Home made kill cone for a Delaware rooster

[rod5591]

I need to start harvesting my Delaware roosters soon. They are close to 3 months old and pretty big. I have 5 currently and may keep two. The kill cones advertised online are expensive and they all look like they are shipped from China (slow delivery) so I made a kill cone from Aluminum flashing. Here are pictures of how it looks now. I may reinforce it by taping the whole thing up with duct tape. I will mount it to a tree on the other side of the yard from the chicken coop. Measurements are 11” wide at top, 4 inches wide at the neck, and 23” long. If anyone sees any flaws in the design, please let me know. Also in your opinions, is there a better way to harvest a chicken? None of the farm stores around here had a cone, I was told folks around here mostly used their hands (thoracic dislocation) or a machete on wood (decapitation).

 

[RUNuts]

Not good perspective, but looks good, maybe a little small. I used a 1 gallon bleach jug and it worked good on the barred rocks, but was a tight fit on CX cockerels. I need a larger jug before next harvest.

Other options are traffic cones, larger pieces of plastic and my favorite, a feed bag with the corner cut out. I'll try the feedbag next year. utube has people cutting up a 5 gallon bucket and riveting the sidewall into a cone shape. Heavy duty but it costs $5.

Lots of options and yours looks good. If the birds are too big, easy to modify.

 

[snow5164]

I do like duct tape , but I’d bet the strength and durability of it won’t stand up to the movement and liquid resulting from culling birds .
( didn’t I say that politically correctly )

 

[RUNuts]

All duct tape is not made the same. Or to paraphrase, sometimes you just need more tape. Coming from an industrial setting, you did go light on the duct tape. Don't be shy.

 

[Tesumph]

I used a traffic cone and it worked really well. Just make sure you can properly get to their neck. Also, keep in mind that the blood can get really messy when they shake their heads, even more so if you don’t have a “notch” for it to run down, so keep the bucket pretty close under them.
Here’s my redneck set-up for three cockerels. My bucket was way too low and I made a mess. Sorry it looks like something from a saw movie.

Spoiler: Somewhat graphic

 

[rod5591]

All duct tape is not made the same. Or to paraphrase, sometimes you just need more tape. Coming from an industrial setting, you did go light on the duct tape. Don't be shy.

What are the better brands of duct tape?

 

[RUNuts]

Better brands
Gorilla is available
Industrial supply stores will have some
That yellow stuff on docks. Never got a name, talk to a longshoreman
Military is 1000 mph tape. Used on aircraft for flack repair

 

[Beer can]

Home depot and lowe's have some good duct tape, you just have to look for the heavy duty, it's twice the price $10-12 a roll but well worth it, the stuff is strong and STICKS.

Good idea, the flashing for a cone. I have some left over from doing a roof.
I use a 1.5gal bleach jug bolted in a plastic 55gal barrel lined with a heavy garbage bag, and then a cutting board that fits on top with room to drop everything in.
The bleach jug is a really tight fit for a big jersey giant, like have to stuff them in, and a little small for naked neck pullets. And I haven't been able to find 2gal jugs. Big birds you also have to reach up in and guide their head/neck into the hole while trying to stuff.
Think I'll make one out of flashing next time I process.

 

[Beer can]

I was told folks around here mostly used their hands (thoracic dislocation) or a mache

I used to snip the heads off with tree loppers. Anymore I just use a sharp fillet knife and slice the jugulars, they seem to thrash around a lot less.

 

[Maeschak]

View attachment 1450083 View attachment 1450084 I need to start harvesting my Delaware roosters soon. They are close to 3 months old and pretty big. I have 5 currently and may keep two. The kill cones advertised online are expensive and they all look like they are shipped from China (slow delivery) so I made a kill cone from Aluminum flashing. Here are pictures of how it looks now. I may reinforce it by taping the whole thing up with duct tape. I will mount it to a tree on the other side of the yard from the chicken coop. Measurements are 11” wide at top, 4 inches wide at the neck, and 23” long. If anyone sees any flaws in the design, please let me know. Also in your opinions, is there a better way to harvest a chicken? None of the farm stores around here had a cone, I was told folks around here mostly used their hands (thoracic dislocation) or a machete on wood (decapitation).

Love the flashing idea! Try putting a rooster in it and see if it is the right size before starting to harvest. I made one out of a traffic cone- I even got dimensions from a commercial cone to mimic those in my traffic cone- and my birds still did not fit into it. I had to enlarge the 'head' end several times until it fit my birds. (I ended up 'shredding' that end so it was a little bit adjustable... I cut the 'head' end to look like the phone number tags on the bottom of an advertisement. That way I can sometimes put smaller and lighter birds in the cone and pull back the 'tags' for larger birds. Not sure if that makes sense in narrative form).