graphic slaughtering question

[Bossroo]

My first couple, I did the jugular slice. On the second bird, I failed miserably, and had to cut her again.....

After that experience, I decided to resort to more brute force; I have a little snub-nose .22 pistol. I hang the bird by the feet, and place the barrel right behind the eye. One 'pop' and the bullet is straight through the brain and the bird is dead, all but instantaneously (A jugular slice a few seconds afterwards allows more blood to gravity drain). That's my objective anyway. For a grown man, I have a tough time doing in a chicken.

Wade

I am sure you are aware that the .22 bullet will tavel for a mile !!! the chicken's scull bone is very pourous and very thin, hardly enough to absorb this amount of energy that is packed in the gunpowder. So what happens if it only travels 1/2 mile... 1/4 mile, 25 yards ... ??? DEFINATELY an overkill akin to using a 8' long 2 x 4 to kill a fly. What happens if it should hit a child next door ? Or ...?

 

[galanie]

If the bird is hanging, and he's going behind the eye, sounds like the bullet is going into the ground. Just sayin'...

 

[El Exorcisto]

Making an assumption that he is not paying attention to what is beyond his target is typically insulting to any gun owner. As for the slitting, you want to hit the carotid, not the jugular. You can see the difference when you make the cut. The jugular will flow, but not especially fast. When you hit the carotid there is a visible gush as you drop the pressure in the arterial system. They seem to be empty in 20 seconds or so.

The batch I did last weekend were pithed. Then the blade is inserted point first behind the trachea from the right with the edge facing out. You push the blade through until it passes out the other side of the throat and then pulled forward. You are guaranteed a carotid slice and the cutting edge never meets feathers so it can stay sharp all day. The sawing against feathers bit is hell on a good edge in short order. This was our first year pithing first, and it really makes the pluck a LOT easier. There is also a lot less post-mortem seizing. While it may not matter to the bird at that point, it makes the whole process look a lot cleaner.

As for holding onto the bird while you do it... I find it necessary to have two hands available with a cone. Without a cone I'm thinking four hands would be the minimum needed to hold the body, hold the neck stretched, and make the cut. Tearing a chicken's head off bare handed sounds a little brutal, but I won't tell you not to since I haven't done it myself.

 

[Bossroo]

Well then ... I will let one of my former neighbors (Kim now lives in Texas) know that ALL gun owners are ALWAYS aware of what is beyond their target.

She will be most pleased to hear this as her husband's motorcycle tire was hit while he was riding on a country road, then crashed into a ditch and was killed.

She was left with a young son and daughter to raise by herself.

 

[92Pony]

If the bird is hanging, and he's going behind the eye, sounds like the bullet is going into the ground. Just sayin'...

I live on 2ac of heavily wooded pines in the middle of the country. Never mind that - as mentioned above, I'm standing - the bird (head) is about 2ft off the ground. The bullet is in the ground probably no more than 6ft away.

I have no problem with overkill. Dead is dead. It's easier for me, and quick for the bird.

 

[Erica]

Has anyone looked up broomstick method? I too prefer to hold and calm the bird beforehand. For me, broomstick method is fast and sure and doesn't take much strength, but it lets me hold the bird in a familiar way, so it's not stressed. Even when I lay the stick behind the head, my birds tend to react as though I've simply changed my grip a little. The stick I use has a kink so the neck can fit under without undue discomfort.

I really hate killing, but this way is fast, sure, and has a few other benefits (a full bleed-out into the cavity of the neck; brain is destroyed at the same time). For anyone who detests neck slitting because it takes a long while and is very bloody, or because pithing beforehand is very hard to do, consider broomstick.... I've got a long 'how to' post on my blog, complete with pictures.

cheers
Erica

 

[galanie]

Well then ... I will let one of my former neighbors (Kim now lives in Texas) know that ALL gun owners are ALWAYS aware of what is beyond their target.         She will be most pleased to hear this as her husband's motorcycle tire was hit while he was riding on a country road, then crashed into a ditch and was killed.        She was left with a young son and daughter to raise by herself.   

Sorry to hear that. But don't assume everyone is irresponsible, please. Most gun owners are responsible about it, at least the ones I've met. One idiot and a freak accident though is all it takes to turn some folks completely "anti-gun."

 

[92Pony]

Nice page there Erica!

 

[silkiechicken]

With a young enough bird, perhaps 20weeks or younger, if you've got the umph and commitment to do it, you can break the neck and tear off the head. But even 20 weeks old could be a stretch, literally, to pull enough to actually tear the neck skin and remove the head. Just don't hesitate. Hesitation and not commiting to the act is often where people back out, don't give it enough go and accidents happen with botched butchering.

I break necks on all birds up to about a year old and then cut the head off. When they get old, breaking necks is harder. Young young birds can easily have their heads pulled off so to say.

One thing to note however, one the bird is dead, it has no control over it's body and will spontaneously flap and flop like mad. Sick or injured ones might not flop much, but a healthy one sure will. If you do plan on breaking the neck/pulling off the head while it's calmly sitting in your lap, you'll probably end up with a wildly flapping bird spraying blood everywhere. I calmly just "sit" on my birds and break their neck so when flapping starts, I've got a firm hold of their wings and have them pressed to the ground so their legs don't kick everywhere.

So guess in short, I kind of do what you are suggesting. I just break their necks, and then cut their head off to bleed. For my own use, I'm really not concerned about letting them bleed out if I'm eating them soon. You can save the blood in a bit of salt water and after it coagulates, cook it like tofu.

 

[Bossroo]

Sorry to hear that. But don't assume everyone is irresponsible, please. Most gun owners are responsible about it, at least the ones I've met. One idiot and a freak accident though is all it takes to turn some folks completely "anti-gun."

I am NOT "anti-gun" !!! Far from it. I OWN quite a few hand guns, shot guns, and rifles and I ENJOY the hunt. My sones do too, but I have instilled the gun safety rules and dangers since they were in diapers. I also believe that there are quite a few gun owners are as scatterbrained as they come and have no business owning even a BB gun. I also shoot my fattened with corn, oats and barley + alfalfa fed steers with a .22 in the head on my ranch to butcher them. But shooting chickens, ducks, rabbits,etc. by some people that just happen to own a gun is just plain idiotic. I Have hunted at quite a few refuges. There was a gentleman that did quite a bit of shooting in the early morning fog while noone else around had more than one or two. He checked out his "limit" of waterfowl at the ranger station... only problem was that they were sea gulls which are illegal to kill. He had his gun confiscated and fined $1,000. I was deer hunting in the High Sierras with 2 buddies... we heard a number of shots and some celebratory whoops just around the hill. We whent to look, there was this idiot dancing around in the pasture waving his gun . We then saw what he thaught was 2 bucks that he shot were in fact 2 Palomino horses shot dead. Another time a so called hunter shot a friend's registered Black Angus 2,000+ lb. show bull. There were several times over the last half century while pheasant, duck, quil, and dove hunting when I was peppered with shot from shotguns by careless hunters that don't look where they are shooting. Then there are those road warrior hunters... you know ones that drive around in their cars, see a game animal, stop their cars, then shoot. We had our bedroom window shot out by one of these wonders. Then the one that takes the cake ... while pheasant hunting in a sugar beet field, we saw a car stop, the passenger got out, swang his shotgun over the top of the car and pulled the trigger just as his driver buddy was getting out of the car and his head just over the roof of the car. YUP , you guessed it ...his head was shot off. I can go on ... As I said, I am NOT " anti - gun " but I believe that if one owns a gun, they should be well educated in their use as well as the ammunition's charecteristics as well as when NOT to use/shoot a gun. Also, to vow to never drink and use one. Enjoy !