I'm glad to see the videos help people. I wasn't sure how many people would ever see them, but I figured if I made it easier for anyone, it would be a good thing. I have to admit that helping people was actually not my primary goal. I had the idea that if I let people see the act and showed them quick easy ways to do it, it would make them more comfortable, thereby making it easier on their livestock. It's a terrible feeling when you half kill something and have to watch it suffer.
I started helping out processing livestock and game as a kid and my family was very strict about husbandry of the animals we were processing. Every animal was cared for the same as a pet would be, regarding health regiment and general care. Despite having plenty of experienced oversight I still made a lot of mistakes in learning the proper way to handle animals you are butchering. Honestly fowl are the hardest because it isn't sensible to just shoot them. You have to do it with your hands which leaves plenty of extra room for murphy. I'll never forget the first chicken I failed at. It got up and ran blindly around with me crying, chasing it trying to finish the job, it was pretty awful for an 8-9 year old. Since then and even still, it's happened on occasion. Human error is unavoidable. Knowing all that, I wanted to spare you brave souls jumping into processing, as much grief as possible. As a kid I thought it was pretty tough but, you guys have a much harder hill to climb than i ever did. Someone made me do it until it just became a normal part of my life. You guys chose to get closer to your food out of intelligent design or curiosity or lack of extra cages lol. I think that's pretty cool.
Where feelings are concerned, I do not feel bad about processing livestock in any way. I do however have a deep respect for the process and feel that it should always be done quickly and humanely, but I have no guilt to associate with it. At first you will probably be upset by it. This is actually a good thing, it means you aren't likely to become a serial killer anytime soon. After a while it becomes more natural and you begin to treat it only as a job that has to be done.
As far as what method I use; I practice the stone age method of wringing. I believe I mention it but I neglect to show in the processing video how I actually do it, it requires practiced hands, and I didn't want any beginners experimenting. QJ is the only person I'm aware of who's noticed. In the processing video you'll see the birds are all dead but their heads are still attached. After you practice enough you can be sure you are humanely killing the bird and at the same time not remove the head. I do it that way because people help me clean the carcasses and they react much better when I hand them an intact bird vs. a decapitated bloody carcass.
