Help with "Broomstick Method" (culling method)

[BantyChooks]

...and I do...arthritis in both thumbs (thank you to too much flute playing)...and a funky shoulder/back (thank you to horse mishaps and one auto)....so this 50-something body can't reliably hold and jerk at the same time especially not the big cockeral I just put down.

So since I can't swing an axe, slitting the throat is messy and takes an amazingly long time to bleed out especially with sick animals that I don't want to spread stuff with, this works best.

My favorite method for sick, unwanted animals is CO2 created with dry ice, a Home Depot bucket. Put the ice at the bottom, add some warm water, wait for a big cloud to build up (with lid slightly ajar), add bird, wait 30 seconds, it is done and over. Very quick, very painless.

But you can't keep dry ice around, and it is often a pain to have to time a dry ice run when you need to put an animal down.

I can bend and step on a rake still (thank you Lord), so this method works best for me.

Oh, that stinks.

 

[CayugaJana]

Is there any difference in the technique for ducks in regards to the method on the video @aart ? I haven’t had to yet, but I know that day might come. My husband wants me to cut their heads off but I’m not sure I could stomach that.

Thanks for posting. I have been curious but it’s not a delightful topic to bring up.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Reading with interest.

Is there any merit to culling them once they've had a chance to go to roost at night? Would they feel calmer and less reactive?

I find pulling off the roost at night makes the chase down much, much easier.

However, even with a bird that is well handled, the moment you hang them up and put them on the ground with the rake, you will of course get resistance.

So it is not without some drama.
LofMc

 

[aart]

Is there any difference in the technique for ducks in regards to the method on the video @aart ? I haven’t had to yet, but I know that day might come. My husband wants me to cut their heads off but I’m not sure I could stomach that.

Thanks for posting. I have been curious but it’s not a delightful topic to bring up.

I would imagine it is the same, but do not know from either experience or from reading.

I too use this only for euthanasia due to illness,
cone and jugular/carotid cuts is what I use when slaughtering to eat.

 

[lazy gardener]

I use the broomstick if I'm not planning to eat the bird. I think it was Aart who convinced me to put on my big girl panties, and graduate to a knife if processing for the table! I find that the amount of traction/snap required for a cockerel is very different than it is for a pullet/hen. On more than one occasion, I've pulled the head clean off. Not an intended outcome, but... dead is dead. Also, regarding the issue of fear of "choking the bird"... IMO, that's a non issue. B/C the moment of time between stepping on the broom stick and applying the traction/pull is just a moment. In no way is there enough time lapse for the bird to feel a "lack of air". Dead is dead.

 

[aart]

Also, regarding the issue of fear of "choking the bird"... IMO, that's a non issue. B/C the moment of time between stepping on the broom stick and applying the traction/pull is just a moment.

Find it helps keep the bird from struggling and getting out of position.

 

[lazy gardener]

Find it helps keep the bird from struggling and getting out of position.

I've never had that issue. However, I do bind the feet. Just a precaution. I don't want to be chasing a bird through the woods!

 

[tastyacres]

This is the wrong way around. The chicken should be lying on it's front for this method

.... and why wait for a count of 3??

I place the bird on the ground chest down whist holding it's feet behind. I do it in a darkened room so they are calmer. You can stroke them to calm them. I place the broom shank right behind the head, so at the top of the neck, not the bottom. The broom head keeps the shank from applying pressure to the windpipe until I quickly stand on it either side of the head and pull sharply upwards and forwards on the feet so that the neck is being put under the most strain at the point where it has least flexion. Like @OrganicFarmWife I give a second or third pull immediately afterwards just to be sure. Some still flap up to and even longer than a minute afterwards, it seems to vary quite a lot from one individual to another.

I can't say that I am by any means an expert at the technique but this is what I have found works best.

I have started dropping them into a homemade cone after cervical dislocation and severing the head with a sharp knife at the point of the neck break so that they can bleed out a little as they spasm.

Yeah, i don't do it that way because the first several birds Didn't die when done the way... So I switched and haven't had a problem since.

I Am slightly autism and the counting just helps me stay calm.

My birds die very quickly And I rarely have to give them a second pull.

I don't hand raise any of my birds... ALL are quite crazy so I just swoop them by the legs and lightly swing them... not long.

 

[oldrooster]

never heard of this method until now, but to the op asking about flopping around there is a very old saying about running around like a chicken with it's head cut off is not a nonsense phrase, its part of nature, ugly but a fact of life.....

 

[aart]

never heard of this method until now, but to the op asking about flopping around there is a very old saying about running around like a chicken with it's head cut off is not a nonsense phrase, its part of nature, ugly but a fact of life.....

She knows about post death twitching, just was observing it's length.
IME, the sicker the bird being euthanized, the shorter and weaker the twitching.