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

[Big George]

Yes it is a personal thing. So take responcability for for what you are going to do. I start early in the day take each chicken into the barn have all supplies ready hold it to calm it put upside down in an proper cone and make a sharp fast cut to each side of the neck. I hold the head so it doesn't flop out. Its out in a matter of seconds and stops convulsing in under a minute.
Was this hard the first time, sure.
Is it ever easy, no.
After the whole job is done and the chickens are dressed I feel a sence of pride and acccomplishment hard found elsewhere. Thru this process of growing and harvesting I feel a connection to my past family and community. I hope this helps. I know its not for everyone.

 

[Brunty_Farms]

Shooting point blank into the ground works ok.... if you have common sense with guns.... but a stump? I think it would bounce off of the stump... .22 aren't very powerfull.

The ground is soft enough that the bullet would just burry itself.... a stump isn't.

Either way it's still dangerous.

 

[Beekissed]

I've tried many methods but I have found the killing cone that I made out of a 2 gal. bleach jug to be the best of all. I nailed it to a tree and it is just the right height for working.

No muss, no fuss....just place a bird gently in the jug, slice the neck...unless someone is really clumsy, there is no reason one should be cutting oneself in this process, as the bird is not moving the least bit. Just grasp the head and cut with the other hand. Slick and easy!

 

[dancingbear]

Well, I am really clumsy. So would you be if you had arthritis, carpal tunnel, and sometimes the joys of trigger finger, another painful and clumsy hand issue.

Yet I manage to make some very intricate craft items, garden, cook, (pretty much everything from scratch, and I usually bake my own bread) and raise chickens. I sometimes solder electronic and jewelry items, I build things, I do all kinds of stuff. I sometimes have to work slowly and carefully, but I have the patience to do these things anyway.

I just have to find a way to kill the chickens quickly and humanely without cutting myself up. I don't think it's very humane to fumble through the way I've been doing. I'm not giving chickens "human emotions", but I know they feel fear, and I know they feel physical pain. I'd like to make that part of death as quick as I can. I'd like to find a better way, that works better for me. Whether anybody else likes the idea or not.

Others may think I'm an idiot, or think a person can't manage to point a gun down without shooting off a foot, (a softwood stump, such as cedar, would work fine. I wouldn't suggest trying it with a hardwood such as hickory or seasoned oak) or handle dry ice safely, (yes, I have handled it. When I worked in medical labs for many years, I did so daily. It just takes a small amount of common sense and reasonable safety precautions. It take more than a casual touch to lose a finger. I also worked with liquid nitrogen, to freeze and transport biopsy specimens. A little riskier, but still, not a huge hazard if you don't do something stupid like stick an appendage in it.) A container attached to the inside of the box to put a chunk of dry ice in would solve the problem of a chicken stepping on a slab of it. These details are not the big, insurmountable problems they're being made out to be. Please rest assured that I wouldn't be using a machine gun, assault rifle, or anything like that. A pellet gun or a .22 would suffice. Yes, I know, they can still hurt people if you're careless or an idiot. I will not be holding a chicken down with my foot to shoot it.

I don't think I need to discuss this anymore. Next time I butcher some roos, I'll try whatever I come up with, and maybe I'll post what worked best for me. I don't care if others choose another way. I just want to share what I learn with others who may be having similar difficulties.

Oh, and not everybody has somebody handy to just do this sort of thing for them. When my DH is home, he'll do this if I want him to, or help me, but he's not always able to be here when when things need to be done. I want to be able to do butchering well, on my own, when I need to.

 

[cassie]

I used a large pair of pruning shears. I tied the legs together and suspended the chicken upside down then I whacked off the head with the pruning shears. It was fast and easy. The worst part was suspending the chicken. I need to improve that part. But the kill was very fast and in my opinion humane. Much easier than an axe.

 

[Lazy J Farms Feed & Hay]

Quote:
I don't understand the logic of using a .22 caliber rifle to remove the 2 ounce head of a chicken. The projectile will travel at almost 3,000 feet per second and has the potential to be deadly to the user.

The use of firearms as a euthanasia tool in the pork industry has bee removed from the approved list by many veterinarians due to the inherent danger. This includes immobile pigs. If the use of a firearm is not recommended in immobile animals then why are we even proposing it for use in a healthy, mobile animal such as a chicken ready for butcher?

Jim

 

[warmfuzzies]

They still use .22s to shoot cows alot in the slaughterhouses.

And there may be other reasons that 'they' dont recommend it for pigs, which may have more to do with the gun, then the pigs. I dont want to get political, that was just my first thought.

All I know is it diddnt work well for me when I tried to shoot them. I diddnt get there fast enough to get his throat cut so he could bleed out. And I have butchered before, so I knew what I was doing, it just stopped his heart so quickly.

I think the ax method will be what we use next time. Or the throat slitting. And I will very likely be doing it myself.

 

[estpr13]

So far no one has mentioned the broom handle method. That is where you put the calm chickens head on the ground between you legs and place a broom handle over its neck, step on the two sides of the broom handle and then pull upwards aggressively with then chicken.

The first time I tried it didn't work so well. First, by stepping on the broom handle you put pressure on the chickens neck while it is still alive, and then if you don't put all your weight on the handle with your feet, you may pull up and not kill the chicken.

So the second time I tried this method I used a sledge hammer handle. (NO not the metal part... just the wooden handle) The sledge's head keeps the wooden handle off the ground by about a half inch enough to put the chicken head under and not crush its neck. This time I was worried about not making it a clean kill and pulled hard. I ended up pulling the entire head off without a struggle from the chicken and hardly no flapping.

I will be using this method for a while until I dedermine if I prefer it to the cone and knife method.

Other methods I have used include:
The hand on the head and rapid up and down snapping of the neck. -- works but requires a lot of strength.
Tied feet hung on a tree then cutting the neck. messy as blood splatters.
Using the cone and knife. Gently pull the neck before cutting works well.
Using a cone and garden sheers. Not as much success. Couldn't find a joint in the verterbra.
And in anger, swinging the head against a solid object. Wasn't planned but worked supprisingly well.

Method I would like to try is the wall mounded dispatcher.

Methods I will not use are the .22 (dangerous), the hatchet (too inacurate) and any other non simple Willie Coyote skeems.

 

[Ugly Cowboy]

Step on its neck, grab it by the feet and pull up hard. Or chop its head off. Aint that big of a deal folks! Course then again I guess when ya grow up doin it it's differant then if you've lived a "sheltered" life and then try to do it... Just dont think about it to much, the more ya think about it, the worse it'll seem. I had to shoot one of my best all-around horses a while ago. Was it fun? Hell no. But ya do what's gotta be done, quit overthinkin it, quit fussin about it, and just do it already! If I seem in a bad mood, well I am, but my opinion would be the same later as now, I'd probly just be a little nicer in the wordin LOL.

 

[Brunty_Farms]

Dancingbear... not sure of your name I didn't bother to look... but,
like someone stated maybe if you get a couple of cones and a real nice pair of pruining shears that would do the trick.

I have a pair that cut right through a 2 inch piece of wood I'm sure it would make quick work of a chicken.

I don't care how you do it... I just don't see the logic of doing it any other way... but I understand too if your going to risk cutting your finger I would definately put the knife down!

I like my fingers too much...