Gas Stunning Birds

[Mac in Wisco]

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It wasn't any different from what you were proposing until I pointed out the refrigeration factor involved.

 

[FarmrGirl]

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gmendoza,

Very interesting... Thanks!

 

[elizabethbinary]

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.... omg a recipe for chloroform. I love this site. :3

 

[gmendoza]

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gmendoza,

Very interesting... Thanks!

Well I dont advise it. This kind of cloroform is volatile.You must use caution.Maybe a slower proess for you would be to make a co2 diffuser out of two jugs,some aquarium hose,brown sugar,and yeast.

 

[silkiechicken]

For your reading enjoyment on chloroform.

http://www.jtbaker.com/msds/englishhtml/c2915.htm

We use that stuff in the lab, we use it in the vented hood behind glass.

 

[gmendoza]

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Thats why I was informing not to use it.I wont.Id rather chop them head off,or twist like our oldsters did and brake them necks.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

To keep any bird from climbing back out of the cones try tying their legs together (with twine or zip ties) and hold their wings to their sides with a few wraps of duct tape around them before sliding them into the cones. (Use duck tape for the muscovies) Are you just cutting the veins on the sides of their necks? Maybe try making a big cut straight across the throats, all the way up to the neckbones. I don't imagine they could get very far after that.

 

[FarmrGirl]

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No... I imagine the they don't get far if you cut their throats.

I only cut the carotid, not the windpipe. The point is for them to bleed out, not suffocate to death. I ended up cutting the head off altogether to avoid that but if I stun them first they're easier to bleed in the cone. I think I'll probably go with the "broomstick brainstem dislocation method" since, after this discussion thread, I'm thinking that's the quickest, most humane method for the bigger birds. All my regular ducks and chickens do just fine in the cone.

 

[Omniskies]

I prefer the broomstick method, since I'm always afraid I'll chop in the wrong place or take half my hand off (and haven't built a guillotine yet

. We use it for rabbits, poultry, etc. I don't like bleeding them out alive because it seems a bit crass. I'm sure it's fine, but just the idea of hanging upside down with blood pouring out of a gaping wound makes me a little unnerved. Even if it isn't horribly painful, they still get a minute or two of "Wait a minute...my neck hurts, I have a headache, and I'm feeling seriously woozy..." before finally expiring. With the broomstick/pipe method it's more of a "I hate being upside dow-*dead*" ordeal. Since I like to think that severing the spine/head stuns them enough to make it quick and mostly painless.

I use a solid metal pipe, hold the animal upside down and step on one side of the pipe. I lift the other side up, put the pipe over the neck just behind the head (where it will "catch"), put my other foot down on the pipe and then pull up. You will feel a slight give when the head separates from the neck. At that point you hang the animal as quickly as possible and cut the throat to bleed them out while the heart is still racing.

With geese you may want to put them in a pillow case or potato sack with a hole cut out for their head and neck. Geese (and even muscovies) have extremely strong wings. It's better to have them bundled up so if they do start flapping around you won't have to waste time getting ahold of them again.

 

[DenverBird]

In case anyone didn't catch it, the redneck in the video was going through an exercise to make *rule 2* look stupid.

Dana,

If you still want to use gas at this point, you should be able to get a tank of CO2 from your local welding supply / compressed gas shop. You'll also be able to rent a regulator and probably buy some hose. While the potential to freeze the bird definitely exists, I doubt the Joule Thompson cooling would be sufficient to lower the temperature in the chamber more than a few degrees unless you open the valve wide open.

If you want to displace oxygen in the bird's system, industrial grade nitrous oxide may be available from the compressed gas shop and would probably be about as humane as you can get. It may take a little longer but would certainly do the trick once the oxygen is displaced completely. Its my understanding that the nitrous oxide displaces oxygen on the blood's hemoglobin molecules and causes one to lose consciousness due to oxygen deprivation - the same effect as holding your breath until you pass out. This made me reconsider what kind of anesthesia to get at the dentist.

-DB