I don't know if I can do this...

[Jmcintosh23]

Homemade cone from Kitty litter jug
View attachment 3606703

PVC cutter for decapitation
ank you for pictures!

Yes, when done correctly, the skull is dislocated from the spine, breaking the neck, causing death.

Okay that makes sense

 

[Barb Root Hinkkanen]

What's the broomstick method?

I googled it. It’s fast and even though she flopped around, she was dead. I was afraid I would do it wrong and almost took her head off.

I held her and petted her first. I laid her in the grass to see if she would start to get around. My other chickens came and stood and sat by her. Her rooster came and sat by her. It seemed obvious that they knew she was not well. They stayed with me until it was all over and I buried her. Sinbad, her bestie, sat by her grave for awhile, then walked away. Somehow, they all made it a little easier. I tried to get a vet to put her down and they wouldn’t. She was suffering. I tried everything but I couldn’t save her.

 

[Molpet]

I googled it. It’s fast and even though she flopped around, she was dead. I was afraid I would do it wrong and almost took her head off.

I held her and petted her first. I laid her in the grass to see if she would start to get around. My other chickens came and stood and sat by her. Her rooster came and sat by her. It seemed obvious that they knew she was not well. They stayed with me until it was all over and I buried her. Sinbad, her bestie, sat by her grave for awhile, then walked away. Somehow, they all made it a little easier. I tried to get a vet to put her down and they wouldn’t. She was suffering. I tried everything but I couldn’t save her.

 

[Jmcintosh23]

I googled it. It’s fast and even though she flopped around, she was dead. I was afraid I would do it wrong and almost took her head off.

I held her and petted her first. I laid her in the grass to see if she would start to get around. My other chickens came and stood and sat by her. Her rooster came and sat by her. It seemed obvious that they knew she was not well. They stayed with me until it was all over and I buried her. Sinbad, her bestie, sat by her grave for awhile, then walked away. Somehow, they all made it a little easier. I tried to get a vet to put her down and they wouldn’t. She was suffering. I tried everything but I couldn’t save her.

Aw that's sad poor thing. How do you know if chickens feel things like that.. I wonder about what they are thinking sometimes..

 

[Jmcintosh23]

Considering your mutual lack of confidence with various blades, I would stick with the broomstick method.

This was from my singular attempt to slaughter this spring, lacking said confidence... resulting in a subsequent tendon repair surgery and months of PT, and I still can't open a jar on my own.

I actually sliced my hand on a filet but barely anything there like a paper cut thank goodness.. sorry you had to go through .whew.. thank God it wasn't worse.. just thinking of the pain ..

 

[Right with God]

Aw that's sad poor thing. How do you know if chickens feel things like that.. I wonder about what they are thinking sometimes..

"Something" killed my little Marshmallow a few days ago, feathers everywhere. I don't know if cat, owl or hawk. Her head was gone and a large gash on her backside. No breast meat was taken but looked like tears in the meat. I layed her on ground to get a look. All the others came around and a couple tugged at feathers. It was sad. I put her on the compost pile and her besties stood there about a minute. Hardest part that night her buddies wouldn't roost, they kept looking for her. So I'm sure relationships are definitely there.

 

[Barb Root Hinkkanen]

Aw that's sad poor thing. How do you know if chickens feel things like that.. I wonder about what they are thinking sometimes..

Chickens grieve, they cry, they look for a missing friend. I have had chickens look for days, walking around, calling, coming to me asking where they are at. It’s sad and pathetic. Especially so, if you only have a couple.

This is the first time I have had to actually do this. I just thought it would be easier if my flock was part of it. They didn’t want to play with her, they just were by her, some were actually touching her with their feet. I gave them some time to just be with her.

I have noticed, whenever a chicken has died, the flock all go over as if they want to say good bye. I bring the bird over where I am digging a grave. Most of them will come over by me and wait until I bury it. I don’t know if it’s closure. The first time it happened, I was astounded.

As for knowing when, my girlie lost weight, quit eating and drinking on her known, couldn’t stand up. She was my friendliest hen. She’d come to me whenever I was outside: she was my shadow. I could pick her up and sit with her in my rocking chair. I kept her inside, and fed her by hand for over a week. She didn’t improve and was obviously not herself. She couldn’t stand at all. It wasn’t an easy decision but was the last thing I could do for my sweet girl. It broke my heart.

 

[Barb Root Hinkkanen]

I'm so sorry about your favorite hen! That's so hard! You can rest easier knowing it was much more traumatic for you than for her.

If you're not going to eat or cook with the skin, you can hang them up on a tree by their feet, give them a post-mortem bath (if needed, I use dishsoap and scrub well, including legs, and spray off with a hose), and then skin like any game bird. Cut just through the skin, circle the legs, around where feathers meet leg scales just below the joint, make a vertical slice on the outside of each leg, then pull the skin away from the bird at the vertical cuts. Work the skin off like a glove, cut across the breast skin (with skin away from body), pull breast skin back towards the anus, and towards the head. Work the skin away from the back, cut the skin across the back and pull the back skin towards the tail and towards the head. work the skin off the wings. Once the skin goes as far as it can without the feathers popping through, I slice the primaries off the wingbone with a sharp knife and cut off and discard the third wing joint (wing tip).

You can cut off the tail here or later (if you're going to). I like to leave a flap of skin around/near the anus, sorta covering it, and that all gets cut off later when you pull the guts out and cut off the tail.

When you're done with skinning the body and wings, pull the skin down off the neck until you get to the head, cut the head off and discard along with the skin.

I do lots of rinses of the bird as I go, and try not to rinse the anus area after I start skinning to reduce contamination.

So basically you end up with a small flap of skin near the anus, and a skinned bird minus head and wing tips.

Remove from tree, place on table, cut off legs at joint where the scales start. Rotate, place bird on breast, remove crop from neck, cut crop and esophagus at body after smoothing them towards the crop to make sure most food is not present in the cord. Cut off neck. Rinse bird if needed. Rotate and flip over. Bird should be lying on back at this point. Cut abdomen just above anus to open the bird, widen this to both sides until you can get hand in easily, then reach in and grab heart, lungs, and pull everything out. Remove lungs if needed. Cut around skin of abdomen to remove anus connected to intestines. Also can cut off tail at this time as part of the area you remove in one piece. Remove edible entrails and save them (gizzard, heart, liver). Discard the rest of the entrails with skin and blood. Remove kidneys along the back bone if desired. Rinse bird well. Part bird now if desired.

Rest in fridge for 3 days or until rigor has passed. This resting can happen before or after freezing but if joints don't move freely prior to cooking, bird will be tough. Choose cooking method depending on age of bird. (anything over 6 months should be cooked low heat and slow methods, pressure cooking is most tender).

You can compost skin, blood, and innards, but must have a good method to keep pests and insects out of it.

If you look in the Sticky of this Forum there are some great training posts and videos, but not necessarily for skinning.

I haven't done game birds myself, but learned skinning from a hunting manual for game bird preparation and a butchering handbook, and from good advice on this site. CX skinning was super easy, my 1 yr rooster was more difficult due to more feathers and tougher skin ligaments. However, I pressure cooked the 1 yr rooster and he was delicious! Tasted like BBQ beef so I added BBQ sauce and had a sandwich. Broth made great pea or egg drop soup.

Hope I answered your questions. I think some folks remove entrails while bird is hung from the neck on a tree, but I never got the hang of that.

Thank you for all the information. This is the most informative and thorough explanation I have seen. I’d like to add a tag so folks can use it.

I was able to rehome my roosters. I was raised on a working farm and we raised meat birds. I have been processing them since I was a little girl.

I just cannot take a bird I hatched and played with and eat it. I had thought about separating them for awhile, but they are too darn adorable. I only have pretty birds: most of them are bantam Cochins. There wouldn’t be much meat on them, anyway.

Thank you again for your response. I appreciate your time.

 

[Barb Root Hinkkanen]

"Something" killed my little Marshmallow a few days ago, feathers everywhere. I don't know if cat, owl or hawk. Her head was gone and a large gash on her backside. No breast meat was taken but looked like tears in the meat. I layed her on ground to get a look. All the others came around and a couple tugged at feathers. It was sad. I put her on the compost pile and her besties stood there about a minute. Hardest part that night her buddies wouldn't roost, they kept looking for her. So I'm sure relationships are definitely there.

Absolutely, they grieve, they cry, actually seeing the dead bird gives them closure.

 

[Barb Root Hinkkanen]

Some folks eat the hens when they have too many. Other folks let them live until they're over 2 years old and their best egg making days are behind them, then they eat them. Others rehome hens at point of lay or at 2 yrs old. Others let the hens live out their natural lives and cull when they come down with an incurable disease or are too sick and old to recover. There are many management methods that do not involve the death of your favorite hen. However, it's best to make sure your favorite hen is not a meat bird, if you can manage it.

Are you sure you have a hen and not a roo? Cause yours in your picture looks kind of like a barred rock cockerel (can't see it super well, but those are usually lighter compared to the hens).

Yes, I doctored her for two weeks before I was convinced she would not improve. I think she was probably injured internally. I cannot eat my chirpies. I don’t want to.

I rehomed my roosters. I was raised on a farm: we had meat birds and processed 100 every year for the freezer. I had no problem with that. Mine aren’t big white meat birds.

Mine are my hobby and “chicken therapy” when the world goes crazy. I have Cochins, Silkies, WTB, one Swedish Isbar, a huge German Beilefelder rooster, and, some that hatched from my blue snd green eggs that could be a mix of any of them.