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

[GBov]

Of course it does, more and more people are starting up with poultry so will have teh same questions and concerns about getting it right and not hurting their birds.

It would be unlikely to go away really, good thing too

 

[warmfuzzies]

I was also surprised. I thought it was going to get locked there for awhile. Good job guys!!

 

[Buster52]

I don't buy the notion that chickens and other creatures were created for our consumption, or that they don't have feelings or emotions.

But human beings are omnivores. In order for us to live, other things must die. It is natural for people doing this for the first time to be anxious about it. Taking a life is not an easy thing, especially that of a creature you have spent a lot of time around for a number of weeks. And it shouldn't be.

It sounds to me like even the experienced here have developed mechanism for dealing with it. It's just an animal. It doesn't have feelings. It was created for us to kill. Just do it.

As a culture we develop ways to deal with it, like having someone else do it far away and in a slaughter house out of sight and hearing. All we want is that meat packaged in plastic and styrofoam, or a KFC bucket. There has to be a reason for that.

Cultures throughout time have found mechanism for dealing with the killing of animals. Some worship the animals (see the cave paintings as Lascaux). Others thank the spirit of the animals. Ours, we say they were created for us and have no souls, feelings, or emotions. I think such talk is jus another way of distancing ourselves from the act. Much easier to kill something that isn't fully alive in the first place.

Anyone who takes this journey should be applauded for it (for some of us, it is both a practical and a spiritual one). Those who want to do it as kindly and humanely as possible, more so.

We've all done something difficult in our lives for the first time. Try to think back to that thing and that time, and perhaps it will be a bit easier to understand what some are going through.

 

[WalkingWolf]

I live in the country, so I use the .22 method, just processed a BR yesterday. This is not a method for everybody especially if you live in the city, a no no. You must be trained in safe firearms use, in my case a former LEO and firearms instructor, and as a youth dispatching cows with a .22 in a slaughterhouse. But then I was well trained with a firearm at a early age, NRA youth safety and marksmanship, and a JR CMP. When it was still allowed as part of a school curriculum(private school).

The death is instant, if quick enough the feet can be grabbed as the death throws are delayed, by a second or two after the shot. In this method the chicken never suffers, not even to be chased, I always do the shot while the chicken is foraging from the back of the head. It takes patience to wait for the right shot just as in hunting. I then tie the feet and hang the chicken to drain the blood with slicing the throat(just as done in the slaughter house).

This method is ONLY for the very few that can place a shot into a small area and are very aware of the dangers and safe use of a firearm. ONLY to be done in area that is not populated. Shot placed from the rear at a downward angle into the ground as the bullet will exit the skull. Use .22 short if possible less noise and it is enough to do the job. This is not a good method for processing a lot of birds, it is too time exhaustive in waiting for the clean shot.

In the case of a large processing I would think using a cone and penning the birds in a crate while they sleep that morning would be better. Or breaking the neck. Chopping heads seems to me like a good way for an accident.

I have known people with HIGH powered pellet rifles to take coons, rabbits, and possums with them and they drop like rocks. BUT these rifles have velocities of 1200fps NOT a cheap pellet rifle. Mine is strictly a target pellet gun and reaches no where near enough velocity to efficiently kill a animal outside maybe a mouse. I may in the future buy a high powered pellet rifle as it would be cheaper and quieter.

 

[Buster52]

Where I live, people shoot guns in their back yards for fun. Most of them seem to know what they are doing. I'm not sure shooting a bird would be any more or less dangerous.

 

[Becky_H]

I'm sorry, but in my experience it's pretty god darn fast if you just cut their head off and/or break their neck. *YES* it is a personal thing and YES you have to be strong enough to do it, but IMO: If you can not look an animal in the face while you're taking it's life to continue your own, you need to be vegetarian. Better a good life and a clean death by decapitation (or a broken neck) than a life spent in a factory farm. By FAR.

And yes, this is absolutely why I either raise/kill my own chickens or don't have any. I will not support factory farms, I will not give my money for them to continue treating animals inhumanely.

I'm not saying it's easy. I'm saying that a deep breath and doing it is as good as it's ever going to get. Putting the animal to sleep first isn't going to stress it out any less than killing it first go. It's hard, it should be hard. It's still RIGHT.

 

[Bossroo]

Yesterday, a mother was driving home with her 12 year old son on a country road when the back passenger window shattered. She stoped to inspect the dammage and found a bullet hole in the passenger head rest just inches from her son's head. ( confirmed by the local sheriff who dug out a .22 bullet from the head rest) There was only open pasture on the passenger side and no buildings or people in sight. DO NOT even think about using any firearm to kill a chicken. It is just too dangerous for someone's health and comfort.

 

[Riparian]

Quote:
Good post Becky, I agree 100%.

 

[WalkingWolf]

Please let us refrain from turning this into a political free for all on firearms. My post is what I do to dispatch a single or two birds. I do not suggest or tell anyone else to do as I do. OTOH I do not tell others how to process, or tell them what they can or can not do.

To take your post seriously, a few questions. Was it determined that the shooter was killing processing chickens or any other livestock with a .22? A upward shot at a chickens head would be very difficult unless laying on the ground. Considering the size of chickens head the shot would and is placed at a steep angle downward at a relatively short distance. If you have a link for the story it would be appreciated, I am interested in learning more of the incident. I do know that people have been injured or worse by bowling balls, concrete blocks, and just old rocks on the highways. Now rest assured I do not recommend or would ever try to dispatch a chicken with a bowling ball, concrete block, or a rock.

 

[Davaroo]

I watched a vid recently where Jamie Cook, the English chef, slaughtered his own chicken prior to cooking. He had attained a slaughtermans license and was making a very good point with this:

People have forgotten what it means to eat, ie, something else dies so that you may live. Plant or animal, your survival hinges on another organisms death. You have to come to grips with that.

That being said, he used an electric shock device that zapped the chicken into unconsciousness. I thought it was pretty cool. There was still the usual blood letting involved but the bird was already out by then.