calling any one from missouri

[jthornton]

I hang them upside down (to calm them) and then I slice open their jugular and let them bleed out.

I watched Eivin on the Alaska the Last Frontier show put them in what looked like funnel head down and let them calm down before cutting their head off.

JT

 

[OhZark Biddies]

Here’s my ‘how to’...

I’m not squeamish about killing the birds... but I am about ‘slicing’ ... it just gives me the heebies with a side of jeebies... ...

If the slicing doesn’t bother you it’s probably the better way as far as getting a good bleed out though...
chopping can sometimes pinch the artery so that it doesn’t bleed as well...

But it’s not really that big a deal... so I prefer to chop... but it’s my own quirk... once the bird is dead, I have no problem cutting/slicing it up

So I make some loops of rope/twine about 16 inches... if I’m doing four birds I’d have 5 loops ( I just clean these ups reuse them every year)

Then I loop one leg of the bird

Then I place another loop of twine around it’s neck

Then I put the neck loop around a nail that I’ve placed in a stump with the nail in the side

Then with my left hand I pull the leg to stretch the neck, and then I chop with the right hand

Then I hang the leg loop on a fence post or somewhere to let the carcass flop and bleed out... it’ll make a mess so I do this somewhere I can hose down...

I use a sharp cleaver, but a sharp hatchet would do

If I’m doing 4-5 birds I do all the dispatching first and then clean them...

This is just what works for me... the main thing is to have a sharp cleaver, hatchet, etc... and chop with good force to get a good cut all the way through... if you chop with out enough force... you have to chop twice and that’s a mess

 

[OhZark Biddies]

The other question re processing would be, @karenerwin where do you put all the waste, feathers, guts, blood etc, so as not to attract predators? I assume you process them outside?

I try to time this in accordance with trash pickup day... and just give all that to the trash truck...

I always just skin them ... rather than pluck them... and I put the skin/feathers, along with innards and other parts in a garbage bag ...

if for some reason I need to do it a few days before trash day... I just freeze the whole bag till trash day... assuming I have room in the freezer...

If you have a a ‘back 40’ dumping them somewhere remote on your property is probably fine too... but I don’t prefer to do that in summer

 

[OhZark Biddies]

I watched Eivin on the Alaska the Last Frontier show put them in what looked like funnel head down and let them calm down before cutting their head off.

JT

My brother uses a plastic vinegar bottle with the bottom cut off and the neck of the jug cut off to make a cone... that works pretty well too

 

[OhZark Biddies]

@OhZark Biddies i forgot to tell you that I finally butchered 1 of the meat birds. It weighed a little over 6 pounds of usable meat! This morning while letting chickens out I noticed that 2 of the younger meat birds have injured legs. Not sure if they were the ones that have been roosting on the roost bar and injured themselves jumping down or what. But they just moved themselves to next to be butchered even though they are way smaller than what I would butcher them at.

6 lbs! Nice... I talk about doing meat birds every year and then never do...

I think my broody hen might be raising 5 cockerels and one hen ... too early to tell for sure... but if so I’ll have some ‘meat birds’ this fall

 

[SueT]

Here’s my ‘how to’...

I’m not squeamish about killing the birds... but I am about ‘slicing’ ... it just gives me the heebies with a side of jeebies... ...

If the slicing doesn’t bother you it’s probably the better way as far as getting a good bleed out though...
chopping can sometimes pinch the artery so that it doesn’t bleed as well...

But it’s not really that big a deal... so I prefer to chop... but it’s my own quirk... once the bird is dead, I have no problem cutting/slicing it up

So I make some loops of rope/twine about 16 inches... if I’m doing four birds I’d have 5 loops ( I just clean these ups reuse them every year)

View attachment 2210167

Then I loop one leg of the bird

View attachment 2210157

Then I place another loop of twine around it’s neck

View attachment 2210156

Then I put the neck loop around a nail that I’ve placed in a stump with the nail in the side
View attachment 2210155

Then with my left hand I pull the leg to stretch the neck, and then I chop with the right hand

View attachment 2210158

Then I hang the leg loop on a fence post or somewhere to let the carcass flop and bleed out... it’ll make a mess so I do this somewhere I can hose down...

View attachment 2210160

I use a sharp cleaver, but a sharp hatchet would do

View attachment 2210159
.

I was thinking cone and lopping shears....ours are kept really sharp. Then I wouldn't have a block absorbing the blood. Instead I could put the waste bag under.
Yes, we have a back 40, but you have to trudge thru chiggers and ticks, or get out the tractor. But we just started trash service, that's a great idea. And they come around noon so I'd have all morning to do the processing.
Another option, I could ask my Amish friend for whom I'm saving 2 Spitzhaubens if she wants the extra boys, and then I could cop out of killing them myself.

 

[Noobie39417]

I like your chicken dummy for the demo. The bugged out eyes cracked me up in light of what you were demonstrating even though 8 am pretty certain that is Hei Hei from Moana.
My husbands Grandma grew up on a farm and she and her husband farmed 600+acres with cattle. They also had 6 kids and were very frugal, so she gardened, canned, and raised chickens for eggs and meat. Hubby recalls her still having chickens when he was younger. She had a grab them by the neck and whip them around over her head method from what he recalls. Then, my mother in law and her sisters got to pluck and help process the chickens.
My good friend with a large family (10 kids) bought 100 meat chickens this spring when covid hit and she could only buy 1 gallon of milk per trip to town(they go through 15 gal a week). So, concerned they may ration or limit meat purchases she bought the chicks. She used the hang and slit throat method too. Just processed her first batch this week. I am not sure what method I'd feel most comfortable with at this point but so far have no plans to.
Pretty sure if I bought meat birds my daughter would fall in love with them and be devastated at butcher time. We have a freezer full of deer though between my hubby and oldest daughter we could live off of that alone for a LONG time.

 

[OhZark Biddies]

If you need any white Rose of Sharons, let me know. We have the white ones and the purple ones.

Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind...

I’ve transplanted a bunch of volunteer seedlings the last few years ... so hopefully some of those will be white ones, just for variety...

I’ve searched for info on the genetics of the purple crossed with the white... but never found anything... I suspect the purple is dominant though... maybe not

 

[shawluvsbirds]

I guess i can kill a rose of Sharon

 

[OhZark Biddies]

I like your chicken dummy for the demo. The bugged out eyes cracked me up in light of what you were demonstrating even though 8 am pretty certain that is Hei Hei from Moana.
My husbands Grandma grew up on a farm and she and her husband farmed 600+acres with cattle. They also had 6 kids and were very frugal, so she gardened, canned, and raised chickens for eggs and meat. Hubby recalls her still having chickens when he was younger. She had a grab them by the neck and whip them around over her head method from what he recalls. Then, my mother in law and her sisters got to pluck and help process the chickens.
My good friend with a large family (10 kids) bought 100 meat chickens this spring when covid hit and she could only buy 1 gallon of milk per trip to town(they go through 15 gal a week). So, concerned they may ration or limit meat purchases she bought the chicks. She used the hang and slit throat method too. Just processed her first batch this week. I am not sure what method I'd feel most comfortable with at this point but so far have no plans to.
Pretty sure if I bought meat birds my daughter would fall in love with them and be devastated at butcher time. We have a freezer full of deer though between my hubby and oldest daughter we could live off of that alone for a LONG time.

Ha, yeah that’s the rooster from that movie... I’ve never seen it, but my little niece gave me that for Christmas one year...

I’ve ‘wringed’ necks in the past too... that works, but it doesn’t bleed them out... but it all works.