- Mar 27, 2012
- 188
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I do not like this part of raising chickens, but it is one I know that I must do. I would much rather find my roosters in the freezer than in a cock fight (where many of them will go here in California if I sell them). The roosters that are sold are often used to train the cocks to fight. If the rooster is winning, he is injured so that their fighting cock can beat them up and kill them. Some are put in the ring with
Years ago, I set up an appointment with a man who took my roosters to harvest them. I watched him do the killing because I wanted to be sure that they were processed humanely.
He turned the birds upside down, hooking their legs in metal clips that held the birds so they could not fly away (he had a harvesting plant). Then he took a small pocket knife, stuck it into the roof of the bird's mouth, and the bird died instantly. I counted the second one he did, and he flapped for 30 seconds. The third one flapped for 20 seconds. I was surprised at how humane this appeared as I anticipated he was just going to cut off the bird's head like I'd seen done many times. Grandma used to do this, and I was required to hold them to the ground for several minutes to keep them from flying. If I was not there or didn't do it, she put them in a sack, and they would flap around for minutes. If the chickens got away, they might fly over the hen house, and it would often take two to three minutes before they were completely still. I always hated it!
The man who did the butchering explained that this method was far better for several reasons:
1) When the brain was entered, the bird became unconscious immediately. This was a wonderful relief to me because I believe cutting off the head has to be up to several minutes of pain because they do so much flapping. With this method, the bird only flapped for seconds. I felt a great relief to see how much more humane it seemed to be.
2) He explained, when stabbed, the brain began to bleed heavily. This great letting of blood cleaned the blood out of the bird which added to the better taste of the flesh, and he believed it made the meat more tender (though he said he couldn't prove it).
3) Additionally, when the brain was cut, the feathers released instantly. I did not believe this because my grandmother had butchered chickens by cutting off heads. And plucking was done by scalding, pulling bunches of feathers out, re-dipping, and pulling out the rest of the wet feathers. Yuck! This was a stinky, smelly job, and I didn't enjoy eating chicken that day for lunch--the smell was still on my hands! I was incredulous, and he could see I did not believe that the feathers actually were easy to remove. So, as he pulled out a handful of feathers, he said, "Here, try it!" I took a handful, and they nearly fell out in my hand! What a shock!
A couple of years ago, I tried this method. It was AWFUL! I could not find the right spot to stab, and the poor birds suffered way too long. I ended up crying, my husband was angry and yelling at me, and he said he was not going to get involved in chicken butchering again. It was about as unpleasant as it could get.
So I went to the Internet and looked up the method. I found a single article on how to do it, read the article numerous times even locating an article on a chicken's brain and the placement in the head, and then tried another one. Still no luck.
So I called the local 4H folks, but they were clueless about how to do it. I called several other people that I thought might know, but nobody knew. Everyone said, "Just chop off their heads." I found nobody who could explain it to me, and I gave up on seeking an expert.
I haven't butchered my roosters now for abour four years (because I was so traumatized from that experience). But the alternative is that I take them to auction, and they are sold as roosters to whoever wants to buy them. I sold one the other day for $3. I put more food into him, and if he went for fighting, I am just encouraging this horrible sport. That is unbearable to me, and I am having horrible feelings that he went as a fighting partner. I can't get that out of my thoughts.
I have about ten three month old roosters (from the chicks I purchased). I do not want to sell them. I would far rather be sure that they are not used for fighting. But keeping ten roosters will only result in fighting here at my place! I'm in a "No Win" situation unless I butcher them myself. Since I can't keep ten roosters, I really need to learn how to do this killing method properly so that they do not suffer.
Can anyone help me understand how to do this method? I just don't know what I'm doing wrong. But I know this--I can't take another experience like that last time.
Years ago, I set up an appointment with a man who took my roosters to harvest them. I watched him do the killing because I wanted to be sure that they were processed humanely.
He turned the birds upside down, hooking their legs in metal clips that held the birds so they could not fly away (he had a harvesting plant). Then he took a small pocket knife, stuck it into the roof of the bird's mouth, and the bird died instantly. I counted the second one he did, and he flapped for 30 seconds. The third one flapped for 20 seconds. I was surprised at how humane this appeared as I anticipated he was just going to cut off the bird's head like I'd seen done many times. Grandma used to do this, and I was required to hold them to the ground for several minutes to keep them from flying. If I was not there or didn't do it, she put them in a sack, and they would flap around for minutes. If the chickens got away, they might fly over the hen house, and it would often take two to three minutes before they were completely still. I always hated it!
The man who did the butchering explained that this method was far better for several reasons:
1) When the brain was entered, the bird became unconscious immediately. This was a wonderful relief to me because I believe cutting off the head has to be up to several minutes of pain because they do so much flapping. With this method, the bird only flapped for seconds. I felt a great relief to see how much more humane it seemed to be.
2) He explained, when stabbed, the brain began to bleed heavily. This great letting of blood cleaned the blood out of the bird which added to the better taste of the flesh, and he believed it made the meat more tender (though he said he couldn't prove it).
3) Additionally, when the brain was cut, the feathers released instantly. I did not believe this because my grandmother had butchered chickens by cutting off heads. And plucking was done by scalding, pulling bunches of feathers out, re-dipping, and pulling out the rest of the wet feathers. Yuck! This was a stinky, smelly job, and I didn't enjoy eating chicken that day for lunch--the smell was still on my hands! I was incredulous, and he could see I did not believe that the feathers actually were easy to remove. So, as he pulled out a handful of feathers, he said, "Here, try it!" I took a handful, and they nearly fell out in my hand! What a shock!
A couple of years ago, I tried this method. It was AWFUL! I could not find the right spot to stab, and the poor birds suffered way too long. I ended up crying, my husband was angry and yelling at me, and he said he was not going to get involved in chicken butchering again. It was about as unpleasant as it could get.
So I went to the Internet and looked up the method. I found a single article on how to do it, read the article numerous times even locating an article on a chicken's brain and the placement in the head, and then tried another one. Still no luck.
So I called the local 4H folks, but they were clueless about how to do it. I called several other people that I thought might know, but nobody knew. Everyone said, "Just chop off their heads." I found nobody who could explain it to me, and I gave up on seeking an expert.
I haven't butchered my roosters now for abour four years (because I was so traumatized from that experience). But the alternative is that I take them to auction, and they are sold as roosters to whoever wants to buy them. I sold one the other day for $3. I put more food into him, and if he went for fighting, I am just encouraging this horrible sport. That is unbearable to me, and I am having horrible feelings that he went as a fighting partner. I can't get that out of my thoughts.
I have about ten three month old roosters (from the chicks I purchased). I do not want to sell them. I would far rather be sure that they are not used for fighting. But keeping ten roosters will only result in fighting here at my place! I'm in a "No Win" situation unless I butcher them myself. Since I can't keep ten roosters, I really need to learn how to do this killing method properly so that they do not suffer.
Can anyone help me understand how to do this method? I just don't know what I'm doing wrong. But I know this--I can't take another experience like that last time.
