Do Happy birds = Good meat??

[Mosey2003]

The muscle will still fire for a little while, but if you do it properly, their brains are fully dead.

 

[Northern.Ontario]

There's also this tool:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/morrigan-humane-poultry-killer.1254568/

 

[Ragna]

The muscle will still fire for a little while, but if you do it properly, their brains are fully dead.

I don't do it for work just for the family shop when I am there. So maybe I wasn't seeing it done right and the times I did it I could have not cut deep enough

 

[Tesumph]

The way I was taught to kill birds they don't die they jump around in terror trying to escape while in the blood draining thing

If you cut deeply just underneath the jawbone on both sides, they bleed out very quickly. They will have muscle spasms, which can be rather violent jerking, like anything that dies does. It’s really not avoidable, even if you shoot something in the head with no warning their body will still jerk and twitch.
But they should not be “clear eyed and alert” trying to escape.

 

[Tesumph]

I don't do it for work just for the family shop when I am there. So maybe I wasn't seeing it done right and the times I did it I could have not cut deep enough

It’s best to cut deeply, make sure that there is a thick and constant stream of blood coming out, and then walk away for a little while. I promise that they do not feel much this way, the death throes are involuntary.

 

[Ragna]

I think your question was answered pretty well. No, sending them to a processor will not drastically change the quality. The only difference is that it would apparently bother you.

Sort of because in our family shop they kind of murder the chickens... They're very hard on them but the chickens are also scared of everyone. I brought a few chickens home who turned out to be the sweetest girls ever! I'm absolutely in love with my chickens and I want them to be treated with love even at the time of being processed

 

[Tesumph]

Sort of because in our family shop they kind of murder the chickens... They're very hard on them but the chickens are also scared of everyone. I brought a few chickens home who turned out to be the sweetest girls ever! I'm absolutely in love with my chickens and I want them to be treated with love even at the time of being processed

I can understand that. I don’t like watching cows that I helped raise being driven away to be eaten or go to a less kind ranch, but it is what it is. If I can’t handle it then I shouldn’t be part of the business, yknow? If it really bothers you then I’d say you should process them yourself.

 

[Ragna]

I've had them done offsite and done them myself, never had one tainted with adrenaline. I don't think it's all that common. They really aren't troubled by other birds being killed in front of them, from what I've seen.

I am giving my baby pullet shots and she's terrified and hates them so she screams and what not. The other birds come to investigate what I'm doing and they don't even care lol they just jump on me and get in the way. It's almost like they don't necessarily care how I treat other birds but it's how I treat them individually lol

 

[Maeschak]

Chickens really don't care about watching their flock-mates die (at least mine don't) and they are really good at accepting their surroundings... So you don't really have to worry about them completely freaking the whole time they are at the butchers (like I do with my cows because they seem to be so much more sentient than chickens). But what I DO worry about with shipping chickens off to a processors is the packing of the chickens into crates, the size of the crates, the trip to the processors, and their last moments. Chickens are prey animals so they freak automatically any time circumstances change quickly- so they are bothered by the catching, packing, tight quarters and highway winds during transport, the act of being held upside down and hanging in a cone, etc. Once the hub-bub stops they will settle in to their surroundings and not freak.
I like to butcher my own birds so they don't have to go through a tenth of what they would if I shipped them off.

The reason I don't cut the esophagus is that it seems to, and I have read the same, stimulate their central nervous system kicking off their 'freak out mode'. (Adrenaline?) Something innate about cutting the esophagus that leads them to the flight or fight response from the spinal cord immediately and sticks around until dead. Plus, that nervous system stimulation tightens the skin around the feathers making plucking more difficult. Some say cutting the esophagus also automatically tenses muscle meat leading to the need for a longer 'rest period' after butchering.
When you cut the jugular and/or carotid the initial slice is registered and not appreciated(!)but after a few seconds and standing back a bit they calm down and will generally slowly drift off to death- very peacefully until the final blood drips out at which time their automatic response is to kick a bit before completely losing consciousness.
I have had two birds get out of the cone after I slit their jugular- and when I found them out of the cone they were quietly hunting and pecking all around the cone having a grand time... Meaning that cutting their blood flow tube(s) and not oxygen flow tube seems to register as more of an unkind cut quickly forgotten while the ones with their eophagus' cut seems to register with their central nervous system as an on-going assault.

Hope you find what is right for you- good luck!