Draining blood from a chicken that's already dead

[FunClucks]

I had one pinwheel across the yard about 30 ft spraying everywhere lol

Oh, yeah, I forgot about mentioning that. We try so hard as chicken keepers to contain the blood and mess from butchering, that it didn't occur to me to suggest that. But yeah, that's totally what would happen if a chicken escaped after being dispatched with a hatchet.

 

[FunClucks]

I recently dispatched 4 roosters using a new (for me) method and it made me think of this post, too. I can back up what the others have said, too - the blood coagulates way too quickly. A lot more quickly than I thought it would, in fact! I was quite shocked. My usual method is using a slaughter cone and cutting the head off while the bird is in it, then I walk away while it drains and come back a few minutes later to find minimal blood in the bucket (like a spoonful maybe). Because the blood drips down the sides of the plastic bag that's in the bucket, and dries there, it's hard to judge the speed of coagulation, so initially I wasn't sure how to answer your question. I knew it happened pretty quickly, but how quickly? Well, the new method I tried with these 4 latest roosters is cervical dislocation ("the broomstick method") where you snap the spine at the neck first, without breaking the skin, then you hang the bird upside down and cut the throat to drain the blood. There isn't much time that passes between the kill and the draining, so you'd think it doesn't matter... but oh man was I wrong! In the time it took me to maneuver the thrashing dead bird (muscle spasms post-kill, normal) into the cone, reach in underneath to find the head, and cut the throat, the blood had coagulated enough to make draining difficult - it had formed a gelatinous plug at the neck. With the first rooster, I waited until the body stopped flailing, so it would be easier for me to put him in the cone to drain - so, maybe a minute or two? No more than three. At that point the blood was too thick to drain. It was a glob at the neck, it wouldn't drain properly and gutting the chicken was really messy - blood everywhere inside the chicken, coming out of the heart, spilling into the organs. It was still liquid inside the chicken, but everything at the neck was a glob that was blocking the draining. So yeah, you literally have just a couple of short minutes to get liquid blood out of a cut on the chicken. But if you were to cut the whole bird open soon after, you could still get liquid blood from inside the body, it just wouldn't be enough to collect or pour anywhere - it would be smeared on the organs and all over your hands.

When I did the broomstick method, I understood that the blood was supposed to drain into the neck cavity, and collect there for later removal. I usually wrapped the bird in my arms in a bath towel, sat in a chair, and pulled on the neck just right to make things quick. Then I'd immediately hold the bird vertical in the towel to try and help the blood drain during the muscle spasms. It worked pretty well, and got most of the blood out of the body cavity, but yeah cleaning out the neck cavity was a bit of a mess. Once the spasms were over, I'd hang it on a tree by its feet and eventually cut off its head. I like to give a post-mortem bath with dish soap and a sprayer hose to clean it up before skinning or scalding.

Guess I'm saying if you get quicker with getting it vertical once the neck is broken, it should drain most of the blood into the neck cavity. Good luck!

 

[K0k0shka]

When I did the broomstick method, I understood that the blood was supposed to drain into the neck cavity, and collect there for later removal. I usually wrapped the bird in my arms in a bath towel, sat in a chair, and pulled on the neck just right to make things quick. Then I'd immediately hold the bird vertical in the towel to try and help the blood drain during the muscle spasms. It worked pretty well, and got most of the blood out of the body cavity, but yeah cleaning out the neck cavity was a bit of a mess. Once the spasms were over, I'd hang it on a tree by its feet and eventually cut off its head. I like to give a post-mortem bath with dish soap and a sprayer hose to clean it up before skinning or scalding.

Guess I'm saying if you get quicker with getting it vertical once the neck is broken, it should drain most of the blood into the neck cavity. Good luck!

I got it vertical right away, it’s the cutting that didn’t happen as quickly as I’d wanted. On the first rooster, where I cut only after the kicking stopped, and waited 5-10 minutes for the blood to drain, that wasn’t enough to get the blood out of the rest of the body and into the neck. Waiting for the kicking to stop was enough for the blood pooled in the neck to coagulate and, since it had nowhere to go without a cut, the rest of it didn’t come down. The neck was a globby mess, yeah, but what was more annoying was the blood inside the rest of the body. Maybe the neck cavity isn’t big enough to hold all the blood, and some stays in the body despite the bird being held/hung vertically right away…

 

[FunClucks]

I got it vertical right away, it’s the cutting that didn’t happen as quickly as I’d wanted. On the first rooster, where I cut only after the kicking stopped, and waited 5-10 minutes for the blood to drain, that wasn’t enough to get the blood out of the rest of the body and into the neck. Waiting for the kicking to stop was enough for the blood pooled in the neck to coagulate and, since it had nowhere to go without a cut, the rest of it didn’t come down. The neck was a globby mess, yeah, but what was more annoying was the blood inside the rest of the body. Maybe the neck cavity isn’t big enough to hold all the blood, and some stays in the body despite the bird being held/hung vertically right away…

Huh. Did you make sure there was about 4" of loose skin between the neck and the head right after the break? That's where the blood is supposed to drain into. If there was, I don't know what to tell you to help get the blood out better. One of the reasons I started doing cone and knife method was because it drained the blood better than the broomstick or English method - I was finding a small amount of blood in the bird also. I do my cone method a little differently though, I wrap the bird in a bath towel, place it on my lap, and then cut and hold the head over the bucket between my legs to drain. So the neck is almost straight down, but the body is probably at a 45 degree angle, with most of the weight resting on my leg. It drains great and only takes a minute or two. I prefer the English method, but I'm not strong enough to do it on CX that are older than 6 wks. Good luck figuring it out!

 

[K0k0shka]

Thanks!

Did you make sure there was about 4" of loose skin between the neck and the head right after the break? That's where the blood is supposed to drain into.

I don't know... the neck was snapped all the way and the head was dangling loosely, only attached to the body by soft tissue, so the amount of loose skin was I guess however much there would be with the head completely detached from the spine...

One of the reasons I started doing cone and knife method was because it drained the blood better than the broomstick or English method - I was finding a small amount of blood in the bird also.

Yeah, that's been my method up until I decided to try the broomstick - cone and I cut the head off (with the shears in my case) and the draining starts instantly, the bird is vertical from the start. That was my method for years and I never found blood in the body when dispatching like this. I'm leaning towards going back to that method... The broomstick was just an experiment out of curiosity - I wanted to try it.

 

[FunClucks]

I don't know... the neck was snapped all the way and the head was dangling loosely, only attached to the body by soft tissue, so the amount of loose skin was I guess however much there would be with the head completely detached from the spine...

About 4 fingers worth I'd guess... ~2-3"... If it was completely detached that's the correct method.

 

[GGx]

Dude, in the move "The Deep" the Voo Doo doctor kills a live chicken ang uses it blood on Jacqueline Bisset.

Maybe I worry too much about being accurate! But man, readers tear you a new one if you get anything wrong. They expect us to be experts in absolutely everything from clinical psychology to brain surgery to dispatching chickens!!