Hi! I live in Northern CA, near Lake Tahoe. I live on five acres with my mom, dad, dogs, cats, cockatoos, and chickens. Right now we have 2 older hens that don't lay, a guinea hen, two entirely useless ducks, and four 6-8 (?) week old Buff Orpington/Rhode Island Red/Light Brahma/Americauna chicks we bought to replace the 11 hens/guineas we lost in a recent bear attack. I joined this site to get information on general chicken related things, including stuff about my four 6/8 week old pullets, and the other laying breed chicks we'll be buying in March. I am also trying to learn more about slaughtering and butchering chickens, because we'll also be ordering some broilers. This is my first time that I'll be trying to raise chickens for meat, so any tips about the slaughtering and butchering of meat birds would be helpful. Specifically, I'm wondering about the slitting the throat part of the killing-cone-and-knife technique. Do you just cut across the entire throat, or is it just a quick cut in the middle or something? And where in the neck do you cut? Right below the chin, or like an inch down, or what? Anyways, I'm really glad for this website. I'm very happy that I can join this site and be part of this community.
Wow! for 12 you sound more mature then me There are some great butchering threads here that should answer all of your questions.Good Luck
Greetings from Kansas, DavidILoveYou22, and ! Great to have you with us. You sound like you have given this whole thing a lot of thought - I respect that a lot. Killing a chicken isn't something to be taken lightly and I appreciate your question. As Crafy-Duck said, there are a lot of great butchering threads on the Meat Birds Forum. I can say this to address your question - a cut on the side of the neck below each ear will do the trick - that cuts the jugular and not the esophagus, making bleeding out quick and efficient. That being said, a killing cone works great - seems to keep them calm and reducing flopping. I wish you all the best and happy holidays.
Hello and welcome to BYC Glad you joined us! You'll find more tips on raising broilers and butchering techniques here: Meat Birds ETC
