Electrocution?

[KatyTheChickenLady]

well, it sound like you made good choices, I kinda figured you just hadn't thought that question through. Just remember the acrobatic twiching that they do is not the brain suffering pain, it's just involuntary muscle spasms.
I don't butcher my own, just can't do it. However I do perform mercy killings when needed. What I do is rap them in a towel and pet them and talk to them, they pretty much go to sleep, then I put a pellet gun up against their little head. One bang and I know their pain is gone and the spasms are contained by the towel. It's just my way of making it easier on myself.

 

[Neil Grassbaugh]

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Chicken and turkey slaughter plants either "stun" the birds first with electricity or with a "modified gas environment". See http://www.nationalchickencouncil.com/aboutIndustry/detail.cfm?id=30
They are not killed but rather rendered "senseless" before the throat is cut for bleedout. I have not been in a plant that gas stuns chickens but have been in one that uses it on turkeys. I can tell you that people working at the plant think that the "modified environment" methods do not produce as good a food product. The MGE is being tried in an effort to get animal rights activist organizations off the back of the industry and in an effort to see if it is in fact a better way.

Poultry is not included under the-
http://www.fsis.usda.gov/factsheets/key_facts_humane_slaughter/index.asp
regulatons but the commercial poultry industry has, for years, observed these regulations as a guideline. There are inappropriate things that happed to animals at slaughter plants prior to expiration but it is far from routine. Animal rights organizations whip incidents into a capital crime claiming the outrage of God and promotion of drastic measures to be taken by man- for the furtherance of their agenda. And agenda without facts.

In commercial processing cruelty is considered an indifference to suffering. I know many people who are in management and supervisory positions at processing plants and in all cases cruelty is considered a first time no questions asked firing offense. Taking another view of the situation- people who are cruel to animals are considered more likely to be troublesome employees and a danger to persons (fellow employees) as well.


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Regarding the dark bones- you have been told wrong. Here is the correct reason, from food scientists;
Darkening around bones occurs primarily in young chickens. Since their bones have not calcified completely, pigment from the bone marrow can seep through the porous bones. Freezing can also contribute to this seepage. When the chicken is cooked, the pigment turns dark. It is perfectly safe to eat chicken meat that turns dark during cooking.


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What is your definition of "cruel".

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Why

 

[Rooster Cogburn]

I watched a weird chicken documentary yesterday and a farmer used a slick method to do the deed. He set them upside down into a funnel shaped dohickey mounted on the outside of the barn. The head and neck stuck out through the bottom. A quick swipe with a knife and the bird bleeds out right there.
Quick, easy, no squirming around inside the funnel.

 

[KatyTheChickenLady]

that's a killing cone, what most people use.

 

[Rooster Cogburn]

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When I had chickens years ago I did the hatchet and stump method. I like the killing cone idea and will try that next time.

 

[KatyTheChickenLady]

my processor has a whole row of them on the side of the building, quite slick.

 

[eKo_birdies]

Quote:
Chicken and turkey slaughter plants either "stun" the birds first with electricity or with a "modified gas environment". See http://www.nationalchickencouncil.com/aboutIndustry/detail.cfm?id=30
They are not killed but rather rendered "senseless" before the throat is cut for bleedout. I have not been in a plant that gas stuns chickens but have been in one that uses it on turkeys. I can tell you that people working at the plant think that the "modified environment" methods do not produce as good a food product. The MGE is being tried in an effort to get animal rights activist organizations off the back of the industry and in an effort to see if it is in fact a better way.

i don't use this method, and i don't believe i ever said it was used to kill birds. just stating what is done elsewhere.

maybe you were just elaborating on what i said (render them unconscious before a proper bleed out)...? if that's the case, thank you!

 

[Neil Grassbaugh]

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The elaboration was just to provide information.

 

[eKo_birdies]

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The elaboration was just to provide information.

 

[kaybesweet]

Get yourself a cone. Watch a few youtube videos on how to slaughter a chicken if you want to do it yourself. If you stick a chicken in a cone, it calms them down fast because they feel safe. You can slice the artery fairly easily. You need to know where to cut so you don't pull the neck out and tear the crop. You want to fast your chickens about 18 hours so their system is clean incase you accidently cut something you shouldn't. If you don't want to kill your birds yourself, there's probably someone in the area you live in that would do it at a reasonable price. We have Amish here that will slaughter them for $1.25 per chicken.