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Killing cones can also be easily made from traffic cones cut down/up to fit your birds. I've also made some from plastic plant pots, the flexible black ones many nursery plants come in. I cut off the flat bottoms, slit down one side, curl it into the cone shape I need, and hold it together...

Joel Salatin says that initial cut, with the large volume of blood lost in an instant and the resulting great drop in blood pressure, causes the birds to "flat-line" in about 5-10 seconds. I guess you could hook up your own MRI to a chicken being processed to prove him correct or incorrect, but...

I consider it the final kindness I can bestow on the birds I raise with care for their meat, to help them Get To The Other Side Of The Road quickly, calmly, humanely. Make sure your knife is sharp, you have it placed right on the bare spot right behind their jaw, and that your fingers are out...

I know this is done with fish, that they can be kept in ice water for a while until you dock the boat & have time to clean them. And when you hunt you can carry your ducks, turkeys & pheasants around for a while. My only concern would be if there was any poop left in the intestines & it leaked...

I have a metal porch swing frame to use for hanging the birds I process. Recently I bolted a 2X6 across the top and attatched 3 cones I made from 3 different materials, to see which one worked best. One is a big plastic bleach bottle, best for smaller birds. One is a cut-down traffic cone I...

My birds seem to "pass out" as soon as I slice through their jugular veins. I use a good sharp knife, hold their heads and stretch their necks taut, and make a deep decisive cut right below their jaw bone. They go limp & their eyes close right afterwards. There will be some residual flipping...

Now you've made me curious as to what I would find in my roosters' gizzards. I haven't ever opened them up to look inside, I usually toss them & the other organs to the laying hens circling the cutting table like land sharks. I bet I would find Legos in my birds' gizzards, they're everywhere...

The water should stay hot enough on its own for a while, long enough to scald & pluck at least one bird. You don't need to keep it perpetually hot outdoors while you work. I got a nice big stock pot from FreeCycle that I use outdoors, it sets up on a few blocks for convenience. I fill that...

Quote: It seems to me the bird is smiling too. Humane butchering is NOT an oxymoron!

Quote: If you use a black plastic liner in the garbage can, or whatever you're catching the blood in, it's much less noticeable, less off-putting if you have issues with that. And I use gloves. I use those blue plastic ones but there are black ones you can buy.

I don't understand all the fuss about plucking. To me it's not the worst part of the job. As long as you can get a good scald, around 140-150 degrees for about a minute, the feathers come out fairly easily. If I had dozens & dozens of birds to do in one day I'd consider a mechanical plucker...

I've been looking through the photos again & now am curious about that groovy roofed enclosure in which you're doing your work. I'd like to learn more details about that, the dimensions, materials, if it's kept up year 'round or just set up for butchering time. We'd like something like that...

Quote: But why, when the chicken in the first photo seems to be smiling as much as Frugal? I'm going to show this to my Processing Pal, we're trying to learn more from every session we have, and this post will be very helpful to our education! Frugal, wanna come join us the next time when we...