DIY HUMANE way to Kill Slaughter Chicken (Stun-kill, Gas)

[mxpres]

I use the ax method on my birds,I have a large log with two nails about 1 1/2 inches apart.i tie the birds feet together and loop the other end to another nail ,I use the ax,then drop the bird over the edge of the log,it flaps several times but its free of the log and the meat isn,t bruised,and hanging upside down allows it to bleed out better,killing any animal is harsh for some people,i have hunted all my life and have taken may animals for table fare,I still feel a moment of sadness over having to take an animals life,but we are on top of the food chain,and the animals would die anyway,some a more horrible death,a quick and clean humane way is always the best ,and it is used to feed my family,thats what it was intended to do,I would have second thoughts about eating an animal that has been gassed,meat contamanation for one,

 

[dancingbear]

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The gas in question here is CO2 or argon, maybe nitrogen. None of these are dangerous unless you are breathing them, concentrated, with no oxygen. It's not that they are toxic, it's that they are taking the place of oxygen. So suffocation is the result. It's not like cyanide gas, or chlorine gas, or anything like that. It sounds worse than it is. The air we breathe contains oxygen, CO2, nitrogen, and argon. And a few other gases, as well. But in the correct proportions to sustain life.

I wouldn't be afraid to eat a bird killed with CO2 or argon, but it doesn't sound like it's quick or painless, as many of us no doubt hoped it would be.

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I've tried that, too. The first bird I killed by pithing, it worked perfectly. The next ones, it didn't. I've butchered a total of 9 now, (DH always did the deed for us before) and the last 2 were actually the worst. I just don't seem to be able to hit the correct area of the brain. I felt like I had tortured them to death, not at all what I intended.
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I'm about to either start chopping off heads, if I can figure out how to do it by myself, with only two hands. Or put them on a block or stump and shoot them point blank in the head. I'd be pointing down, so no worries about a bullet (or pellet) taking out anything else by accident.

I've tried hanging them upside down and cutting the throats. The skin of the neck is very loose, and if you don't have it pulled tautly enough, you don't get a nice, clean, deep cut, even if your knife is very sharp. Mine was sharp enough that didn't realize right away that I'd cut pretty deeply into the back of my thumb. The knife went into me just fine. The rooster, however, wasn't cut much at all, it took some sawing back and forth, both of us bleeding all over.

It wasn't pretty. I didn't like it one bit. I have yet to manage getting the head off with a knife in one nice meat stroke. Neither has my DH.

Twisting the neck, didn't work very well, my hands aren't strong enough to do it quickly and easily, like I've heard folks talk about.

When we raised turkeys, DH walked up behind them and shot them in the head, and they swayed a little and fell over. Then they flapped all over the place, he had to be quick to get ahold of them before the flapping started. One went all over the place, DH ended up having to retrieve it from under the pick up truck.

I wish you luck finding an acceptable method, when you do, please share it with me!
I truly hope I can manage it with a hatchet. An ax is too big, I can't handle it with one hand. (The other hand will be busy holding the chicken.)

 

[Cetawin]

I believe the most huamne way with any animal is the quickest possible way...less stress on them and me. So my choice a sharp axe for birds. it is over and done quickly.

It is not a easy decision but you must make the decision that works best for you. It is you butchering them not any of us.

 

[cwc362]

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What is the pithing method. ?

 

[yotetrapper]

<<I've always considered chopping the head off to be the most traumatic for the human and the most humane for the chicken>>

This one sentence summed up this whole post. The first chicken I did, I chopped it's head, but the hatchet needed sharpened. I then went to hanging and cutting the head off.....quick, but messy.

I tried a .22 and it worked ok, but I didnt quite like that either.

So now when I do chickens I take a hunk of wood, but not tall... only a few inches. I kneel gently on the birds feet, stretch the neck tight on the wood, and cut with a SHARP big knife.

But my favorite way to butcher chickens is to tell my dear husband, Honey, I need to kill some roos, got a few minutes? then hand him an axe.

 

[Laney]

If I can calm down my future Peta member daughter I may be able to butcher some of my extra roo's in a few months

Right now she states she'll never speak to me again if I do it and wants me to promise to give them away if I have to (Like I don't know anyone I give a 6 month old rooster to is going to be eating it.)

However, after having to cull one of my chicks due to illness I know it's going to be difficult. I was actually thinking of creating a potassium solution and injecting the bird. Should stop his heart pretty quickly. Of course this counts on me getting the potassium into a vein and creating a solution strong enough for the bird.

If I can't seem to get my daughter to at least let the rest of us eat the bird, and abstain herself (she eats chicken, just not ones she raises) then I'll have to find some way to get rid of the roos.

Otherwise, anyone in eastern NC willing to trade several roos for one pullet????

Laney

 

[dancingbear]

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Too bad you're not closer to me, Laney. I'd trade you. And eat the roos. But you'd have to take the pullet that annoys me, she's a nervous one! She tends to run screaming from people. But she's point-of-lay, or maybe laying now, I'm not sure. I am getting quite a few pullet eggs, hers may be among them.

 

[Peeper7]

Where can I find info about the "pithing method"?

 

[BirdBrain]

See this post
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=90607&p=1

Essentially it is Sticking a knife (sharp) into the roof of the mouth (directed toward the brain, not the nostrils) and give it a twist. I have done it and it takes some practice to get it right.

 

[wv countryboy]

I think that you should treat the bird as humanly as possible and stress free. With that said I think gassing them would be hard on the bird. It easier on the person doing the gassing but I think the bird would struggle trying to breath. I would go with the quickest way and less stress on the bird. I would use the cone method with and ax. The bird dies instantly but it's harder on the person welding the ax. I have always done it this way and the bird my flop arround but I know the bird is dead, my .02 cent