How I botched my first attempt at killing a chicken~~hoping that others will learn from my mistakes

[Ibicella]

Yeah, I botched chickens when I first started too. I accidentally yanked the head off a chicken doing the broomstick method and sprayed blood everywhere! I've also done the "not cut deep enough" and whatnot. Scared the crap out of me and traumatized me for days.

I'll add to your story in telling newbies that it's really common to botch it the first few times. This does NOT mean you're a bad person! This really does take practice. It's unfortunate, but true.

 

[LILCHIKBIGCHIK]

Sorry to hear about your bad experience, the first time always sucks. But I never did understand the slit the throat method, I'm new to chickens but not to butchering birds, my grampa had a very small turkey farm and he showed me the most humane and easiest way to butcher a bird and that is a sharp clean axe or machette and an old tree stump. You cant screw it up and the birds dead in a millisecond

 

[notiones]

I just butchered my first bird two weekends ago and because I listened to a know-it-all neighbor and his sure-fire way to dispatch a chicken, It was a disaster. Fortunately, I already had a stump and very sharp hatchet at the ready so I could and his suffering. I need to get one of those cones! Guess I'll know better next time.

 

[CraftyChicky]

I should say that I have never killed a chicken...new to all this, still waiting on my chickies, but I laughed so hard at this post, just visualizing the whole disastrous process I had tears from the laughter. I certainly do not mean to be disrespectful to the chickens, but it was just funny. I will also say that when the time comes for me to slaughter my first bird, I will remember this story!

 

[goldnchocolate]

Yeah, I botched chickens when I first started too. I accidentally yanked the head off a chicken doing the broomstick method and sprayed blood everywhere! I've also done the "not cut deep enough" and whatnot. Scared the crap out of me and traumatized me for days.

Sounds like the same thing that happened to me. It sure is surprising when the head just pops off like that

I did feel traumatized for several days. It took me awhile to get up the nerve to try it again. My neighbor wasn't too happy with the 30+ young cockerels crowing all day and night so I had to do it whether I wanted to or not.


Quote:

I should say that I have never killed a chicken...new to all this, still waiting on my chickies, but I laughed so hard at this post, just visualizing the whole disastrous process I had tears from the laughter. I certainly do not mean to be disrespectful to the chickens, but it was just funny. I will also say that when the time comes for me to slaughter my first bird, I will remember this story!

Yep....I can laugh now, too, but I felt so awful for the poor fella since he wasn't really doing anything wrong except that he just happened to be hatched a boy.

I watched them all hatch which made it doubly hard.

 

[LILCHIKBIGCHIK]

I just butchered my first bird two weekends ago and because I listened to a know-it-all neighbor and his sure-fire way to dispatch a chicken, It was a disaster. Fortunately, I already had a stump and very sharp hatchet at the ready so I could and his suffering. I need to get one of those cones! Guess I'll know better next time.

That's why I liked the way my grampa did it. You cant get more humane than a hatchet or machete across the neck. They say that when you slit the jugular "sp" the bird bleeds out quicker, well so does the chopping off the head then hold bird upside down real quick and easy like

 

[loanwizard]

Yeah, We killed 4 this weekend. Used a hatchet, and danged if we did not get a complete sever on the first swing! Mind you the birds were very dead but we had chicken heads on skin and blood flying everywhere. I have a step son that helped me and liked it, including the hatchet and the plucking. Yay for the plucking, as far as liking the hatchet, I hope he doen't turn into a serial killer cause I might be first!

 

[goldnchocolate]

Quote:

Yeah, We killed 4 this weekend. Used a hatchet, and danged if we did not get a complete sever on the first swing!

Yeah, this happened when I had my son kill one of my roosters a few years back. He told me later that it took a few swings. He thinks it was because the roosters were pretty big and the neck was probably thicker than he realized. That's why I wanted to learn to do it myself, so that I could control things a little bit better. Even though I botched that first attempt I think I'm much better at it now. The hardest part is actually catching the roo that you want to dispatch. It seems they all know if I have a certain look in my eye...

...."run for the hills!!"

 

[mohillbilly]

Quote:

Yeah, this happened when I had my son kill one of my roosters a few years back. He told me later that it took a few swings. He thinks it was because the roosters were pretty big and the neck was probably thicker than he realized. That's why I wanted to learn to do it myself, so that I could control things a little bit better. Even though I botched that first attempt I think I'm much better at it now. The hardest part is actually catching the roo that you want to dispatch. It seems they all know if I have a certain look in my eye...

...."run for the hills!!"

that's one of the reasons I catch them and cage them before I am ready to butcher. I just take them off the roost at night and no fuss and no scared hens.

 

[nobodyherebutuschickens]

A word of warning: I decided to try the broomstick method on one of my sick hens and it did not go well at all. The head didn't pop off, though I sort of wish it would have. Her neck was definitely broken and she lay still for a few seconds, then started blinking and squawking just like a normal, very distressed chicken. I so badly wanted her to go quick, and of course, she hung on for a while, even after I slit her throat. That was distressing for both of us. It's the hatchet from now on, I think.