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

[Erebus]

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That's where our opinions differ. The way I figure it, if you sever the spinal cord that is extremely painful for the length of time that it takes the brain to lose consciousness.

However, I'm still trying to find the papers themselves (no luck yet) but plenty of sites online refer to various studies, especially ones about humane ritual slaughter (Islamic and Biblical). There is apparently some EEG evidence that a throat cut isn't noticed by an animal until they have lost enough blood to be losing consciousness, but most of this research is on mammals and birds don't have quite the same sort of neural system.

I figure in the long run, no matter how you do it, if it's quick and clean then it's a fast way to die after having had a good life, as opposed to a life in a little box.

 

[Saltysteele]

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well, that's the thing. without perfusion, there is no consciousness. once you cut the head off, there is no blood to the brain, no perfusion, no sensation, no consciousness.

i work in a hospital. we had a fella who was doing fine, talking, then in an instant stopped talking and was dead. at the instant he stopped talking, he went into asystole. no perfusion to the brain = brain ceases functioning till it gets blood again

the animal is going to be react to having it's head stretched, and there is a knee-jerk reaction to be startled, to get away, but that's about it. when you burn your hand, you instinctively pull away before you even feel the burn. when you cut yourself unexpectedly, there is a lag time before it starts to hurt.

i feel it's the same here. by the time the animal "could" feel anything, they are already expired.

regardless, there is no other quicker, sure-fire method.

you also do want the heart to continue beating as long as possible, as you want it to bleed out completely and not have the heart stop when the body is full of blood still (no heart beat, no blood movement).

 

[Erebus]

Yep I'm with you on the whole spinal response thing. One of my friend was talking about killing geese and said "seeing as geese are dinosaurs...." He's about right there. Flapping is not caused by consciousness

The same friend also thinks that there is no such thing as "humane" killing, but there is clean and messy, and there is slow and quick.

I would think that severing the spinal cord tends to send a huge spike of information to the brain, whereas a knife cut is something that has a delayed response. My reasoning follows things like anecdotal reports of decapitated people during the French Revolution who were still blinking to indicate their consciousness up 15-30 seconds after the guillotine did it's job. Personally I would think that a chicken is only likely to be conscious for up to 5 seconds.

I have no proof either way. This is just conjecture. Just voicing an unqualified opinion.

 

[Saltysteele]

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me too

i don't know why anyone listens to me, anyway, i'm slightly touched in the head

 

[jamband]

Ive seen 2 studies saying that thoose 2 above mentioned are equally humane if the birds are not overstressed during the process. The head chop is instant and the throat slit they are passed out before feeling anything. The later allows for full blood drainage since the heart continues to pump. Either way we must remember that the chickens lived and died thousands of times better than a factory bird.

 

[DawnSuiter]

I don't know when the last time I posted was, or what method we were using then, but now, after years we just use a home made cone & tree loppers. One swift cut and it's all done. This is what works best for us.

 

[BoomChickaRocka]

I think the most kind thing you can do for a chicken is to give it the honor of killing him personally, with his blood on your hands. You brought him/her into the world and raised it all for a purpose, this is the culmination of its life and to fulfill that purpose is important and is just as important as feeding and watering it.

 

[galanie]

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Absolutely. All this stuff about finding a way to do it "humanely" is just a way to avoid getting blood on our hands. We don't want to see the apparent horror of the bird bleeding to death or having it's head removed or neck broken. Most of these alternative "humane" ways of doing it look Ghastly to me. Put them upside down in a cone or tie them up or even have them in your lap with the head down, slit the throat with a very, very sharp knife, and let them quietly bleed and expire. Yes, no matter how you do it their nerves will fire off after death and you'll get some flopping, it just happens.

Please don't go to great lengths to subject your animals to cruelty just to spare yourself the agony of doing the deed. Get a knife and just do it.

 

[BoomChickaRocka]

Quote:
Absolutely. All this stuff about finding a way to do it "humanely" is just a way to avoid getting blood on our hands. We don't want to see the apparent horror of the bird bleeding to death or having it's head removed or neck broken. Most of these alternative "humane" ways of doing it look Ghastly to me. Put them upside down in a cone or tie them up or even have them in your lap with the head down, slit the throat with a very, very sharp knife, and let them quietly bleed and expire. Yes, no matter how you do it their nerves will fire off after death and you'll get some flopping, it just happens.

Please don't go to great lengths to subject your animals to cruelty just to spare yourself the agony of doing the deed. Get a knife and just do it.

The first time i killed a chicken I was probably around 7? I raised it myself and when the day came my Grandfather brought it out to the block behind our barn, helped me sharpen the axe and handed it to me. I remember it to this day, it was one memory I will always remember and cherish.

 

[schmism]

Here are a few things to think about.

1) ever cut yourself with a REALLY sharp knife? like shave hair sharp? I have a number of times and the worse time i noticed the blood dripping from my hand before i noticed i had cut myself. Its so sharp you dont feel it. (seriously)

2) as a first responder for a VFD I was taught the ABC's of a tramma. which is Airway, Breathing, Circulation (pulse). But the military tweeks that a bit, they add a B at the front for bleeding. See the fact is you have about 3 min to establish an airway. but the kicker is, you can bleed to death in about 2 min if its serious. (aka blew a leg off from a mine or other explosion). The point is, if your cut just right (femoral artery, juglar etc) youll bleed to death before you suffocate, thats serious when your trying to save serious trauma victims.

theres this other neat fact about major blood loss. you pass out. yep, your consciousness kinda slips away, fade to black as you loose blood. (you may have heard major trauma victims often report, what they thought were going to be, there last moments of life to be very peaceful....


the above is true for the birds also.

sharp cut to the throat area (both carotid and jugular leaving the windpipe in tact) (barely felt) and use the live heart to pump the blood out quicker. pass out occurs within 5-10 sec of the first cut, death within the next 30-45 sec and an additional min or 2 for blood drain for a better finished product.

This is the quickest, most humane, way to kill birds on a small scale.

all you need is a good sharp knife (no sawing at the kneck please) and somplace to hang the bird upside down.

Simple - effective - safe - clean - hassle free.

Seriously why try to reinvent the wheel.