Butchering using a knife to the brain

[Pennys Mama]

The term for this method is pithing. A search for pithing in the Meat Birds Etc. forum will reveal many results.

It is a method that needs practice to learn. Piercing the brain in the wrong spot will not yield the desired results.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/pithing-what-am-i-doing-wrong.883053/page-4#post-16222073

I'm not sure I could do this technique, it's all I can do to just decapitate them...

 

[R2elk]

I'm not sure I could do this technique, it's all I can do to just decapitate them...

It isn't for everyone and must be done in the correct way for it to be effective.

 

[Ratchnick]

Does this work with ducks?

 

[archeryrob]

Waterfowl hunters carry a tool called the Finisher and yes it would.

IMO, using a regular knife to try and get into the small brain case area could be a good way to get hurt.

 

[Mosey2003]

Having tried it a couple times, I'd never recommend it. The birds do not want their mouths open, then trying to get a knife in and get it done correctly without stabbing yourself is just too fussy for my taste. I still prefer the broomstick method having tried basically everything.

 

[R2elk]

Having tried it a couple times, I'd never recommend it. The birds do not want their mouths open, then trying to get a knife in and get it done correctly without stabbing yourself is just too fussy for my taste. I still prefer the broomstick method having tried basically everything.

It isn't for everyone and it must be done properly. If you don't hit the right part of the brain, it won't provide the desired effect.

 

[archeryrob]

The pithing waterfowlers do is done from behind. You grab the head and bill and bend the neck with the bill 180° pointed to the chest and insert the pith where the spine meets the head into the brain and they are dead.

That said, I windmill mine and snap the neck. Chickens squirm a lot more dead than other fowl. The times I have loped heads they normally threw blood all over me unless in a cone. I have not tried the pithing to see if it quits this, but I doubt it as separating the head from the neck doesn't.

 

[Ratchnick]

Interesting. I was hoping it would make the feathers easier to remove like pithing a chicken.

 

[R2elk]

The pithing waterfowlers do is done from behind. You grab the head and bill and bend the neck with the bill 180° pointed to the chest and insert the pith where the spine meets the head into the brain and they are dead.

That said, I windmill mine and snap the neck. Chickens squirm a lot more dead than other fowl. The times I have loped heads they normally threw blood all over me unless in a cone. I have not tried the pithing to see if it quits this, but I doubt it as separating the head from the neck doesn't.

If done properly it eliminates the flopping caused by chopping a head off. I accidentally discovered that chopping through the brain at the right position will also eliminate the flopping around.

Pithing is not designed to cause instant death but rather to get the body to relax which makes the feathers much easier to remove. There is still the requirement to sever an artery to induce bleed out. Active bleeding will cease as soon as the heart stops bleeding. Pithing does not cause the heart to stop beating.

 

[timothyjerome]

Thank you this is what I was trying to figure. A quick thrust and it's over and then cutting inside through the mouth will drain the blood it's what I am trying to understand how this can be done. I'll keep researching!

Did you ever find it?