks]

I don't eat layers, only eat meat birds. Could never do that to my flock of layers, I'm guilty of being attached to them.

GOOD

 

[Chickenman MAN]

Hi everyone! Lease forgive me if I am being to graphic in this post!

So I decided to experiment in growing my own chickens for the table. I am using Cornish cross breed, which are easy to get around here as chicks. Raising them no problem, processing them humanly, big problem.

I grab the chicken, tie their legs and hang them upside down in a tall bucket. Then with a very sharp knife I feel around their neck just before the head and grab the loose skin around there and slice, right? Just as if they where in a cone but in a bucket.

I must be slicing wrong because they are not dying fast enough. Today, a big rooster took half an hour to die. For me that is not humane. It’s cruel. I kept slicing but it would not die.

I’ve tried the butcher block method but they flap all over without a head spattering blood which is not good for me and I can’t swing an ax that well anymore.

My hands are not strong enough to twist their necks like I remember my father and mother do decades ago.

The question is how do I know I am cutting the blood vein so they bleed fast and die fast?

A neighbor that raises the same kind of bird and is certified to process and sell to the public, showed me this system. She had the cone a sharp slit in the neck and the bird dies peacefully. No messes, no spattering, no flapping around!

Help! . I need to be able to humanly kill my birds or no meat bird for me.. Thank you ahead for your advise and help.

Lol.... I've never had meat birds or had to kill a hen but (not even joking here) wouldn't a guillotine be effective? Hold the bird down, release a heavily weighted blade and bam, head off... doesn't require the skill of a hatchet or a machete... solution?

 

[U_Stormcrow]

@HFFFluvmychicksandchicken I appreciate that you are emotionally invested in your birds, and have strong beliefs about how they should be treated. Not all of us view the world as you do, and I'm not certain all of us can afford to view the world as you do.

The posters here at BackyardChickens tend to be experienced owners looking to give their birds a good (and productive) life in humane conditions, and when the time comes, a humane ending. Or, they are members who endeavor to become those things. An appeal to your own authority "i am a chicken expert". supra before offering a moral/emotional argument is unlikely to change many (if any) minds. Those who share your belief structure likely already agree with you, and those that don't, well...

I'm in the practical/pragmatic camp myself, and would much rather a fellow member get good advice on sharp knives for dispatching birds (the synthetic handle Fibrox/Victorinox, BTW - easier to bleach clean than the nicer wood handled version!) than be attacked via a "How could you...?" posting about an event many first timers already approach with trepidation. Fast and sure, with a SHARP knife is the humane way - I'm supporting that effort, that the bird not suffer.

/EDIT and if you feel it necessary to report this post, though I have tried to be respectful, so be it. Sometimes, I need to take a step back, too. Perspective can make a huge difference.

 

[Molpet]

How could you do that i am an chicken expert i have been learning and working with them Chicken loss there nutrition and get muscle pain while laying the eggs why could you do that hens can live 11 to 15 years no animals deserve to lose there after there old or stop laying eggs chicken suffer by laying eggs they feel pain by doing some chicken die because of eggs and you kill them thats so horrible even tho they don't lay eggs dose not mean you can kill them if you want meat chickens by broilers/ cronish cross do NOT use egg chickens they suffer at the end they die why a chicken is a period accept they have more pain as a human also old hens can make great pets in fact if you don't want there many things to do with them than INSTEAD of killing sending them to a sanctuary keeping as pet they are great with killing pest and rats they can be use to brood old hens tend to go broody than young hens

I have 40 hens you can come and pick up to rescue. However this is the makings of my soup so it will need to be replaced.
Also I am curious why a layers life matters more than a meat birds life. All lives matter.

 

[NatJ]

How could you do that i am an chicken expert i have been learning and working with them Chicken loss there nutrition and get muscle pain while laying the eggs why could you do that hens can live 11 to 15 years no animals deserve to lose there after there old or stop laying eggs chicken suffer by laying eggs they feel pain by doing some chicken die because of eggs and you kill them thats so horrible even tho they don't lay eggs dose not mean you can kill them if you want meat chickens by broilers/ cronish cross do NOT use egg chickens they suffer at the end they die why a chicken is a period accept they have more pain as a human also old hens can make great pets in fact if you don't want there many things to do with them than INSTEAD of killing sending them to a sanctuary keeping as pet they are great with killing pest and rats they can be use to brood old hens tend to go broody than young hens

So you think it is better to kill one kind of chicken (Cornish Cross) instead of killing another kind of chicken (laying hen)?

I really don't see the difference. To me, both are chickens, both deserve a good life, both deserve a humane death at the end. And when people eat old laying hens, that means they do not need to raise as many meat chickens, so fewer total chickens get raised & killed.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

I really don't see the difference. To me, both are chickens, both deserve a good life, both deserve a humane death at the end. And when people eat old laying hens, that means they do not need raise as many meat chickens, so fewer total chickens get raised & killed.

and while I share this viewpoint with NatJ - it being a pragmatic, utilitarian, balance of harms equation to me - I had hoped my post would not trigger a piling on upon the poster.

I don't think moral counter arguments are likely to alter any world views, either.

 

[NatJ]

and while I share this viewpoint with NatJ - it being a pragmatic, utilitarian, balance of harms equation to me - I had hoped my post would not trigger a piling on upon the poster.

I must have been typing at the same time you were, but you typed & posted faster.

But you're right, it does look like we're all jumping on one person, and that's not what I intended