I did it...I butchered a chicken...and I feel mixed emotions

[silkiechicken]

Looks like you did a good job with the bird! Enjoy the meat. There's always a first.

As for the killing not going so well, did you feel bad for it's longer than ideal death because of the after death flopping? If so, it's normal for a bird that has died to flop around like it is "alive." I've bled out birds and cut heads off all the way. When bleeding out, they don't move till they are almost out of blood and "dead", while if I cut the head all the way off, as soon as their neck is severed, they start to flop. I prefer the whole head off with knife at once method because it seems faster for them.

 

[leasmom]

Thanks everyone!!! We ended up giving away quite a few roosters who were supposed to be processed this week but they were starting to crow...even mine, not just the new ones. So, they are now all at a Farm nearby to be used to mate.

The same day we gave away the rest of our roosters-(living in a suburban area so couldn't wait a week to process them because of neighbors but if that guy didn't come and take them to the farm, I was gonna process all of them)-and so we found off craigslist a woman that had silkies, cochin, and the mix females and possibly males...not sure yet. But we now had our first egg and we'll have to wait to see if we have any males.

 

[dancingbear]

Quote:
I wouldn't use an ice pick because it would puncture such a small area, it's possible you could hit a spot that wouldn't be instantly fatal. I don't know how likely that is, but if you use a knife, you have the width of the blade which helps make sure you do enough damage to the brain to have an instant kill. They say to aim at a spot behind the eyes, which I did, (with the sharp side of the blade toward the beak) and then I sort of sliced forward, tip of the blade at the roof of the skull, so the brain was pretty much cut in half, back to front.

I know that sounds gruesome, but not nearly so much as the live beheading! That's quick enough, but I prefer pithing. The stump and ax thing reminds me too much of when I was a kid, watching bloody birds flail around the yard. That may be most of what bothers me so much about it. Pithing a lot quieter, and not so messy, either.

 

[dancingbear]

Quote:
Yes, we do that too, at least separate them the night before, confine the ones we're about to butcher with plenty of fresh water, but no feed. We butcher the next day as early as we can get to it, but usually that's around noonish, or a bit before. The gut's not all the way empty, at just about 12-16 hours, but a good deal emptier than it would be otherwise, and they are easier to clean, that way.

 

[Barnyard Dawg]

I still remember my first deer, it was snowing and a whole herd came by the rocks I was sitting in. I saw a buck no farther than 15 ' from me I raised my rifle and shot it in the heart area it dropped tried to get up and fell back down the others shot off like lightning. I gave it a minute and walked over to that deer it was so beautiful and I thought why did I kill this wonderful animal, after some thought I got down to work cleaning it with a sharp knife washing it out with some snow, tying a rope around it's antlers and dragging it back to camp. I have always been a hunter mostly waterfowl and pheasant so I have gotten use to it but I still marvel at the beauty of the animals in nature.