bleeding heart just ordered 10 meat birds! am i a fool?

[bibliophile birds]

i slit the throats too. slitting both sides of the neck severs the arteries for a quick bleed-out, but keeps the windpipe intact and the heart beating. that helps to push a lot of the blood out too. but that is obviously not the only method. for me, it was the best option because chopping the heads off was to garish and breaking the neck was too much contact. i didn't have killing cones, so i zipped tied their feet together and hung them from a pole. i hung all 4 up at once and just went down the line so it was over quickly. then i just had to wait while they bled out. killing cones would have kept them from flailing (it's important to remember that the flailing is a nervous system issue, NOT the bird panicking as it dies- they are unconscious in a matter of seconds) which would have made cleaning up the blood easier, but you could always tie something around their bodies, pinning the wings down, which would cut down on the movement even if it doesn't eliminate it.

i highly suggest watching some videos on YouTube (the Polyface and Featherman ones are good). it will help you get the techniques right and it will desensitize you a little. at least, it did me- the gory parts that is. nothing can, or should, desensitize you to the fact that you are taking their lives. i personally think that it's important to acknowledge that every time. i might sound like some new-agey loon, but i thanked each of the birds for their lives before i did the deed. nothing grand, just a quick "thanks" and good thoughts as i did it.

 

[blueskylen]

I guess that i am a bleeding heart too. I will raise them so that we have a source of meat that we know is healthy and know what went into the birds. I cannot process them tho - they have gone to the Amish to be processed, and I am happy with that. But this year DH says that his cousin wants to help do it and save the fees. I said go ahead, but I won't be home that day and will not help. I can help butcher a deer or animal that I didn't raise, but have a hard time doing it for something that I babied for 7or 8 weeks. I guess it would be easy after the first time, but I'll put that first time off as long as i can.

ll