Help With Slaughter! Desperate! He's dead now, Sankyoo

[Oven Ready]

Rin, May I ask a question ?

When you went to take his head off with the machete, was he still hanging upside down?

I ask because I think that it would be a very difficult thing to do, you'd need the accuracy and power of a baseball player to do that. Chickens necks are pretty tough and with no force from the opposite side he would swing away as you made contact.
Machete (or hatchet/axe/heavy kitchen knife) decapitations go better when there is something to chop against, like a large block of wood - a 4inch square or even a tree stump. That way the chickens neck can't move and you don't need a huge force for the blade to slice clean through, then hang it up and it'll bleed out with the flapping that ensues.

Can I ask another question?

Has this put you off dispatching your own birds or do you feel more determined to do it better the next time?

Feel free not to answer, of course.

 

[Keara]

Quote:
seahen, Have you ever had to euthanize one of your pets? And I don't mean take it to the vet, I mean do the deed yourself? It is not easy can really shake you up, and like most skills gets better with the doing. Now not all of us see the chickens as pet, but I bet more than 50% do. Even if it's not a pet killing is not an easy thing, especially in this day and age where we are keep so separate from the process that brings meat to our table. Also, chicken keeping has boomed so that people who have birds now my have never even held an ax before let alone have the skill to actually hit what they are aiming at.

 

[mstricer]

No one once mentioned killing cones on here. We are making some tonight, due to all the ways my BF tried to cull them were all bad plans. We even shot our aggressive roo in the head with a 22 pistol. You would think it would have died right away, but oh no that darn mean rooster just hung its head low and began walking around, shot it again in the head and again no death, finally by the third shot it fell and did its death throws and it was done.(I started wondering how many bullets will actually fit) I don't recommend it. You would think it would have just fell over right away. I don't understand why they don't die when the heads are whacked or shot, their brains can't be that big are they. We've tried 4 methods so far all have been bad that is why we a making the cones. We once tried the method of, putting the blade in their mouth and piercing their brain, it was a young sick bird and it was bad very bad. So now I will be setting things up for an evening kill of a bunch of young roo's (that are driving me insane and a couple that just never stop crowing which I never counted on (dumbie me thought they crowed only in the morning once but oh no some never stop and they start a 3am and crow all day). In total I think we will be doing around 7 to 8 birds (shhhhh don't tell the BF he only thinks its 3) Well I hope our experience goes better then Rins

 

[blefky]

"Enjoy this butchered bird of yours, honor his life & death by appreciating & not wasting a morsel of him. He still had a better life & end than most commercially-raised chickens."

Amen, Sunny.

You tried, and in the end you met your goal. I agree with the poster who feels that your biggest problem may be tentativeness. Just as when teaching my children how to pull out into traffic when learning to drive, I always told them "when you make the decision to go, you have to go with conviction". I have not yet dispatched a chicken, though I have had to euthanize other animals over the years. My mantra has always been "Lord, help my hands be quick and efficient" - some of that can only come with practice and experience.

 

[oesdog]

You did really well. DOn;t let it put you off or upset you. Its not easy. It is harder if these birds are like Pets to you.
I had a beautiful hen last year called Eleanor. She was just perfect with a great temperament. Then one morning I went into the coop and she was dead for no reason she was dead!!!!!!!!!!!! We realised she had broken her neck and maybe gotten spooked in the night and hit herself off the roof. I lifted her in my arms and felt she was still warm and I took her into the kitchen and layed her on the Dog bed. I cried we all stood round looking at her thinking is she really dead? Yeap she was. I cried some more. Then I remembered she was a big fat chicken. - Well we eat chicken in our house and I wasn;t about to waist the food. So we took her out to the shed and hung her up then after a I started into taking her frock off. I felt really sad as she was such a beautiful bird. Cried some more. Then my husband complete with instructions fresh from the printer started the process of making her ready for the oven. When he started to cut around her vent I was near sick! Then after a while I got myself together and became facinated by the intricate way a hen is biult inside and how wonderful it was to see the way the eggs are made. We popped her in the oven and watched her cook - I felt quezzy big time imagining her running round the yard only the day before!!!!!!!!!! I cried some more and reminded myself she was a chicken and this was doing her justice! Better than throwing her in the bin. What respect would I have done her then? So I ate and my she was lovely!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yeah mt first death of one of my own. I didn;t have to kill her thankfully but I was totally upset. - So I do understand all those emotions. We recently had to kill a baby chick born with its intestines on the outside. We did drown it and then took the head off to make certain. Better if you take the head off as then there is not doubt!!!!!!!! You don;t go back to find its still alive!!!!!!! You did a good job!!!! Yeah we all had a bit of a snigger but its only because I guess we all had in our mind you runnning about trying to kill this thing. HAlf expected it to be sat up waiting for you today!
DOn;t feel bad - this is what a chicken is born to be. !!!!!!!!!! Well done - you will get used to it and the quezzy tummy you feel inside is a good thing. It shows you care and that is a very good thing for any owner of chickens to feel!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Proud of you!!!!!!!!!

 

[Rin]

Quote:
He was indeed still hanging upside down... I mean... the first time I tried with the machete on a very aggressive roo (a roo I hated mind you) I flinched and only split his head open and the hysterical crying that ensued put me off this completely... also holding him down for this was an issue(I had to feel his death throes and was splattered in his blood because of the miss - I cried for two days after that one and had related nightmares off and on that entire week). Stringing this one up was actually after someone suggested that as an alternative after the first time went so horribly. My aim and strength behind it quite frankly is the issue. I need something strong enough to clip the head off - it would have gone a million times better if the poultry shears could have done it. I mean. I got them closed completely but they just couldn't cut through feathers so wrung his neck - which he survived. I wish I drowned him from the start. All it took was a long plastic cup filled with water and pushing him in all the way to the wings and gently stroking his feet until he gave up - hell.. his struggles actually forced him in deeper in the cup. I felt like at least then I was able to gently stroke him as he passed away which was... oddly.. greatly relieving for me. I will try again... but I might try drowning from the start as it put me at ease enough I was able to decapitate him.. let him bleed out a bit... removed his tail feathers to keep... removed his entire wings and took them inside and coated them in borax in effort to preserve them... wrap the rest of him in saran and place him in the freezer so his hanging body wouldn't spoil or attract bears... now I want to consider thawing him, plucking him and feeding him in portions to the dog, organs and all. That or attempting to respectfully bury what remains... he was no meatie.. he was a rooster I actually cared about... he was a sweet guy.. but he was one rooster too many for my flock. He was constantly pouncing females and after they started laying he began competitively crowing with my other roo. I tried selling him. No one was interested in a roo that didn't fit his breed correctly. So I decided to make use of him... His feathers and wings are beautiful...

Well.. I do intend to incubate eggs laid by the D'uccle girls ... so I WILL have to face this again in the future... and I suspect one of my silkies to be a roo... so it's a very REAL possibility I will need to butcher again... I just need to find something that works better for me... I flinch... and that is not good for taking something's head off... not for anyone... I'm just not sure what to try next time. I flinch and panic - so even if I went to axe I think I will still miss a LOT... I'm not sure what to use to /snip/ the head off. Which might make it easier for me next time - something that can actually snip the head off. Hedge trimmers? Or even maybe try broom sticking? I DO have meat rabbits and I will need to kill them that way someday. I've never heard of it used on polts before though - does it work? and drowning... not as a last ditch.. but simply from the get go... does it ruin the meat since they wont bleed out as much?

 

[mxpres]

I put mine in a plastic jug(killcone)and use limb loppers to do the deed,I place the blades right behind the head and with a quick snap of the handles,Its quick and altho it don,t take the head off completley it snaps the neck and cuts the main blood flow enough to where they bleed out with very little struggling,I have tried several other methods that work but I prefer this way,It is quick and humane

 

[cafe]

I hate to tell you this, but if your toon is an orc, you need to get a race change.

 

[rancher hicks]

Quote:

I'm sorry it didn't go well. I have only used shears on chicks, and a hatchet or axe on adults...

after snipping at the corners of his jaws repeatedly until he started to actually bleed (very very little) I gave up as doing this started to make me extremely dizzy and Ill I grabbed the machete... hit him - he screamed - hit him again - he did his death throes.... only to come to and I knew he was because storm is rolling in fast and wind was rocking his entire body yet he kept his eye glued on me - whacked him again and he screamed - again and death throes again.... this time he went completely limp after...

I'm sorry but I laughed til I cried. I can just see it. To bad it wasn't on tape.

 

[ekemily]

Edited by Staff
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