Help with "Broomstick Method" (culling method)

[Mrs. K]

They are going to flap. And they are going to flap hard. No getting around it, and nothing will stop them from doing it. It is the hardest part of doing the deed. Truth is, IF THEY are FLAPPING HARD, then they are dead. Motion in a live animal is pretty controlled, in a dead animal, it is like an electrical storm, out of control motion.

So my point is that it is most disconcerting to the person doing the deed, as we think at first, the bird is trying to escape our horrible attack... but the bird has already passed and is not thinking anything.

Mrs K

 

[Trish1974]

It went a lot smoother than I had anticipated. The technique (I went with the broomstick method over manual) was quick, easy and effective. Her death was immediate as the neck snapped and even though she flapped and made movements I could tell she "wasn't there". This has been a very helpful thread and I hope new members refer to it for help.

 

[so lucky]

This has been an interesting and appreciated thread. I have not yet had to kill any of my chickens, but got my husband to shoot two of them over the years, when they were dying anyway.
This brings me to ask why it is better to slit the throat and bleed out a chicken you plan to eat. Does it not bleed out as well if you break the neck then chop the head off? The few heart beats it has after beheading allows more blood to run out, when death first doesn't allow for that?

 

[Mosey2003]

This has been an interesting and appreciated thread. I have not yet had to kill any of my chickens, but got my husband to shoot two of them over the years, when they were dying anyway.
This brings me to ask why it is better to slit the throat and bleed out a chicken you plan to eat. Does it not bleed out as well if you break the neck then chop the head off? The few heart beats it has after beheading allows more blood to run out, when death first doesn't allow for that?

Conventional wisdom says that letting the heart beat while the bird is bleeding drains more blood than what you get when the head is disconnected from the spinal column. Having done both ways, they do indeed bleed out a bit nicer that way, but the lesser bled ones are in no way inedible, in my experience.

Slicing the jugular is not actually an AVMA-approved method unless you stun the bird first. Cervical dislocation is. It's a personal choice.