Humane Culling

[samuelsonfarm]

Our flock of 5 hens and 5 drakes need to shrink by at least 3 drakes. I've raised these ducks from babies, and this will be very difficult for me, but we are raising these ducks for eggs, and the drakes are tormenting the females day and night. I don't want to loose the girls, so the boys must go, sad as it is. Can anyone direct me as to the best way to accomplish this with the least trauma to the duck, and me? We do plan to eat the meat,as we don't want their live go to waste, and want a quick painless death. Thank you.

 

[LaurelC]

I took a poultry processing class a few months ago, took photos and wrote about it on my blog. Here's a link to the post.
http://www.homeindisarray.com/2014/01/how-to-process-poultry.html?m=1

 

[WooingWyandotte]

For my ducks I use a serrated long, VERY sharp knife. Cut the bottom and top off a milk carton and nail it to the tree, and then poke the ducks head through and saw it off. Its over in a second and I can know for sure that its not suffering/half-alive since the heads off.

 

[samuelsonfarm]

Does the duck flail around a lot afterwards? I thought about using this method, but I wasn't sure if it would flap around a bunch afterwards.

 

[WooingWyandotte]

Surprisingly, not that much. But it could vary from duck to duck. I did 6 this way, and they seemed to struggle a little w/o their head, but not enough to flip out of the kill cone.

I've had roos on the other hand that have flown out and back flipped around the yard w/o a head!

 

[LaurelC]

Regarding the flopping, our instructor told us that you usually get a couple big wing flaps as the circulatory system drains. Apparently it's a nervous system response to keep the heart beating.

 

[HollyDuckFarmer]

I read your blog, AWESOME

 

[LaurelC]

I read your blog, AWESOME

I'm glad you liked it! I couldn't help but share that information. It's important to know where your food comes from!