Can i use an axe to slaughter meat birds?

[petrelline]

Quote:
An inch or so is fine; I didn't measure mine. And no, you don't need anything to keep the chicken's head in place. Pulling on the chicken to stretch out the neck works fine. My nails have heads on them which probably helps a little.

When I was cutting off the head to kill chickens I put the chicken into a pillowcase with one corner cut out for the head. This helped immobilze the chicken both to get it to the stump and after the head was off when it was thrashing around. Also, I used a machete rather than a hatchet; for me the longer blade of the machete made it less likely I was going to make a mistake and miss. The machete is a lighter tool and thus does require more upper body strength (or less hesitation on the downard stroke).

 

[TimG]

I found that one inch was a bit too close for the nails.

Once I held the chicken upside down by its feet for about a minute, it calmed down. It made no objection to me placing its neck between the nails or doing just about anything else. The second closed its eyes as I was taking a deep breath getting ready to do the deed. It really is sort of like they are in a trance once being held upside down for a bit.

The axe worked much better than a hatchet for me; the head is wider and heavier which made for a quick and complete decapitation. I've thought about using a cleaver for much the same reason you use a machete, less chance of missing, but I really liked the extra weight of the axe. I'm not as worried about missing as I am about getting only part way through.

[Warning messy bit to follow.]

The first spasmed wildly. It slipped out of my hand and jumped around. Literally. One jump was 2-3 feet off the ground. My first thought was to wonder if I missed, but the head was on the stump (it was also moving). I was pretty close to a property line and I wondered for a moment whether it was going get to the neighbor's yard. But, it slowed to a spin on the ground and stopped moving shortly after that. This all probably took 15-20 seconds, but at the time it seemed to go on for quite a while.

The second went much more gently. I did not drop it and it did just fine in a bucket after 5-10 seconds of twitching in my hand.

[End of messy bit.]

The water I used for scalding was a bit above 160 when I started, higher than I have read recommended. But, it worked great. Hand plucking was really easy. I was wearing a pair of those knit gloves with the rubber palm and fingers. Highly recommended. Plucking took forever in my only previous experience. I plan to build a Whizbang plucker, but this experience has left me thinking it wouldn't be a necessity even if I were to decide to butcher more than the odd unwanted rooster.

Removing the innards also went better than my first experience. The experience of having done it once before along with seeing lots of pictures here really helped. It wasn't quick by any means, but it did go smoothly and I can imagine that it could go quickly. A really sharp knife is nice.

Anyway, this is my contribution to the anybody-can-do-it empowerment that I find so useful in this forum.

 

[PeepsInc]

After reading about the kill cone method(using a knife), I'll never do it any other way again. An old road cone works perfect. You can set it rite over the bucket.

 

[TimG]

Quote:
I'm a bit squeamish about the killing. A chop seems easier from a psychological standpoint than a slice. I realize this is a personal opinion or preference and that it will be different for others.

I would like to be able to use the cone/slice method, but I'm not at all confident I could do it at the moment.

 

[greathorse]

I beleive there is little difference between slicing and removing the head. I know that there are a lot of people that believe they bleed better when slicing the artery.. I have been a butcher my whole career so it does not bother me. If it made me a little squeamish I would not hestitate to use the axe..

I use a nice heavy cleaver when I need to cull one that I am not going to eat. I keep it pretty sharp and it is quite seemless.

 

[Spore]

Yes.

 

[TimG]

Quote:
I appreciate the words of support. But, I am curious why you use a different method when you kill one that you are not going to eat.

My desire to be able to use the cone/slice method has to do with it appearing less messy (although from some of the pictures I've seen there can be quite a bit of splatter with a cone), not because I think the chicken will bleed out better that way.

 

[greathorse]

Many beleive that they bleed out better if you slice the throat. It is how it is done in many slaughter plants. It does not trouble me to do it in a cone with slitting the artery so I choose to do it that way. If I simlply need to put one out of its misery or something I use the heavy cleaver as it is simpler to do. If I need to kill one for culling I use the cleaver and put the body in a feed bag it saves a lot of mess.

 

[ChikeeMomma]

We've just used a very sharp, regular sized axe. We gently tie the chickens legs together -- they don't fuss so much then. And my hubby just does the deed. You aren't chopping away at the chicken like a piece of wood - basically just like a hatchet. It just takes a little tonk and it's done.

 

[PeepsInc]

The whole benefit of the cone is that the bird doesn't flop around, and it makes it easy to contain the blood. If your not clean about it,the smell on the ground will attract late nite predators.