Do you slaughter your birds in front of the flock?

[supaflyz]

I never slaughter anything, but I have seen my aunt and grandma done it when they had chickens. They don't slaughter them in front of the other chickens. My genetics teacher said that an animal hormone level will increase if they are spook which causes the meat to have poison? i don't remembered fully but it was something like that.

 

[galanie]

There is a theory about that, and I've heard it many times. Don't know if it's true, but I do know that "kosher" killings are done to give the animal the fastest and most humane death that was possible at the time the idea was invented, thus it was thought the meat was better.

I do kill mine in front of the flock but I'd prefer not to since they are all around my feet, tripping me wanting guts and leftovers!

Edit: Because of the way I do mine, they never "spook" - so the other birds don't get upset. It's a pretty quiet passing except for the involuntary movement after. But they're in a cone anyway.

 

[KristinMarie]

My first few times sending roos to freezer camp I purposely took them as far away from the coop as possible and made sure the free ranging flock was not anywhere near where I was. I set up the temporary holding cage and put the roos I was getting ready to process on death row with the intention of moving them around the corner out of view before we started. My DH was in more of a hurry than I as he had to go to work and got started before I could move them. They really seemed distressed when I came for the next one, especially the last one. I just knew that they knew what was going on and it broke my heart. The roos have started getting into my garden and I can never manage to catch the worst offenders (or keep them straight from the rest of the flock) so DH decided to start shooting them when he caught them in there to make sure he got the right ones. He is a GREAT shot and downs them immediately. I honestly think that it is more humane than putting them on death row and doing it manually. One moment they are eating big juicy veggies in my garden and the next they are gone. No stress at all. I have decided since we started doing it this way that the other chickens could care less! I can't keep them away from the chickens that I have hanging while they bleed out. It made me feel terribly guilty because I could picture them visiting their siblings and friends and realizing that they were dead. That is, until I noticed them trying to get into the bucket under them to get the blood. I can't keep them out from under my feet when I am cleaning them. They are constantly swarming me and stealing whatever bits of feathers, fat, and skin that they can get. I prefer for them not to eat the scraps because, like mad cow disease, it is not healthy to cannibalize, regardless what species you are. I no longer care to dispatch and clean the chickens in front of each other as long as the ones being dispatched go as quickly and painlessly as possible. I do prefer to take "friends" down at the same time. Sometimes there are groups of a few roos that are really close and are always together. They seem to get stressed once it get dark and their buddied don't return, even if they were standing right beside them when they were dispatched. They seem to forget until then. I lost a couple of hens to predators a couple of months ago and my head rooster refused to go to bed for several nights. I had to go and get him and put him on his roost because he wouldn't go in until all of his girls were in first. I fully believe that they understand when one of their flock is missing, but I don't think they know or care when the actual cleaning process is going on as long as there isn't a whole lot of noise and commotion. I think it is the noise of the others flapping and squawking that really stresses them. Once they think they can have treats they are no longer fussed about it.

 

[triplepurpose]

They really seemed distressed when I came for the next one, especially the last one. I just knew that they knew what was going on and it broke my heart.

Don't take this the wrong way, I don't mean this to sound antagonistic or judgmental--everyone has a right to their feelings--but I had a couple thoughts...

Are you sure they knew what was going on and were distressed because of that, or were they upset and uneasy because they were picking up on your distress?

I would never underestimate how sensitive animals are to that kind of thing and it will often make them more uneasy if you are acting strange or are uneasy yourself. It's really important to calm yourself and be mindful of this during slaughter in my experience.

Chickens don't like to be alone for any length of time, so sometimes I think that being separated from the rest of the flock is more traumatic for them than witnessing slaughter could ever be... That's what makes sense to me, anyway...

Not that slaughtering is an entirely stress-free experience for chickens, but chickens get stressed or alarmed by all sorts of things daily, from falling branches to loud machines to being handled by people to squabbling with each other. I think that with the right touch, slaughtering processes, minus the actual killing blow itself, need not be more stressful or alarming than any of these other things.

At least, that's been my experience.

Cheers!

 

[KristinMarie]

Are you sure they knew what was going on and were distressed because of that, or were they upset and uneasy because they were picking up on your distress?

Sky, what I was meaning to express was that when I first started I was really upset about it and I was completely convinced that they knew what was going on and were terrified because of it. Now that I have done it multiple times I think that the real issue was the noise. I agree with you. The chickens that were being culled were upset because I was upset and hesitating, therefore, the other chickens were really upset because of all of the noise and commotion that was going on. I know that I tend to humanize things more than is realistic. After having culled birds for a long while I realize that they really don't seem to comprehend what is going on and other than getting super excited about getting "treats" or being afraid of the noise, the actual act doesn't seem to bother them one way or the other. They do seem to notice at night when the chicken they are used to sleeping beside isn't there though. Normally, the head rooster is the main one that really gets upset about his hens missing though. He counts his hens every night and makes sure they are all there so when one is missing he gets really upset, even though he is right there with them when they get attacked since it usually happens at night. He just doesn't seem to remember what happened. Only that there are less hens then there should be. The difference in my thought process from the time that I first started raising meat birds and now that I have done several batches, is amazing. My main goal is still to be as humane is possible. That is why I started raising chickens to begin with. I saw how chickens in factories were treated and I couldn't live with myself for supporting companies that do that to animals. I also didn't want to eat animals or products of animals that have been raised in those conditions. I believe that you are what you eat and that is disgusting. I think that chickens are far smarter than most people give them credit for. That being said, I don't think that they comprehend the situation the way people that have little to no experience with raising them believe. It has definitely been a learning experience.

 

[Simmonsfunnyfrm]

When we butchered our extra roosters in my first batch of chickens, we did it right in front of the rest of the flock. I don't recall there being a lot of noise because we only did one at a time and we used the cone method. I didn't have a problem doing it at all either, since I have always been around that kind of thing, so it was done in a calm manner. I noticed a big change in my flock's behavior. They did not come up to see what was going on any of the times we did it, and they became super skittish after we were done. They weren't just out of whack for a day or two, either. I'm talking about the entire time I had them after that (about a month) they were different birds. Used to they would come right up to you expecting food but after the butchering they ran every time they saw people in the yard. Now, that's just my own experience, obviously that's not what normally happens, but I'm just sayin' that it can. One possible thing I can think of that could have influenced it is that my flock was very small to begin with. I only had 4 and we got rid of 2. Maybe it has a bigger impact on them when there are not a lot of other chickens that can 'replace' the ones that have been dispatched? Now I have 25 birds and a couple are destined for freezer camp. Either way, I will probably slaughter these out of sight of the rest of the flock, just as a precaution. I like to be able to handle my birds easily.

 

[JHaller]

I'll be butchering for the first time in early August, so I've been following this thread with interest. My decision is to NOT do the killing anywhere the birds can see. For me, the deciding factory was the response of my birds to recent raccoon attacks. It was my fault; I failed to secure the coop door on night as I got distracted rounding up a missing chicken. I came out at 2am to find one of my birds hunkered down on the lawn, and then discovered the carcass of another bird in the coop. I had to search the whole yard to find another chicken hiding under a bush and the third chicken frozen in terror with abrasions on her comb and beak and many broken feathers down her back.

I brought them indoors for the night so I could watch for signs of other injury. When I tried to put them in the yard the next day, they balked and tried to get back in the house. When I forced them to stay in the yard, they hid behind a compost heap squished up against the garage wall. They squawked and resisted being put in the coop. They ended up staying in the house for several more days. AFter nearly a week, they settled back into the coop, but they still hug the perimeter of the yard.

This group of chickens was nearby and would have heard an attack on my broody house one week earlier. The raccoon defeated my makeshift lock on a repaired coop door. Mama and several 5-wk chicks were killed.

I think chickens are capable of remembering trauma and able to recognize distress from other members of the flock. When I do my first batch of birds, I'm going to make sure the sounds don't travel back to the flock.

This thread has been a worthwhile read for me. Thanks to all.

Judith

 

[triplepurpose]

Sky, what I was meaning to express was that when I first started I was really upset about it and I was completely convinced that they knew what was going on and were terrified because of it. Now that I have done it multiple times I think that the real issue was the noise. I agree with you. The chickens that were being culled were upset because I was upset and hesitating, therefore, the other chickens were really upset because of all of the noise and commotion that was going on. I know that I tend to humanize things more than is realistic. After having culled birds for a long while I realize that they really don't seem to comprehend what is going on and other than getting super excited about getting "treats" or being afraid of the noise, the actual act doesn't seem to bother them one way or the other. They do seem to notice at night when the chicken they are used to sleeping beside isn't there though. Normally, the head rooster is the main one that really gets upset about his hens missing though. He counts his hens every night and makes sure they are all there so when one is missing he gets really upset, even though he is right there with them when they get attacked since it usually happens at night. He just doesn't seem to remember what happened. Only that there are less hens then there should be. The difference in my thought process from the time that I first started raising meat birds and now that I have done several batches, is amazing. My main goal is still to be as humane is possible. That is why I started raising chickens to begin with. I saw how chickens in factories were treated and I couldn't live with myself for supporting companies that do that to animals. I also didn't want to eat animals or products of animals that have been raised in those conditions. I believe that you are what you eat and that is disgusting. I think that chickens are far smarter than most people give them credit for. That being said, I don't think that they comprehend the situation the way people that have little to no experience with raising them believe. It has definitely been a learning experience.

Hey, interesting. Sounds very similar to the evolution of my own experience in many ways. Thanks for sharing your insights...

 

[Stacykins]

I take the birds to butcher far away from the coop. But last time I was doing it, the flock (who were free ranging) came over to investigate. They actually wouldn't leave me alone! Its like, c'mon, I am plucking and gutting a buddy of yours right now, go away! It was actually getting annoying so I chased them away so I could continue without them being in my face.

So I don't think there were any problems with doing it near the flock.

 

[AlienChick]

My birds don't even seem to notice at all.

I have my killing cone attached to the fence post just next to the pole barn where the chickens hang out during the day.

After slitting the throat I look over at the chickens and there is absolutely no affect. No additional squawking. No fleeing. Nothing.

I was kinda surprised.