Can someone explain pithing to me?

[yotetrapper]

Everyone keeps talking about it, and although I even did a search, I still dont know what the heck it is? What is it, what's it for, and how's it done??

 

[One Acre Wonder Farm]

hhmm, if I am remembering correctly it is the process of inserting a knife into a certain part of the chicken's brain (after you have sipatched and bled the bird out) thereby 'relaxing' the birds and making them easier to pluck (feathers are not held so tightly by the bird). I read about this in Storey's Guide to raising chickens. I no longer have the book (it was borrowed, I gotta get my own!!).

Hope this post at least serves as a bump; someone's gotta come along who can explain it clearly!

 

[Judy]

It is done while they are alive and well. The tool is inserted into the mouth and directly into the brain. It wipes the brain out but leaves the heart beating, so when you then slit the throat, they bleed better, plus it causes the bird to release the feathers. Or so I have read here. It is also done in labs sometimes to observe internal organs while functioning. Trouble is, you have to know exactly what you are doing to get it right. Wish I could find someone around here who knows how.