Help with "Broomstick Method" (culling method)

[Mraya]

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.

So you are pulling opposite to the natural bend in the chickens neck?

 

[Mraya]

This is the best I've seen.
Items marked with *'s are very important points.

Cervical Dislocation is shown in this video at about 1:00,

it's the only CD video I've found that doesn't remove the head.

*Notice the slight divot in the ground under the stick and neck, this will keep the bird from being choked.

*Notice that she slowly stretches out the neck and legs before giving the short sharp jerk that breaks the neck, this is key to success IMO.

I've found this technique to be very effective.

Thank you

 

[Maeschak]

This is the best I've seen.
Items marked with *'s are very important points.

Cervical Dislocation is shown in this video at about 1:00,

it's the only CD video I've found that doesn't remove the head.

*Notice the slight divot in the ground under the stick and neck, this will keep the bird from being choked.

*Notice that she slowly stretches out the neck and legs before giving the short sharp jerk that breaks the neck, this is key to success IMO.

I've found this technique to be very effective.

That cute little old lady makes me feel like a wimp! It takes me an hour to set up, I use gloves, towels, am wrapped up in coveralls, use tons of buckets, a seat, a butcher table, yada yada yada. And here she is just sweetly, quietly, quickly and cleanly getting a chicken butchered in her regular clothes and doesn't get a speck of nasty on herself! Bravo!

 

[kesrchicky16]

Part of it depends on the bird. I had a trouble maker bird. My Father-in-law said "let me teach you how to skin."

He didn't use this particular method to cull but he did note that this individual had a very strong, very muscular neck. It wouldn't break even after death! He had to cut completely down to bone all the way around, and cut the ligaments to seperate the spine to finish preparing the carcuss.

He made the comment that it was good he had chosen a blade for death as he was unsure he ever would have gotten a broken neck to kill it.

 

[rebrascora]

So you are pulling opposite to the natural bend in the chickens neck?

Yes, that is the whole point.... the neck will break much easier if you essentially snap it backwards in a direction it is not meant to bend. If you are pulling it in the direction it naturally bends then there is no leverage and you are basically playing tug of war with the chicken's spine, which is not as quick or humane.

He didn't use this particular method to cull but he did note that this individual had a very strong, very muscular neck. It wouldn't break even after death! He had to cut completely down to bone all the way around, and cut the ligaments to seperate the spine to finish preparing the carcuss.

The neck is incredibly strong on older roosters but this technique should still work because you are snapping the neck back over the broom shank and it gives you plenty of leverage. I have had great difficulty cutting through the bottom end of the neck to dress the bird for the slow cooker, but the head was still dislocated by this method first.
I've never done Cornish X but I imagine they are so much easier to do because the sinews are no where near as well developed as my free range dual purpose, older cockerels and roosters.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Yes, that is the whole point.... the neck will break much easier if you essentially snap it backwards in a direction it is not meant to bend. If you are pulling it in the direction it naturally bends then there is no leverage and you are basically playing tug of war with the chicken's spine, which is not as quick or humane.



The neck is incredibly strong on older roosters but this technique should still work because you are snapping the neck back over the broom shank and it gives you plenty of leverage. I have had great difficulty cutting through the bottom end of the neck to dress the bird for the slow cooker, but the head was still dislocated by this method first.
I've never done Cornish X but I imagine they are so much easier to do because the sinews are no where near as well developed as my free range dual purpose, older cockerels and roosters.

Thank you all for responding.

@rebrascora and @aart thank you for responding in detail...video was good...directions above help.

I *think* I am doing it *mostly* right...what I could do better is stretch first, then bend a little further back so that it snaps at the fulcrum point (the base of the neck)...I think I was stretching and snapping at the same time in my direction which was causing a spinal dislocation further down. I had to take one poor bird and redo it (sad).

I don't enjoy culling, but sometimes it is necessary (my sweet bantam girls are thanking me this morning).

But if I do need to cull, I want it to be as quick and painless as possible for both the bird and me.

Thanks for the tips. I'll try to bookmark this somehow for next time so I can refresh the tips. I don't do these often which is why my skills seem rusty each time.

LofMc

 

[BantyChooks]

I haven't used this method before, so I don't have much to say... figured I'd just ask if you've tried manual cervical dislocation? It's the same thing but there's no chance of choking the bird or breaking the neck too far up. I have killed birds with decapitation and with (manual) cervical dislocation and flapping/other movements were way less with the latter method. Supposedly they're dead just as fast but it sure looked nicer with the 2nd.

Of course, it's not such a good method if you're doing larger roosters... I've only tried it on hens, and they were DP breeds from 6 months to 2 years old.

I'm average in build and pretty much everything else so pulling hard enough is unlikely to be an issue unless you have trouble with hand strength.

 

[Sunshine Flock]

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?

 

[BantyChooks]

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 have not found any. Birds that are spazzy calm quickly once held upside down for a bit... my whole flock is used to handling so they're actually more scared if they're just yanked off the roosts.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

I haven't used this method before, so I don't have much to say... figured I'd just ask if you've tried manual cervical dislocation? It's the same thing but there's no chance of choking the bird or breaking the neck too far up. I have killed birds with decapitation and with (manual) cervical dislocation and flapping/other movements were way less with the latter method. Supposedly they're dead just as fast but it sure looked nicer with the 2nd.

Of course, it's not such a good method if you're doing larger roosters... I've only tried it on hens, and they were DP breeds from 6 months to 2 years old.

I'm average in build and pretty much everything else so pulling hard enough is unlikely to be an issue unless you have trouble with hand strength.

...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.