Good axe or knife for slaughtering

[Chrome99]

I'm interested in hearing what kind of axe or knife people use for decapitating their poultry. Any links to where I could purchase a good one would be great too.

 

[LilyD]

I use the piranta edge knife. It is a razor blade type knife and comes with 13 more blades when you buy it so you have plenty to switch out too if it gets dull. I can do a whole season on one blade with no issues.

Best knife I ever got and boy does it ever work. I will never use anything else.

 

[srm220]

I´ve used a box cutter and a filet knife, they worked worked well.

Lately I have used a very sharp thin kitchen knife that works even better for me

 

[Elke Beck]

I use the Piranta Edge, too. It is great for making quick, clean cuts to bleed out the bird. I use a Spyderco Police model folding knife for taking off the head and feet and dismembering when I want parts instead of a whole bird. It is serrated, so it saws through joints easily.

I would not want to use an axe because I know myself, and I know that at some point I would get distracted and cut off a body part that I really want to keep.

 

[HeatherFeather]

We usually use a buck type knife but often my husband has been reaching for a simple box cutter type xacto knife. He gets a new one straight out of the package. We do killing cone method so we are only cutting a little bit and precisely. He uses a filet knife for evisceration, and I use whatever axe or hatchet happens to be nearest (cause I know me, and i'm good with an axe, and don't think I'll get distracted and cut off any body parts!! lol!!) to the wood chopping block and use that to take the heads off the dead birds. I specifically like to use a little paring knife with one of those 'never dull' sort of semi serrated edges to cut the feet off. I cut the tendons on either side of the joint, not the bone.

 

[pollo disco]

So you cut your chickens first, then lop the head off? I was under the impression that you wanted to severe the spinal cord straight out and limit hormones getting to the meat. Limiting the stress on the animal also, keeps endorphines and hormones out of the bloodstream. Is that just an old tale?

 

[Elke Beck]

So you cut your chickens first, then lop the head off? I was under the impression that you wanted to severe the spinal cord straight out and limit hormones getting to the meat. Limiting the stress on the animal also, keeps endorphines and hormones out of the bloodstream. Is that just an old tale?

There are as many opinions on this as there are people who process their own chickens. I have not taken off the head so I have nothing to compare it to, but the chickens I have butchered have been tasty, so I have not reason to change the way I am doing it. I use a killing cone and a very sharp knife to do the deed, and then they usually bleed out in a minute or less. YMMV.

 

[Hollow Point]

I use a Gerber machete on a wood stump. One whack and it's all over with.

 

[greenshade]

So, would a fish filet knife work for the killing, you think? I don't really want to kill my peanuts, but I know I'll do it quick and as painlessly as possible. (My 12 little roos came as packing peanuts with the laying hens so my daughter christened them all Peanut.)

And thanks, you're all really encouraging.

 

[srm220]

it worked really well for me.