Hard Questions For Me

[natyvidal]

Hi everyone! I am new to the forum but I thought I comment on this issue. What is the most humane way of prossessing or culling your flock? I would venture there are many but it really depends in choosing the one that leaves the owner felling comfortable with it and able to later consume the animal without guilt or waste.
1. I used to raise parrots and cockatiels of different types, (not for food, hobby,) and sometimes they would get sick or hurt themselves in a way that they would not recuperate. Even when you protect yourself from getting to attached to them it was hard for me to cull them. A friend in the trade told me to try the freezer. Yes wrap it in a paper or a plastic bag or a box, and gently let them fall asleep from the cold and die. Just isolate the animal from the rest of the things in the freezer. I never let them freeze solid. Afterward I would just bury it. Or take it to the vet for a necropsy. It’s a good idea, especially if you are not sure what it died of and the rest of the flock can be treated to avoid more culling.

2. While growing up I remember my father and grandfather culling chickens for the weekend family gathering. They used to twist their necks but I never cared for the way the critters kept flapping their wings. So years ago when I was raising chickens for their eggs, it was time to prossess them for dinner and my father said he would use our machete. Remembering the flappin, and visualizing all the blood, I wrapped the hens in old nylon stokings I had, with the heads sticking out and it was definitely faster and less traumatic for them and for me!

3. As someone else suggested, you can find or hire someone to do the job for you. Kill and process it. It’s worth it.

And don’t name your flock. In my house, once a farm animal was named it was part of the family and harder/impossible to part ways. So I would instruct my children who not to name.

And we must also take into consideration that once your flock stops laying eggs, they are an economic burden that can last for years. (I had a pet hen that lived almost 12 years.) it’s a lot of feed for a flock that it’s not producing anymore.

Hope it helped. Good luck with your project.

 

[Cryss]

I find myself in the same predicament--or maybe in a worse one. I need to kill three healthy, beautiful roosters. I have three chicken houses, no room for more, and one of them and its enclosure are now occupied by three roosters. In one of the others I have one rooster and fourteen hens, and in another five hens and two roosters. The two roosters in the latter one are almost OK together, though one of them is obviously the ruler of the roost and he's the one who copulates with the hens. The other, when he tries, gets chased away. The problem is the enclosure with the three roosters. A while ago one of the hens in one of the other two houses began to brood, and foolishly we let her keep some eggs. Five chicks hatched, and we transfered them to a cage in the garage, where we could keep them warm. When they were big enough we put them in the vacant chicken house. Of the five, two were hens and three were males. When they became adults the three roosters were constantly trying to "do" the two hens, plucking their necks and heads bare and keeping them in a constant state of terror. So I decided to transfer them to the big enclosure/house. They are doing well there, but the three roosters now are trying to copulate with one another, fight all the time, and although they are beautiful and healthy it seems to me that the quality of their lives is terrible. I would like to cull them to make room for the beta male of the other house (the one with two roosters) and a few of the hens in the house where now there are fourteen. But I just don't have the heart to kill three gorgeous, healthy roosters. But I'll probably have to do it, because no one wants roosters, and they have become too aggressive even toward us to be pets. I guess such problems as mine come with the territory when you decide to raise chickens or some other farm animals. Honestly, if I could go back in time I would not start raising chickens again. Eggs are cheap, market chickens are already dead, cleaned and plucked, and I could sleep in in the morning or take a vacation now and then...

Yes. I totally understand. Gorgeous roosters are so hard to cull. I'm trying to rehome this boy to give him a tiny chance but I know it's not really going to happen.

Roopecca, my problem child may soon be swimming with dumplings.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

A friend in the trade told me to try the freezer. Yes wrap it in a paper or a plastic bag or a box, and gently let them fall asleep from the cold and die.

Freezing is a slow and painful death... there is nothing humane about that. Said to be worse than burning to death.

A better option would for someone going that route would be... CO poisoning or CO2 air displacement inside a suitable container. Honestly suffocation would be less painful to the bird than freezing. Just take a piece of ice and stick it to your earlobe to freeze a while and see how painful it becomes.

I do agree with you that humane includes considering the keeper. But education on actual humane methods might be helpful.

I asked about the "flapping" to my husband who has worked in a hospital setting for 30+ years... as I wanted to know if when people die naturally they still do the death jerk. His answer was NO, the brain neurons (electrical impulses) quit firing and aren't sending any signals to the muscles and so it seems they fade somewhat peacefully.

But when we dispatch there are still some neurons firing similar to when we unplug a radio and it still plays for a few seconds while dissipating the remaining energy.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

X2
Freezing and suffocation will cause way more distress, pain and suffering than quickly chopping the head off, slitting the throat or a quick spinal dislocation by extending the neck. In the latter three cases, the bird is already dead.
In a plastic bag in a freezer, they may live a long time in discomfort and terminal anguish.
It may seem better to some because the suffering animal is out of sight and out of mind.
The violent flapping of a dead bird may be distressing but the bird is already dead.

 

[Member 482121]

I have already written this before, but for those who haven't read what I said before, I would like to repeat it: the brain is where all senses are conveyed from the body, and is where consciousness resides. The total and immediate destruction of the brain does not allow the perception of pain. Cutting off the head of a chicken does not keep the bird from suffering, perhaps atrociously, for several seconds, until the severing of the veins and arteries in the neck and the consequent interruption of oxygenated blood to the brain finally shuts off all its functions. It would be impossible to ascertain how long brain activity in a chicken continues after its beheading. I am not aware of anyone having ever connected the chicken to an electroencephalograph before cutting off its head to see how log it takes before the brain stops working. But I'll bet anything it will take some long, extremely painful seconds before it does stop. That is why I have adopted this method of killing chickens: My wife holds the chicken in her lap until it has calmed down (she can tell from its heartbeat), and then she places it in a large rubber trough filled with dirt, holding it by the hind legs and pressing its chest on the dirt. I wait some time caressing the neck and back of the chicken until I can feel it's relaxing, then I place a .22 LR pistol on the back of its head. I use hollow-point, high-velocity cartridges. I stand each cartridge up on a table prior to the killing and with a small Phillips bit press down on the hole in the tip of the bullet in order to cross-notch it deeply to guarantee a total and immediate expansion. When I shoot, the entire head explodes, what with the violent expansion of the bullet and the blast of combustion gas behind it. The brain is instantly vaporized. No brain, no pain. The wings will flap for a little while, and the legs will jerk, but these are only nervous reflexes of the body. No pain involved. With the explosion of the head, the arteries that carry blood to the brain are torn open, and all the blood will pour out, as the heart will keep pumping long enough to push it all out.
This said, I still hate to kill chickens because they trust me, they come to me when I bring them food, and they are friendly, almost like pets. I am a hunter, but I am not personally acquainted with the wild animals I pursue and kill. Yet even killing a deer bothers me, and I hate to have to finish off a winged dove or duck. But those who eat store-bought meat and then criticize those who kill their own meat are either dumb or bloody hypocrites. The meat they buy comes from live animals--it's not produced in the back of a supermarket by mixing together organic substance that were never alive.

 

[CoturnixComplex]

Hi everyone! I am new to the forum but I thought I comment on this issue. What is the most humane way of prossessing or culling your flock? I would venture there are many but it really depends in choosing the one that leaves the owner felling comfortable with it and able to later consume the animal without guilt or waste.
1. I used to raise parrots and cockatiels of different types, (not for food, hobby,) and sometimes they would get sick or hurt themselves in a way that they would not recuperate. Even when you protect yourself from getting to attached to them it was hard for me to cull them. A friend in the trade told me to try the freezer. Yes wrap it in a paper or a plastic bag or a box, and gently let them fall asleep from the cold and die. Just isolate the animal from the rest of the things in the freezer. I never let them freeze solid. Afterward I would just bury it. Or take it to the vet for a necropsy. It’s a good idea, especially if you are not sure what it died of and the rest of the flock can be treated to avoid more culling.

2. While growing up I remember my father and grandfather culling chickens for the weekend family gathering. They used to twist their necks but I never cared for the way the critters kept flapping their wings. So years ago when I was raising chickens for their eggs, it was time to prossess them for dinner and my father said he would use our machete. Remembering the flappin, and visualizing all the blood, I wrapped the hens in old nylon stokings I had, with the heads sticking out and it was definitely faster and less traumatic for them and for me!

3. As someone else suggested, you can find or hire someone to do the job for you. Kill and process it. It’s worth it.

And don’t name your flock. In my house, once a farm animal was named it was part of the family and harder/impossible to part ways. So I would instruct my children who not to name.

And we must also take into consideration that once your flock stops laying eggs, they are an economic burden that can last for years. (I had a pet hen that lived almost 12 years.) it’s a lot of feed for a flock that it’s not producing anymore.

Hope it helped. Good luck with your project.

Freezing is terribly inhumane. We do not even do that with aquarium fish.

Pithing (complete and total destruction of the brainstem, as referenced by @herman 48 ) is the best choice, with cervival dislocation being a close second (i.e. broomstick method).

 

[Chickassan]

Bloodless culling for larger creatures like adult birds also works on chicks if you're like myself and the thought of the other ways nearly make you faint. You will need.
1) One or more disposable canisters of compressed Helium Gas, available for purchase at many big box stores for under $20 for inflating party balloons. These can be kept on hand for the appropriate time, and will “keep” for several months. After use, simply recycle the empty containers, or discard them in the regular trash.

2) A crate, cage, or other container for your bird.

3) A very stout plastic bag, large enough to completely enclose your bird's cage. If the cage is particularly big, you may have to get a “tree bag” from a garden center, or create a large enough bag out of several heavy bags and a lot of duct tape. The seal is very important, so tape both sides of all joints.

4) Some stout string, about 12 inches long.

5) A twist tie, the kind used to seal bags of fruit or vegetables.

6) Stout masking tape, packaging tape or duct tape.

7) Some very private and quiet time, once you know you are ready.

Step 1) With your bird in the cage, close the door and put the nozzle of the helium canister in the open end of the bag. Use the length of string to tightly secure the bag around the nozzle, so that the nozzle is protruding into the bag. Make sure there are no leaks and that the nozzle is unblocked by plastic bag.

Step 3) Open the valve on the helium tank, and begin to flood the bag and cage with helium. If the cage is small and the bag is big, this is all you have to do. If the cage is large, you may need to make a small cut in a corner of the bottom of the bag, to let out the remnant air as you flood the cage with helium.

Step 4) Once the cage and bag are fully flooded, and the bag looks quite inflated, close the small hole in the corner of the bag with the twist tie, if you had to make one. Secure it tightly. Continue to maintain constant, but not extreme, pressure in the bag. You want the bag inflated, but not ready to burst.

NOTE: During Steps 3 and 4, you will hear your bird relax and almost immediately slip into unconsciousness. It only takes few seconds, and there is NO PAIN. Breathing may become very deep, and you may hear some panting. Following this, and very briefly, you may hear your bird move about rapidly. DO NOT PANIC. This is merely a seizure; a sign of an oxygen-starved brain. Your bird is TOTALLY unconscious during this time, and CANNOT feel any discomfort or fear whatsoever.

Step 5) Leaving the bag sealed to the helium canister, and after checking for any leaks, retire to your favorite comfy chair and listen to some music.

Step 6) Periodically peek to make sure the bag is still inflated. Breathing will slow, and then become sporadic, finally stopping altogether, between 9 and 30 minutes from when the bag is first flooded with helium. Just to be sure, listen after 40 minutes, and if there are no breath sounds, you have done it; CONGRATULATIONS, You have released your bird from his/her pain.

Step 7) Open a nearby door or window, and ensure proper ventilation of the area around the cage. Then, open the bag and allow the helium to escape. Remove the bag from around the cage. DON’T WORRY. What you will see is a completely peaceful animal, which CLEARLY did not experience any discomfort.
Best part, if you never have to cull anyone you can fill balloons.

 

[Ebony Rose]

I name my cockerels... 'here' "breast-meat", 'come on' "drumstick", 'treat time' "A la king", 'where ya at?' "dumplings"? and some of the pullets or ones that I'm not sure of gender may be named things like "omelet" or other punny-names that deal with food... Keeps you in the right frame of mind when the time comes to process them for the table, yet still enables you to treat them as pets until that day comes.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Humbly... I can tell you I've had MANY cuts that require stitches... it takes time for the brain to register pain.. Even with neurons firing doesn't mean it's experiencing pain when consciousness is lost.

I GUESS in the case of a suffering bird.. the freezer MIGHT be better than a much slower death.

I name all my birds and sometimes even put their name on them in the freezer. I treat all my animals good throughout their lives. I'm not in denial at all about where they came from. Yes it's more personal, but it's not an issue for MY family. It has begged the question of where do I draw the line.. I'm always growing and learning.. and I can't believe who I am today... after being raised in prejudice ignorance! I am an open minded, self thinking, non judgmental, wanna be helpful to society, described by friends as benevolent type person.

So thankful for all the sharing of different thoughts and methods that goes on here!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Regardless of how long a decapitated animal's brain may sense pain, to die of suffocation and freezing, the associated discomfort will last quite a bit longer.
When I cut the jugular in a killing cone, if the knife is sharp enough, there is less discomfort while it bleeds out and loss of blood pressure causes unconsciousness.