I've tried the hatchet on the stump method and found that my aim wasn't all that good and the results were not as planned. Putting the chicken in a cone, or as I used an empty milk jug, and cutting the neck was much less stressful for both of us. If you have loppers to cut the head off clean and fast may work alright but I would hate to mess it up if I needed both hands to chop. With the neck cut it's rather quick and hopefully painless. I do use fiskers to cut off the head after the dirty deed is done, just never tried for culling method.