First butchering day; Actually quick and easy!

[dancingbear]

There are so many new questions about processing all the time, I'm bumping this back up.

I think it needs to be a sticky.

NP, do you think you'll be making a video at some point? Maybe next time you have bird to process?

 

[ladyrua]

Great description from the OP. I keep meaning to write mine all out, since I've had requests to teach friends and friends-of-friends how to do it. I usually just have them come over and help me do it, so they get the hands-on lesson. And I get free help!

Processed nine Cornish X last night, in just under two hours. Haven't weighed them yet, I'm guessing most of them will be 5lb+. Yay for organic homegrown meat!!!

 

[ninjapoodles]

Quote:
Yeah--Alex built a sturdy processing table, which we're topping with Formica, so as soon as we have that all set up we'll do a few more White Rock and Orpington roos, and I'll do my best to film the process with my little Flip camera. I have a better video camera, but I can't seem to get those vids online very well. The Flip isn't great resolution, but it's clear enough, and it's super-easy to get the vids from the camera online.

 

[HpyNDxie]

Thanks for the great descriptions!! I wasn't sure if I had the stomach for it but I'm going to give it a try after reading your posts. Can't wait for the video!

 

[ninjapoodles]

We haven't had a chance to do any more butchering yet, but I got a couple of pictures today that might help illustrate a little about "the spot" you're looking for. After reading another thread where some people tried pithing and had negative experiences, my husband said that they must just not be hitting the right spot at the right angle. So we're going to try to get some pictures and video that show what we're talking about a little better.

If you stick the bird, and the eyes do not close IMMEDIATELY, then you didn't get it just right. Alex says that it might be easier for someone with experience hunting and/or field-dressing animals and birds to try this. Maybe you could practice on already-killed birds? I dunno--I haven't tried it myself yet, only watched him.

Anyway, here's a shot showing "the slot" in the roof of the mouth. This photo is 100% unretouched--the slot is THAT obvious.

Here's another angle.

I questioned him about the angle of the stick here, and he says to imagine a straight line from the slot in the mouth, straight through to the BACK (not the top) of the head, traveling just beneath the eye if viewed from the side, and right between the eyes if viewed from the front or back.

Does that help any, or did I just make it worse?

 

[dancingbear]

Nice pics! Shows the slot very clearly. I'm at a loss as to why it didn't work out for some of the others, it worked fine for me. I never tried it on a turkey, though, just chickens.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

Ninjapoodles, I was the one who posted yesterday about my surprising experiences with pithing. I had read your post previously, and that's what gave me the idea. I am familiar with the slot on the roof of the birds' mouths, it's where I apply medicine for eye ailments in other chickens. (But those are nice clear photos you got! What a beautiful blue fall sky!)

I expected the birds to quickly become lifeless & hang limply. Which they did at first, but then surprisingly began to move again. Someone else posted that pithing actually doesn't kill the animal, just scrambles their brains...? That it's a method used for students doing animal dissections, to keep its organs functioning while they're being examined.

After my birds began moving again, I again stuck the knife in the heads & twisted, trying a few slightly different angles. I'll remember your husband's instructions for the next time, they seem clear. It seems that it was the angle I was using, but perhaps not...? My birds didn't gasp or squawk when I did it. They began to bleed out of their mouth when I stuck them, then I sliced the veins on the sides of their necks.

I'm thinking that perhaps I should construct some cones for our next session. I know many folks use traffic cones, but does anyone have pictures to post of cones made of milk/vinegar/bleach jugs?

I don't mind the flipping/flapping the birds do when they've been chopped, I know that it's just a reflex and that they're not really in distress. We put a washtub over them to keep them confined until they become still. But I am looking for a better way to dispatch the birds quickly & humanely, and have them bleed out completely. Should I try again with pithing? Or just make cones and slice the veins?

I'm so glad we have this forum for discussing this and to learn these skills that were once so common but have been lost to much of our society.

 

[snowydiamonds]

The info on lining up w/the eyes makes me realize I was trying too hard to aim for the back portion of the brain...Thanks, I've still got two or three roo's I couldn't bring myself to do, yet, they are too beautiful and maybe, don't tell my adult girls, just maybe I'm partial to the roos as my first three children now adults are males...?!?! And those hens I did were mean and cannibalistic so they were no problem at all since I inherited them from a previous owner all pecked up.

 

[ninjapoodles]

Yeah, they're brain-dead after pithing, which should render them totally unaware, "dead" for all intents and purposes. Alex cut the throats immediately upon doing the stick.

They DID twitch a little after the stick, but immediately upon being stuck, they did go slack and close their eyes. I think the thing with the eyes is what made it psychologically so much easier on me. And my husband is a hunter, but he's also a total softie, and can't stand to see anything suffer.

We did use cones. We tried repurposing traffic cones, with not much success. I've saved a couple of one-gallon vinegar bottles to try, but Alex kind of wants to just break down and buy a "real" killing cone. DANG, those things are expensive!

I hope we'll do some more roos this weekend, if Alex feels good enough. I'll try to do some detailed documentation--there may be some crucial bit of information that Alex doesn't even realize he's omitting, or something that I'm not noticing that makes a difference.

(Oh, and that "blue sky?" It's actually an ugly blue tarp over a hay-trailer!

Thank goodness for "bokeh.")

 

[dancingbear]

The one I killed by pithing certainly appeared instantly dead. I cut the head off immediately after sticking, so if she wasn't it was over pretty darn quick anyway.

After I read the distressing post about pithing not killing them, I googled "pithing". It apparently can be for either killing or live dissection, depending on how it's done. The idea of live dissection horrifies me.

It boggles the mind to think you can "scramble" something's brain and have it still be alive. I wonder if that's if you only hit the frontal lobes, like a lobotomy.

I'm planning to process a few roos tomorrow or the next day. I'll post what happens. I sure hope that one wasn't a fluke.