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

[MsBagawkbagawk]

(We have a very, very serious rat problem where we live, and I do kill them without regret or remorse.)

I hate rats, we used to have one that was a monster (literally) when I was 7. He stole all my Barbie dolls! That's how big he was!

Not to mention the cinder block he dragged 8 feet.

 

[SteeleFaithFarm]

There is another method called Contained Atmospheric Stunning and Contained Atmospheric Killing. Basically, the birds are loaded into a container, a heavy gas such as nitrogen or argon is pumped in. The birds asses either knocked unconscious or killed due to the lack of oxygen.

I plan to build the stunner to meet the standards of a humane certification. I will load 2 birds into the stun box and fill with argon gas. One the birds are unconscious, I will put them in cones and bleed them out. However, I may try the debraining method. So it will go gas, debrain, bleed.

 

[PotterWatch]

My only concern with gassing is that you won't get a good bleed-out. I went to a workshop where gassing was explained in depth and they said the bird had to be in the gas chamber for at least 10mins and they recommended more. If you take the bird out while it is just unconscious, not dead, then according to them, the bird will rapidly wake up when back in normal air thus defeating the purpose of using gas. I would worry that if you wait until the bird is dead, you simply won't get as much of the blood to leave the meat because the heart is not still beating to pump it out.

 

[SteeleFaithFarm]

I agree with your concern too. I worked for a small animal veterinarian and helped put animals under for surgery. My hope is to get the birds unconscious place them in the cone and bleed them before they come to. They are using this method with hogs with great results. I will try the gassing but if it doesn't work well I will skip this step and just bleed the bird in a cone.

 

[Stephanie739]

The question of the "best" method will have many different answers. Some people prefer cutting the head off all at once, some prefer breaking the neck, some do pithing before cutting the throat, some just cut the throat. All methods result in a fairly fast death. A bird flapping doesn't mean it is still conscious, it often just means that the nerves are still firing. We prefer using a cone and then cutting the throat with a scalpel. It is a very quick method and we don't usually even see any movement until after the bird is unconscious.

I haven't done the deed yet, but this is the method I am leaning towards...

 

[bobbi-j]

I haven't done the deed yet, but this is the method I am leaning towards...

If you do, I would suggest that you cut as deeply as you can. Decapitate if possible. It's quick, it's painless, and the bird isn't slowly dying as it's bleeding out. Whatever you do, make sure it's quick.

 

[bairo]

I have heard of folks using the method you described. It's sometimes called "braining" or "de-braining". Apparently, if you look at the top soft palate of a bird's mouth, there is a 'groove'. That's where the knife goes in - straight up towards the top of the head. If you search on here (at the top of the page is a search box) for either term, a couple articles should come up. Here's one....
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/73966/dry-plucking-and-de-braining

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/89082/pithing-the-real-story

While we had ours hanging upside down, I couldn't have looked in their beaks if I had wanted to! How do you get their beak open?! We used a 4" filet knife to cut the veins. We also made a kill-cone out of 20" aluminum flashing found at Menards in their roofing section. The cone held the bird firmly so there was not much movement. Yes, each bird had it's "death throes" where all the muscles release - including colon - which was VERY hard to listen to/experience. But realize that all creatures have this same 'reaction' when being killed. Ever slice a worm in the garden? What do the two parts do? Trash about wildly. Death throes.

Once I realized exactly what was happening, and why, it was a touch easier to deal with. Still hard. But part of life.

Good luck. Thank you for NOT participating in the spread of cock fighting. You're doing the right thing by raising these birds and serving them on your table, instead of the ring.

yep.. I use the brain poke method and then slit the throat.

 

[TexasLady]

As soon as you sever the spinal cord (cutting the head off), the heart stops beating. When the heart stops beating, the blood stops flowing. When the blood stops flowing, it stays in the veins. When that happens, the birds tend to spoil faster, and the meat tends to taste different. Also, when you cook the meat, there is blood in the veins, and I personally think the taste is less good. Cutting the throat and leaving the head on the bird can bleed out entirely is better.

That is one of the reasons that I want to learn how to do the debraining method. If you stick the bird in the brain, it is not feeling anything as soon as you hit the brain (and frankly that is literally 2-3 seconds). So you can cut the throat if necessary. But the way that he did it, they bled through the mouth, and frankly, it was the cleanest killing I've ever seen. No blood got on the chickens' feathers or any where else. It all flowed from their mouth into the catch container. There was very little movement of the wings, little flapping--maybe 20-30 seconds, and the bird was still.

I am going to try it again and see if I can do it the next time. I hope I do a better job, but if I don't, I will immediately cut their throats. That way, they won't suffer. On cutting the throat, I found that going to the top of the feathers on the left side of the bird and cutting right at the top of the feathers where there is red skin leaves a clean cut that causes the artery to be cut clean through. Although there is a lot more flapping and blood splattering, it is fairly quick--30 seconds while they struggle, 30 seconds while they seem to pass out but still flap hard, and then another minute while their muscles continue some movement. I absolutely hate this time lag for their muscles to quit, and I hate them to know they are dying for 30 seconds, but it is better than nothing I guess. The strange part to me is that they don't seem to be upset about the cut (which I would think would hurt). Instead, as they begin to loose consciousness, they begin to be afraid.

Back to debraining. I just think it is by far the least cruel method after watching it being done correctly. But I can't find someone to show me how to do it correctly. I guess I will just keep trying until I learn it. Then I can teach others.

 

[CKCobra357]

I butchered three roosters last Saturday. This my first time butchering chickens ever. I watched this 8 minute video and had absolutely no issues. Good luck.

 

[bobbi-j]

As soon as you sever the spinal cord (cutting the head off), the heart stops beating. When the heart stops beating, the blood stops flowing. When the blood stops flowing, it stays in the veins. When that happens, the birds tend to spoil faster, and the meat tends to taste different. Also, when you cook the meat, there is blood in the veins, and I personally think the taste is less good. Cutting the throat and leaving the head on the bird can bleed out entirely is better.

Actually, the heart does not stop beating immediately. I know this because we just butchered a cockerel this morning and killed it by chopping its head off. As I held it upside down, there was blood spurting from the neck. And yes, I do know the difference between spurting and just oozing out. It spurted right away, and it spurted with every flap of the wings (it flapped for about 20-30 seconds). I've never had a problem with spoiled or off-tasting meat or blood still in the veins. (I wonder how long it would have to sit before the meat starts to spoil with blood in the veins vs. without...) Really, whether the bird has bled out or not, you need to get them butchered and cooled ASAP to avoid spoiling. I'm not saying that the de-braining method is wrong or that you shouldn't do it. It's your personal choice, and I will be interested to know how it goes for you next time you try. Just saying that this is the method that works best for us.