Culling process...

[chanceosunshine]

We're getting ready for our second chicken harvest. Is there a reason people only cut the side or sides of the chickens neck instead of just taking the whole head? Wouldn't taking the whole head be a quicker death?

 

[Isadora]

It's to allow a better bleed out. If you cut the artery but leave the head intact, the heart keeps pumping longer and gets more of the blood out of the body.
Yes, cutting the head off completely as a quicker death, but with a proper throat cut, it doesn't take long for them to lose consciousness.

 

[MysteryChicken]

We're getting ready for our second chicken harvest. Is there a reason people only cut the side or sides of the chickens neck instead of just taking the whole head? Wouldn't taking the whole head be a quicker death?

We cut off heads. But I prefer the broomstick method, less messy.

 

[chanceosunshine]

It's to allow a better bleed out. If you cut the artery but leave the head intact, the heart keeps pumping longer and gets more of the blood out of the body.
Yes, cutting the head off completely as a quicker death, but with a proper throat cut, it doesn't take long for them to lose consciousness.

Oh, that makes sense. Thank you.

We cut off heads. But I prefer the broomstick method, less messy.

Any drawbacks to the broomstick method? Think it's a quicker death?

I assume you just let them bleed out after the fact, but you wouldn't have the heart pushing the blood out, the same as in taking the whole head as @Isadora explained??

 

[MysteryChicken]

Oh, that makes sense. Thank you.

Any drawbacks to the broomstick method? Think it's a quicker death?

I assume you just let them bleed out after the fact, but you wouldn't have the heart pushing the blood out, the same as in taking the whole head as @Isadora explained??

Yes after the birds are bled while still moving.

They die immediately, but it also takes alittle practice to get just right.

 

[HenriettaPizzaNolan]

Others have given a sufficient answer. To follow up to what they've said, the culling method becomes a matter of preference depending on what your goals are. I am processing my first batch of meat birds in a couple weeks, and we plan to chop the heads off with a hatchet. But that is because our main goal is a swift death that's as painless as possible. If my priority was speed of processing and a better blood drain, I'd probably go with the kill cone and severing the arteries.

I do wonder if the chickens can feel much when you sever the arteries though. I once had a freak accident where I was cut extremely deeply just an inch away from my carotid artery. I lost a ton of blood and they actually had to stitch me up under my skin as well (the muscle, I think??) because it was so deep. Funny thing was, I didn't feel as much pain as you would think from the cut because there are some major nerves that run in that area, and those were severed too. Even to this day I still don't have full feeling back in my neck, cheek, and ear. But anyway, what I'm getting at is I wonder if it's something similar with the chickens where nerves are also severed so they don't feel much pain, but just slowly pass out. I also heard someone on here say a while ago that they had a friend who nearly bled out one time, and that friend now always kills chickens by severing the arteries because in her experience, bleeding out was rather peaceful (somehow), and just felt like slowly fading away. I kind of think I know what she means though. I kept almost passing out from blood loss during my accident, and it was kind of "peaceful" in a way.

Can anyone speak to this? Is it possible the nerves are cut and the chicken doesn't feel much when you sever the arteries? I don't know much about the chicken nervous system lol.

 

[Ridgerunner]

While we are being philosophical, I'll pose another one. Are you sure there is better bleed-out with the artery slice as opposed to taking off the whole head? I use the hatchet and stump method. When I cut the head off the body does not passively just lay there. There are all kinds of muscular contractions with the chicken bouncing all over the place, some more than others. I'd think all those involuntary muscular contractions would pump out a lot of blood. It sure looks like it. Even if one way does allow more blood loss, is it a noticeable difference?

 

[Isadora]

While we are being philosophical, I'll pose another one. Are you sure there is better bleed-out with the artery slice as opposed to taking off the whole head? I use the hatchet and stump method. When I cut the head off the body does not passively just lay there. There are all kinds of muscular contractions with the chicken bouncing all over the place, some more than others. I'd think all those involuntary muscular contractions would pump out a lot of blood. It sure looks like it. Even if one way does allow more blood loss, is it a noticeable difference?

I have done chickens both ways and have found less blood clots with severing arteries.
I don't think it matters a whole whole lot, especially if it bothers someone to just cut the neck and not chop off the whole head.

 

[3KillerBs]

I'd think all those involuntary muscular contractions would pump out a lot of blood.

I use the broomstick method and I figure that the vigorous flapping of a good spinal severing *must* pump out a lot of blood while I'm holding the bird upside down by it's ankles waiting for the flapping to stop.

I haven't noticed any particular blood clots.

 

[chanceosunshine]

Thank you all for the input. Thankfully, I'm not the one who does the deed, but we do wants whatever is best for the animals.