Chicken knives recommended

[Stuart R]

Hello all. New to the site. In fact just found the site today and found many articles which have all answered many of the questions I've had. However I'm still curious about the knives used in the sluatgher proccess.

We currently have 20 young meat birds (pullets at the moment) and intend on slaugthering them later in the year via killing cone & cutting the throat. The most I've been able to come up with for the killing part is a sharp sharp sharp, cut yourself just looking at it sharp knife. I've read that a hunting knife or paring knife is good.

Could anyone recommend or say what knife works best for them with this method? The Wally-World fillet knives seem pretty darn sharp. I bought one a while back and found myself using it to cut everything it wasn't intended for (zip ties, plastics, etc). Needless to say it isn't sharp anymore. Any suggestions would be great as I want to be sure that when that first cut to start all other cuts will only have to be one good slice making it as quick and unagonising as possible for the chickens.

Thanks

Stuart

 

[booker81]

There's a couple good threads on knives, but folks will use what they like best

I use a scalpel. Can't get too much sharper than those.

This is a good thread with lots of folks weighing in on what they use:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=497529

 

[CowgirlJules]

I use a scalpel too, with a folding handle made by these people: Havalon.

 

[foux003]

When i was a kid [17 yrs ] I worked for an old German guy he had a grain mill and a small farm. In November and December he would send me to the farm to butcher White BB Turkeys. The bird was set into the cone and then we would stick the bird through the mouth and up into the brain. If you did it correctly you could feel the bird go limp and then we would cut the throat. We used an old over sharpened butcher knife with a real thin blade to stick the bird brain. We butchered 2000 Turkeys a year that way

foux003

 

[darkmatter]

Quote:
That's what I use, a thin but strong paring knife using the brain stick method. Mine is a carbon steel over sharpened blade with a large wooden handle for easy grip------like I said, just a kitchen paring knife.

 

[Stuart R]

Thanks a bunch. Gives me plenty of answers to my question. I appreciate it.