Chicken won't bleed out during processing

[kathrync]

I'm a first-timer at processing chickens. I culled a laying hen today using the broomstick method to break her neck. Once she was done flapping, I cut her head off and tied her up by her legs to drain, but after nearly 30 min only a couple tablespoons worth of blood came out. Ended up discarding her carcass in the trash

I realize that I probably should have just slit her throat and let her bleed out while conscious, but I wanted to do a culling method that is more instantaneous. I've heard of folks using the broomstick method to process chickens, but now I wonder if it's even possible to drain the blood that way. Seems like it gets clogged up or something. Or, maybe there is some technique to the broomstick method that I just don't know. Can anyone enlighten me?

 

[Molpet]

Heart pumping gets the blood out. When they quit flapping the blood slows down. A salt water soak with help remove blood.... unless it for religious reasons.
People shoot pheasants that don't bleed out and utilize the meat

 

[Ridgerunner]

People hunt wild turkey, ducks, pheasant, quail, rabbit, squirrels and other animals often eat them without bleeding them out. Bleeding them out, if you can, improves the meat but not bleeding them out does not make the meat inedible to me. This is just my opinion. I see people on this forum waxing eloquently on the benefits and such on getting a good bleed-out. The way some people write about it I wouldn't be surprised if some of them would toss the bird if they didn't get a great bleed out. I sure get that opinion.

I don't use the broomstick method so I can't give you any great advice from experience. Sometimes if you pull hard enough with the broomstick method the head will pop off. Maybe pull harder?

 

[3KillerBs]

When you use the broomstick method the severing of the spine also severs the blood vessels in the neck so that the blood drains into the cavity and collects in the loose skin during the time that you're holding the flapping bird by it's ankles.

Then when you cut off the head at the body end of that gap the blood drops neatly into the trash along with the head and skin.

You didn't see blood drain out because it was already gone.

 

[Sussex19]

I agree with @3KillerBs on this, which is the one of the reasons I like the broomstick method.
Occasionally there is a little more blood left behind then other times when I butcher, but it never seems to be a problem.

 

[Isadora]

It wasn't necessary to throw the bird away. The meat is/was edible without doing a bleedout.

 

[kathrync]

When you use the broomstick method the severing of the spine also severs the blood vessels in the neck so that the blood drains into the cavity and collects in the loose skin during the time that you're holding the flapping bird by it's ankles.

Then when you cut off the head at the body end of that gap the blood drops neatly into the trash along with the head and skin.

You didn't see blood drain out because it was already gone.

Interesting... I did notice what looked like a couple of small blood clots after the head was cut off. How closely do you cut the head off to the body? And how much blood should I expect to see? Maybe if I had an idea of what to expect, I can be more confident next time

 

[Sussex19]

I cut though the neck about 1cm below where it's been broken.

 

[3KillerBs]

Interesting... I did notice what looked like a couple of small blood clots after the head was cut off. How closely do you cut the head off to the body? And how much blood should I expect to see? Maybe if I had an idea of what to expect, I can be more confident next time

When I do the broomstick method I end up with a gap in the spine just about as wide as my fist -- 3-4". I cut at the end of the broken bones, leaving all the loose skin with the blood it contains with the head.