Does a chicken immediately die??

[Buster52]

Will a chicken immediately die after the head is cut off? Sorry about the gory question. I need to know cause I don't want any suffering when I process chickens. 

No.

 

[triplepurpose]

Dead is when you cut the jugular or when the head is cut off. Other than that, further discussion only discomforts someone that is going to have to dispatch culls.

I hear that, but I think sometimes a little discussion can help people to be a little more at ease. Presumably one would not post something on a public forum if they didn't wish to invite discussion. If that comment happened to be made with me in mind, I was just trying to inject a little light-heartedness for the sake of morale. I've found IMHE that one of the biggest issues that makes slaughtering hard for beginners is taking oneself way too seriously and making it harder and more awkward and draining on oneself than necessary. Not that killing is something to laugh about all the time, but I think there's a healthy middle ground. Making dinner shouldn't stress people out or be like a funeral. At least, I know that trying to cultivate such an attitude really helped me when I was learning. But in any case I'm sorry if my remarks were poorly received...

Good luck, Flying Chicken! Just make your cut swift and strong and you'll be fine. Your compassion is admirable, but any momentary pain for the chickens is fleeting and overall the whole thing will be a thousand times more humane than what birds go through in the industry.

 

[BoutrosBoutrosGalusGalus]

People who have been beheaded have been known to communicate after beheading for up to 30 seconds.

http://www.aintnowaytogo.com/beheading.htm

Birds are a entirely different family of animals though. Last cull I did it was definitely over in 5 seconds if even that.

 

[triplepurpose]

People who have been beheaded have been known to communicate after beheading for up to 30 seconds.

http://www.aintnowaytogo.com/beheading.htm

Birds are a entirely different family of animals though. Last cull I did it was definitely over in 5 seconds if even that.

Weird!

 

[Beekissed]

Sky, I liked the history lesson(I had often wondered what the point was in drawing and quartering if one is already hung but now I know!).

It was interesting! I don't know if a tender newbie would feel the same, though.

As with any creature, when you are bleeding to death, the body goes into a flight-or-fight nerve response which results in a release of adrenalin to speed up the heart beat~ to try to fill the vessels that are sending signals of low volume. In humans, excessive bleeding can cause increased restlessness and agitation/anxiety but rarely pain~even unconscious they move restlessly and their muscles will twitch or jerk.

At the same time the heart rate is increasing, the respiration rate is also as the body attempts to oxygenate tissues that are deprived of oxygen due to the narrowing of blood vessels(this constriction is an attempt to keep blood at vital areas in the core and brain).

In a chicken, all of that looks like the bird is in great distress as it bleeds out but it is merely the nervous system and the vascular system sending these signals to the body and finally shutting down. It is very quick in such a small animal and, though it seems to take a long time when you first watch it, if you bother to monitor the seconds, it is usually less than 10 full seconds before the body is stilled.

In humans these kinds of deaths(hemorrhaging out)don't seem to cause much pain or even mental distress as the patient is usually unconscious during this final stage, so bleeding out is as humane a death as one can inflict on a chicken.

 

[AuberyMirkwood]

For those looking for an affordable cone I just cut the bottom off a gallon milk jug, and cut the top off to size. This works great for all but the biggest chickens.

 

[Beekissed]

If you use a 2 gal. bleach jug, it will even work for CX~the big ones! and mature roos. I use the same and they've never let me down.

 

[Buster52]

I should expand on my response.

Neither slitting nor whacking kills the bird immediately. The head is still alive and apparently aware for a few brief seconds. Slitting (and I was trained by the best, so I know I do it right) takes slightly longer. On the latter, about the time the bird would be dead by chopping, the bird is already slipping into a comfortable unconsciousness.

But both are fast enough to be humane if done right. In either case, the bird won't remember a thing afterward.

 

[triplepurpose]

For those looking for an affordable cone I just cut the bottom off a gallon milk jug, and cut the top off to size. This works great for all but the biggest chickens.

That's great. In my experience finding something the right size can be tricky especially when you're trying to learn how to do it...