For those who have done it both ways: Hatchet vs. Knife

[ninjapoodles]

Quote:
Would you care to share your observations? We'll be doing Buff Orpingtons, White Rocks, and Marans.

 

[Barnyard Dawg]

My wife holds the chicken upside down by the legs with her other hand she brings up the head, holding the chicken head and feet with one hand she slices the throat with a sharp cleaver then bleeds the blood into a bowl.

 

[NC chicken man]

we use killing cones and knife and while their bleeding out your busy doing everything else that needs to be done ,we are going to process 75 next saturday and 75 more the next saturday this way works good for us.

 

[Alaskan]

pdpatch,

THANK YOU! for writing so much, that was very informative.

 

[SandraMort]

I don't know if this matters to anyone but to me, but in Judaism, the approved method of butchering is quick throat slitting & bleeding out. It is considered, provided the knife is sharp, to be the most humane method. Now... I may not keep kosher currently (and I'm writing this on Saturday, so obviously I'm not shomer shabbos/sabbath observant) but I figure that a few millenium of studying these things will make those rabbis a better authority than I could hope to be. I plan to learn to behead in case of an emergency culling, but would prpefer to go the throat cutting in a cone route.

LOL -- big words for someone who doesn't even have the birds yet

 

[pdpatch]

SandraMort:

You are very correct some religions require the meat to be butchered using prescribed methods and over seen by a Holy person. So if you plan on giving some meat away, make sure it meets the religious requirements of the person you are giving it to.

Alaskan Your welcome, I can get long winded sometimes.

We just came back in from doing 3 turkens, 3 Road Island Reds. I female BB bronze and 1 male BB bronze.

The 3 turkens were the easiest so far of all we did so far, we have had them seperated from the rest now for over a month now. The one nick named Mo (please don't name your meat birds) who was at the top of the pecking order was very fiesty and almost got me.

One of the RIR got my Daughter on the finger, fortunatley it required just a Band Aid and she kept going. You really need to figure out which bird is at the top of the pecking order and be careful .

If you are doing turkeys be careful also. They are bigger and a lot stronger them a young broilers. we did take some picture and hopefully I can post them in a few days in a seperate thread.

Tom

 

[Salt and Light]

OK, I'm going back on what I earlier typed.

I butchered the last nine of my x-rocks. I chopped the head off the 1st bird and he jumped out of the wash tub. Of course, he then jumped all over the place. When done, he was covered in blood and dirt.

The remaining 8 birds were hung upside down by their feet and then their necks were slit with a sharp knife. A couple birds flapped quite a bit and came lose from their leg grip, but overall I was more pleased with the neck slicing.

At least I was today!

 

[reallemons1]

I just did 25 today and have 20+ to do tomorrow. We hang them by the feet and cut off the heads with a sharp knife. They flop, but I place them so they have enough space and they don't hit anything. After let them hang a few minutes to drain, then process. I have done them this way for about 25 years.

 

[HobbyChickener]

I try not to let mine flap after the deed. It tears up the wings. I am planning on making me some cones before the next go round with processing. Did 10 yesterday that averaged 10-12 lbs at 3 months!

 

[Fredster]

I've done both the hatchet chop and the throat cutting method.

I vastly prefer the throat-slit, because the chop is so much more traumatic (for me than the bird, I think

). With the throat cut, they're already sleepy because they're upside down -- I use orange safety cones -- and a quick slice with the knife leads to a calm, quiet bird that simply fades away. No squawking, no flailing, no apparent pain or discomfort.