Finally had to kill roosters. Snapping neck causes suffering?

[CoconutCoffee]

I don't really care what kill method is used(except Gassing)(just how I feel), nature it's self is cruel, & prey animals are dying slowly before the predator eats it, or the prey animal is taken, & eaten alive.

Nature, is nature, that's how it should go. But people, Anthropomorphising animals is wrong, but it's an ongoing thing, & is pushing towards veganism, & such.

Nature can be very cruel but it's not anthropomorphising to not want an animal to needlessly suffer. Especially when you have the means to offer a quick and painless a death as possible.

 

[Quatie]

From my understanding snapping the neck is not as humane as decapitation. My reasoning is when I did research is we did cervical dislocation, which sometimes would go wrong. However, that method of killing you needed to go through extra justification to use. We used this method because it kept the animal alive longer in order to harvest sensitive tissue.

 

[Banana01]

I don't really care what kill method is used(except Gassing)(just how I feel), nature it's self is cruel, & prey animals are dying slowly before the predator eats it, or the prey animal is taken, & eaten alive.

Nature, is nature, that's how it should go. But people, Anthropomorphising animals is wrong, but it's an ongoing thing, & is pushing towards veganism, & such.

I had to look that word up. Unfortunately that is an innate human psycholical tendancy.

I use the hatchet and stump method so the head is totally removed. They flop around but without the head attached I consider that a reflex reaction.

I don't know which snapping the neck method was used, there are several. I've tried one and the flopping was the same. In my opinion if the neck is snapped I'd consider it as humane as other methods properly executed. That flopping does bother a lot of people.

Definitly the best is the axe and stump. I tried a machete on the ground which has worked for me in the past, and works on muscovys. For some reason it seemed overly gruesome last night. Dull machete might be the cause, and i should have used a stump.

 

[MysteryChicken]

Nature can be very cruel but it's not anthropomorphising to not want an animal to needlessly suffer. Especially when you have the means to offer a quick and painless a death as possible.

Not what I meant. But I understand your view.

 

[Banana01]

From my understanding snapping the neck is not as humane as decapitation. My reasoning is when I did research is we did cervical dislocation, which sometimes would go wrong. However, that method of killing you needed to go through extra justification to use. We used this method because it kept the animal alive longer in order to harvest sensitive tissue.

I was concerned because the bones are snapped, or cervical is dislocated, but they are still getting blood and oxygen flow to the brain. Any method of killing cone or axe stump ( or tree loppers) where its severed seems faster.

I felt a bit traumatized, because i do anthromorohize, but not in the moment, im trying to be more humane for both our benefits.

 

[The-White-Elephant]

Unless you butcher it slightly off, and you get a Mike the headless chicken

Actually, I think that also happened with my grandpa. I was there. He cut off his throat, and then it literally just ran around for a minute or two, before hitting a wall and really dying. Maybe it was just reflexes

 

[AgnesGray]

Sharp knife is what we use. Head in one hand, knife in the other. A quick cut right under the head and all the way through with the bird upside down and they go really quickly. The flapping is nervous energy, but they are already passed.

 

[3KillerBs]

I have used the broomstick method of cervical dislocation.

Once the spinal cord is severed the bird is dead.

I found that the cleaner and quicker the kill, the more intense the flapping reaction. It's the muscles reacting to the loss of nerve signals. Which, for me, made the flapping less disturbing.

 

[K0k0shka]

I could feel the spinal cord was severed, but they did not die for a minute or longer.

Yes they did. The flapping is a reflex reaction, completely normal, that happens with chickens after death. It does not mean the bird is still alive.

I was concerned because the bones are snapped, or cervical is dislocated, but they are still getting blood and oxygen flow to the brain.

If the spinal cord is severed, then the bird is clinically dead. It doesn't matter if there's residual blood still going to the head for a second or two after. Consciousness and the feeling of pain are both rooted in the brain, so if the brain is dead, then it cannot feel pain and the bird cannot be considered alive. Don't beat yourself up - if the spine was severed, then the birds were dead. The rest is just reflexes.

What I use for my chickens is a large pair of wire cutters. The kind with long, sturdy blades. They cut the head right off, no ambiguity. Pruning shears/loppers can work, too, but you have to get the right kind because not all of them are sturdy enough to do a clean job. It was funny, I went into Home Depot once to ask them about their sturdiest loppers. I had to explain what they were needed for... The staff just about fainted Then some lady said hold on let me get somebody... She comes back with this old, seasoned Haitian gentleman from another department, and we had a nice chat about our respective personal history with farms and butchering. Turns out he grew up with farm animals, and knew just what I needed. I love my wire cutters, they do a great job, especially in combination with the killing cone. Make sure you start cutting from the back of the neck, not from the throat. That way the first thing you sever is the backbone, which is what matters. The throat is secondary. Sometimes I can't cut all the way around the whole neck in one go, especially on larger birds, but as long as the spine is severed, I rest easy knowing that the animal feels nothing, even if the head is still dangling by some skin.

 

[Bonkerelli]

I find it best to cone them. To explain in detail you take the live rooster upside down in the cone. You slice the throat cutting both arteries, you want the heart to keep beating so it can drain all the blood out of the system. Keep the chicken bleeding out in the cone.. this takes about 5-10mins. From there you can cut the head off, pluck or skin the chicken, gut and whatever you want to do from there.