Best Processing/Killing Method----PLEASE HELP!

[Hummingbird Hollow]

Texaslady,

I can't help you with the de-braining method, but I can tell you this. Once the chicken's head is cut off, regardless of what the body is doing, the chicken isn't feeling any pain. Think of the folks who have suffered spinal cord injury. Once the link between the body and the brain is severed, the brain can't feel any pain, because there is no connection to the body. Although great harm could be done to the body, the person with the spinal cord injury wouldn't actually feel any pain, because the signal isn't getting to the brain. So, while I would agree that the flapping and flying would be disturbing, if the head has been removed, what you are witnessing isn't pain and suffering, it is simply a bizarre phenomena. Don't know if this is any help.

 

[what did I do]

I searched debraining and came up with this from wikibooks

" Another procedure which works well is to debrain the chicken after beginning the bleeding. The procedure is to locate the slit in the roof of the mouth and insert a small bladed knife at a slight angle. Push the knife point toward the back of the brain, with the handle approximately parallel to the upper beak. A slight squawk indicates successful debraining. Debraining, if done properly, will allow dry picking or will facilitate picking when the sub-scald is used."

It sounds interesting. Keep us posted if you figure it out again.

 

[bobbi-j]

Is there a processing place that you could take them to? You wouldn't have to deal with it that way, since it's hard for you. We use the "nail in the stump" method ourselves. DH grew up here on the farm and his mom raised meat chickens every year. I guess I'm more comfortable with chopping the heads off because it's fool-proof. Once the head is removed, the chicken is dead and feeling no pain. As previously stated, the flapping and flopping is just the nerves still firing. Good luck in which ever method you use!

 

[TexasLady]

Yes, but the last time I took birds to them, he told me that I shouldn't bring birds to them that looked like that. I asked why. He said that I was raising skinny birds, and not meat birds (Cornish X), and the birds I brought in were hardly worth butchering. (They were Rocks.) 8~(

So I am kind of reluctant to take them back.

I did, however, find a very good article on debraining! I have looked for one for a long, long time, and this one seems to be pretty clear with pictures. http://www.rogueturtle.com/articles/chicken.php

 

[jeancordelia]

It's my understanding the process turkeys commercially that way, you might ask them.

 

[animaladdictions]

The flapping is extremely disturbing to me as well but I have to agree with the others .....no head equals no possible ability to feel pain. Pain receptors are located in the brain and if it's detached from the body it can't possibly be receptive to anything. I think that made sense? Still, just the thought of causing an innocent creature any pain kills me. So far I've only been able to cull little chicks that hatched out with a deformity of some kind. In those few cases I feel it would be more inhumane to allow them to continue living. I envy people that process their own birds. So far I've been too much of a "chicken" to do it.. pardon the pun. I really want to learn because I love the idea of being somewhat self sufficient.

 

[bobbi-j]

The flapping is extremely disturbing to me as well but I have to agree with the others .....no head equals no possible ability to feel pain. Pain receptors are located in the brain and if it's detached from the body it can't possibly be receptive to anything. I think that made sense? Still, just the thought of causing an innocent creature any pain kills me. So far I've only been able to cull little chicks that hatched out with a deformity of some kind. In those few cases I feel it would be more inhumane to allow them to continue living. I envy people that process their own birds. So far I've been too much of a "chicken" to do it.. pardon the pun. I really want to learn because I love the idea of being somewhat self sufficient.

If you want to learn to process your own birds, it might be a good idea to have someone who has done it for years to help you the first few times. For me, the first step in making it easier is to go into raising chickens as food, not pets. I enjoy watching them, I enjoy taking care of them, but I do not pet them, cuddle them, name them, or carry them around. I take as much of a hands-off approach as possible. Have you ever eaten home-grown chicken? It's so much better than store-bought. Much more flavorful! I pressure-can all of my spent laying hens, and it's so nice to have that meat on hand! And the broth.... just wait until you make home-made chicken noodle soup with your home-grown chickens!

 

[MsBagawkbagawk]

I'm glad my Grammie was a tough lady.
Her logic on cutting lower down the neck was that the brain was in the neck, almost at their shoulders. uh-huh....

 

[smilingcat]

My partner grew up with her dad doing the deed. tree stump/chopping block and a hatchet. It was her job to feather the bird. I prefer the cone and slit the main arteries to their head but now having read about debraining, I think I'm more up to that method. Its more humane and quicker I think. never gave a thought about hypnotizing the bird beforehand but it makes sense. Gentle massage of the chest and you can line up hens on the ground. Funny sight!

I never did like butchering and I don't think I will ever get used to it. One thing it does teach people and makes people aware is the connection to life and how precious life is. You develop much more reverence to meat. It is precious and not something one should not take it for granted.

Something I have to do this today. I don't look forward to it but something we HAVE to do. Maybe this makes us more caring and nurturing to living creatures around us and not some psychopathic monster. Somewhere I've heard that it was not good to be butchering everyday and you become numb or uncaring about the process. When this happens, they said you lose some humanity and I think they are right. Having angst over butchering a bird is a good thing in a long run. And I think its natural reaction, a healthy reaction.

 

[TexasLady]

Yes, I think it is too.

I did find a video that does show a bit about it.

This might give a good idea.

I also found that the brain in a chicken is much farther back than I thought. In fact, the eyes are in front of the brain.

I absolutely thought that debraining was the best thing once I saw the guy do it that showed me. However, the video isn't quite as good as I would like on it. Notice that the chicken does little struggling after the debraining, and I am sure that, if a brain is damaged, there is no pain felt because the brain is not functioning to feel anything any more.

I do believe, because of the lives that were taken from farm animals in my younger years (and today), that I have a far, far greater reverence for life. I think it is an absolute shame to kill anything unless you have to, and for me "have to" is for food or because the creature (rats) are destroying property and costing you money. (We have a very, very serious rat problem where we live, and I do kill them without regret or remorse.)

Thanks for the replies. I wish I could hire someone to do this butchering. It is such a necessary thing for me especially because I live in an area that there is a LOT of cock fighting. I have no desire to allow that to happen to birds that I own, so the alternative is that I must butcher or have them butchered. I just don't like it, but it is the only fair way to do it for their own comfort.