how to cull without a cone?

[bj taylor]

I don't want to spend the money on a cone ($35.00 before shipping/handling). I don't have bleach bottles. I don't have a traffic cone. how else do I end my rooster?

I think I need to get this done. it's very difficult for me to do this. I want to make sure I make it as quick & humane as possible.

 

[cameronfarm]

Is this to eat or are you just culling it? You can break its neck fast enough which I would resort to long before busting out the hatchet if thats what you were thinking.

 

[bj taylor]

If I cull him, I hate to waste him. it seems wrong some how. also, I need to learn how to kill the birds in prep for doing others that will be for meat.
what if I just cut his head off. will the meat be unusable that way since I didn't bleed him out first.?

 

[donrae]

The cone really just contains the flapping, which is distressing to a lot of folks. The actual killing of the bird is the same. Before we had a cone we just hung them upside down from a tree or whatever and slit their throats with a sharp knife, or grasp the head firmly and with a very sharp knife just decapitate the bird. Any way you do it you're going to have the bird flapping around some. But if the bird is upside down, it's going to bleed out. Or, if you do the old fashioned lay it on the stump and hatchet the head off, you just hold the feet and hold the bird upside down. You tend to get splattered that way, though!

Have you checked out the meat bird section? Lots of links to videos there, plus discussion of different methods. but be aware, folks can go on and on and on about the "most humane" way to dispatch a bird. Fact is, you're killing it and it's not going to like it, it's going to kick up a fuss. Even once the head's off it flaps around, and trust me it's already dead at that point!

 

[bobbi-j]

We use a hatchet and the meat is perfectly fine. DH has two nails in a stump, the rooster's neck goes between the nails, I hold the bird by the feet and stretch the neck just enough so it's barely taut, and DH lops the head off. I usually hold onto the feet until they're done flapping, or put them in a 5 gal. bucket. I wouldn't try this by myself, but DH can somehow manage it if I'm unable to help. I just don't trust myself to do it.

 

[Mrs. K]

I used a milk jug the first time. It is a help to have two of you do it together.
Moral support and an extra pair of hands.

 

[DianeS]

I have used hardware cloth twisted into a cone shape before. I've also used a torn pillow case. Like someone else said, the only point to a cone is to contain the muscle spasms that cause flapping. You don't have to use one at all if you don't want to. The bird is dead before it flaps, so containing the flapping is only for your own peace of mind and to prevent bruising the meat.

 

[4 the Birds]

Hatchet.

My Dad always told me that his grandmother was able to grab a chicken by the neck and swing it overhead with a quick snap motion to break its neck and kill it instantly. Most likely the truth but such a thing would be considered inhumane these days.

 

[annewandering]

Hatchet.

My Dad always told me that his grandmother was able to grab a chicken by the neck and swing it overhead with a quick snap motion to break its neck and kill it instantly. Most likely the truth but such a thing would be considered inhumane these days.

Why? My mom swung them around til they were dizzy so they werent flapping around and distressed. Then she laid their head on a stump and cut their heads off with an axe. Sounds a lot less distressing than stuck in some cone terrified.

 

[Demosthine]

The two ways I've done it were both extremely easy and clean. The first time, we took a towel and wrapped it around the rooster. The lady that was teaching me to process a chicken held it while her husband used a knife to slit the throat. Being tightly wrapped helps to calm and comfort them. There was no noises at all and he only flopped maybe twice, but it was very confined, due to the towel.

The second time, we hung the chicken by it's feet and it calmed immediately. After slitting the throat, we lowered it down into a 50-gallon trash can lined with a yard debris bag. The upside down position and the darkness both calm them, so there was no twitching at all.