Is the broomstick method as foolproof as it seems?

[Bolfreak]

I might be trying this method on a few of our 10-week-old Rainbow Rangers on Sunday. We usually do axe/stump but my husband does that because we both want to make sure it's a hard, accurate swing, and I'm not sure I can provide that.

I'm feeling a bit nervous about the broomstick though. I wonder if there is pain during the pull when you stretch the legs. Or is it really quick enough? Also, I think I'd almost prefer the head to come off because if it doesn't, how will I bleed it out? I don't have loppers or something to cleanly decapitate (axe would be messy after broomstick method) after the dislocation.

Maybe I should just attempt the axe myself. I'm just so worried about either missing my mark or not hitting hard enough.

On the pain question, they should not feel pain on the head while positioning or from their legs. Once the vertebrae separate, nerves and blood vessels do at the same time and it’s instant. They do bleed out under the neck skin unless you decapitate at the same time. When you are butchering this all goes into the trash.
It’s less messy and safer for all involved, have a backup method of your choice jic axe/knife/gun etc.
Despite the initial skepticism and squeamishness, my family fully approved and said the flavor was incredible and worth it. We bought a game cleaning table and sink from Amazon and set it up over the compost pile so feathers and rinse water went there. Giblets were cooked for gravy and fed to the dogs. Plucking was easy with the scald technique in a muck cart but impossible to get them all, so I cooked it in the skin but didn’t eat it. All told we got 3.6 lbs of meat after bones, oogey bits and a million taste tests out of a 5 month old Narrangansett. I think next time or for the waterfowl I will probably skin them vs plucking, saving the downy feathers. I don’t raise any of them for meat, but they aren’t pets for the cost of feeding them and it’s management of the males/colors that don’t sell, for me.
You can do this, pull UP and pull hard, steady without jerking. Have someone help you if you can, even just to stand by or stand on the broomstick.

 

[SweetieChicken234]

I typed out a long response and it didn’t save…ugh! Here’s a quick response and I will retype later. I watched this video a lot, he’s very good and compassionate:

I’ve done it twice, on turkeys, but I now have ducks and geese as well so is a management question now. First was an injured 18 month old hen and latest was 5 month old tom for Thanksgiving. First time cooking a whole turkey and from our own ranch as well. It was very good and completely worth it! (Will post more later, but I added pics)

Oh wow the meat looks amazing!! I would love to have turkeys but that is a definite no in the city. I will watch that video when I get home. I do watch videos about broomstick and processing birds to prepare me. My little boys look at me with their cute little cockerel eyes and it's sucks. I know what's coming.

 

[Bolfreak]

They are beautiful. I get how hard it is, I work with Livestock Conservancy and document everything so I can learn. So the “don’t name/get attached to” them doesn’t work for me. I document hatch dates, physical characteristics, etc and have to name them in batches to track them. But I look at it as everything having a purpose, even for just learning. This tom came from a second hatch of the same parents, only a hen survived the first hatch. RP dad + Narr mom has given me both yellow and speckled poults, but not sex-linked. (Trust me, I’ve done some research my hubby calls rabbit holes lol). Five survived from his hatch, the runt drowned in triple digit weather (lesson learned!), sold the two RPs and was left with his brother, Moscú . Moscú was always better than Nairobi, bigger and developed faster. He is now my up and coming tom as backup to my RP. Nairobi developed slower, had a kink in his neck and until recently, I wasn’t even sure was a tom. If I didn’t have the hen from first hatch to compare to size- and color-wise, I wouldn’t have been sure, but considering other factors…plus they were also fighting a lot. I attached pics of the three Narr sibs, Moscú with blue leg band and my Sweetgrass hen he spends a lot of time with…I wanted to block that until I discovered that their pairing results in colorful and sex-linked poults (or should! Lol). All this to encourage you as manager of your flock, you’re doing a great job and it’s obvious you have their best in mind regardless of outcome. from Texas!

 

[SweetieChicken234]

They are beautiful. I get how hard it is, I work with Livestock Conservancy and document everything so I can learn. So the “don’t name/get attached to” them doesn’t work for me. I document hatch dates, physical characteristics, etc and have to name them in batches to track them. But I look at it as everything having a purpose, even for just learning. This tom came from a second hatch of the same parents, only a hen survived the first hatch. RP dad + Narr mom has given me both yellow and speckled poults, but not sex-linked. (Trust me, I’ve done some research my hubby calls rabbit holes lol). Five survived from his hatch, the runt drowned in triple digit weather (lesson learned!), sold the two RPs and was left with his brother, Moscú . Moscú was always better than Nairobi, bigger and developed faster. He is now my up and coming tom as backup to my RP. Nairobi developed slower, had a kink in his neck and until recently, I wasn’t even sure was a tom. If I didn’t have the hen from first hatch to compare to size- and color-wise, I wouldn’t have been sure, but considering other factors…plus they were also fighting a lot. I attached pics of the three Narr sibs, Moscú with blue leg band and my Sweetgrass hen he spends a lot of time with…I wanted to block that until I discovered that their pairing results in colorful and sex-linked poults (or should! Lol). All this to encourage you as manager of your flock, you’re doing a great job and it’s obvious you have their best in mind regardless of outcome. from Texas!

Oh wow I loved to see such beautiful turkeys!! Man I really want a turkey. I heard they are a lot like dogs. I probably would literally be unable to slaughter a turkey if it acts like a dog lol I enjoyed the pictures very much and omg look at those eyes!! Yeah that's a hard job to have to document and name. I did not name the cockerels on the cull list.
I'm the city chicken type girl. I have chickens in my back yard and love them. They are mostly pets. I hand feed them and hold them. They fly on me and sit. I pet them and I actually harness my Delaware cockerel and take him to school to pick up my daughter. Captain is his name and he's my chicken bff. I have to cull the excess cockerels if there's no home for them to go to. Once I get past this hurdle I am interested in raising some chickens for meat. I would rather not buy from stores if I am able to raise my own. I noticed I have 1 other problem. I seem to really love the boys. My older boys are nice boys and great flock leaders. They don't start any trouble and are generally just chill birds. Now my older hens for example.. yes they give me eggs which I love BUT.. man they are mean to each other. Roosting time sucks. The boys get up on the roosting bars and just sit and stay down. The hens peck each other and knock each other down. They aren't nice to the younger pullets. I have so much more trouble with the hens. I look more forward to process the hens!! Haha

If I had more land I would keep a separate flock of just males. I highly prefer the males but they can't give eggs unfortunately. If I had a male flock I would cull only the aggressive birds and keep the sweet boys.

I dream to one day have a few acres of land and live away from the city. I'm in a small city so it's not bad but I highly prefer to live out on land to grow and raise some animals.

I will attach some pictures of Captain in his harness and me waiting with him at school to pick up my daughter. He may not give me eggs but he's a great little feathered buddy.

 

[Molpet]

All told we got 3.6 lbs of meat after bones, oogey bits and a million taste tests out of a 5 month old Narrangansett.

Heritage turkeys don't fill out until 6 months or later. 18 months have a great fat cap

 

[Bolfreak]

Heritage turkeys don't fill out until 6 months or later. 18 months have a great fat cap

Yes, but it was the right timing for Thanksgiving and to stop the feeding and the fighting lol. Tbh that was as big as I could handle myself, the scald tank and roasting pan….my RP tom is over 20 lbs and I would have serious trouble trying to process him. I can’t even imagine the BB types that run over 30 lbs although they can’t fly or walk, so maybe that helps a bit
I had already picked this specific one regardless of tom/hen because I’m phasing out the Narr females for more colors.

 

[Bolfreak]

I dream to one day have a few acres of land and live away from the city. I'm in a small city so it's not bad but I highly prefer to live out on land to grow and raise some animals.

You are already doing an amazing job managing your flock! I have nothing against male/female, I make decisions based on personality and colors, since I’m doing Conservancy not meat/egg production.
I got turkeys to range and weed/bug control since chickens wouldn’t make it long out here free ranging. My favorite chickens are Silkies anyway and they are extra “special” lol. After reading about blackhead, I won’t allow chickens on my property even though I worm my flock a couple times a year because they really do range all day in freedom.
Turkeys are very smart and have complex societies. I had to wonder how the flock would develop since in the wild the males are by themselves unless it naughty time. I started with three, on paper a male Blue/Bronze mix (ended up being a hen named Bill that is genetically a Semi Color Semi Gray Narr based on the babies with my tom) and two Blue Slate hens. Hens are the fliers and curious, not sure if that’s the case with chickens. I quickly lost one when Bill and Monica flew to the neighbors, Bill flew back but Monica met their dogs I went to Craigslist and got my RP tom (Thanksgiving survivor). Bill is amazing and my favorite. Her lone survivor from April hatch was Bob, pretty much raised with the ducklings and goslings I got in May. Bob is the only one that the waterfowl respect and began laying eggs at six months. She had quite a few shell-less, double yolkers and busted ones laid from the roost, but she will stay because she’s the firstfruits of our ranch and is Ms. Personality.
I love your leashed baby!! I’m tempted to leash train my gander and train him to be my social distancing service animal Most people are more scared of geese than even dogs. He is a brat but I love him, can’t wait until next year to see what kind of daddy he makes.
Bill and her babies, Bob finds our security cam and Lorenzo prefers imports

 

[SweetieChicken234]

You are already doing an amazing job managing your flock! I have nothing against male/female, I make decisions based on personality and colors, since I’m doing Conservancy not meat/egg production.
I got turkeys to range and weed/bug control since chickens wouldn’t make it long out here free ranging. My favorite chickens are Silkies anyway and they are extra “special” lol. After reading about blackhead, I won’t allow chickens on my property even though I worm my flock a couple times a year because they really do range all day in freedom.
Turkeys are very smart and have complex societies. I had to wonder how the flock would develop since in the wild the males are by themselves unless it naughty time. I started with three, on paper a male Blue/Bronze mix (ended up being a hen named Bill that is genetically a Semi Color Semi Gray Narr based on the babies with my tom) and two Blue Slate hens. Hens are the fliers and curious, not sure if that’s the case with chickens. I quickly lost one when Bill and Monica flew to the neighbors, Bill flew back but Monica met their dogs I went to Craigslist and got my RP tom (Thanksgiving survivor). Bill is amazing and my favorite. Her lone survivor from April hatch was Bob, pretty much raised with the ducklings and goslings I got in May. Bob is the only one that the waterfowl respect and began laying eggs at six months. She had quite a few shell-less, double yolkers and busted ones laid from the roost, but she will stay because she’s the firstfruits of our ranch and is Ms. Personality.
I love your leashed baby!! I’m tempted to leash train my gander and train him to be my social distancing service animal Most people are more scared of geese than even dogs. He is a brat but I love him, can’t wait until next year to see what kind of daddy he makes.
Bill and her babies, Bob finds our security cam and Lorenzo prefers imports

Omg I love the pics!! Bill and her babies.. omg. I really want a turkey right now. Beautiful birds. Long term goals!!
I don't know what this blackhead is with the chickens. I need to go Google this and learn.

Also you are right..people are actually very scared of geese. My MIL hates geese. She lives on the edge of a lake and the geese come and poop all over her yard. She goes out and chases them off when she sees them. It's hilarious. The ducks are more cautious about coming over so not too bad with them.

Ok off to go learn about blackhead.

 

[SweetieChicken234]

You are already doing an amazing job managing your flock! I have nothing against male/female, I make decisions based on personality and colors, since I’m doing Conservancy not meat/egg production.
I got turkeys to range and weed/bug control since chickens wouldn’t make it long out here free ranging. My favorite chickens are Silkies anyway and they are extra “special” lol. After reading about blackhead, I won’t allow chickens on my property even though I worm my flock a couple times a year because they really do range all day in freedom.
Turkeys are very smart and have complex societies. I had to wonder how the flock would develop since in the wild the males are by themselves unless it naughty time. I started with three, on paper a male Blue/Bronze mix (ended up being a hen named Bill that is genetically a Semi Color Semi Gray Narr based on the babies with my tom) and two Blue Slate hens. Hens are the fliers and curious, not sure if that’s the case with chickens. I quickly lost one when Bill and Monica flew to the neighbors, Bill flew back but Monica met their dogs I went to Craigslist and got my RP tom (Thanksgiving survivor). Bill is amazing and my favorite. Her lone survivor from April hatch was Bob, pretty much raised with the ducklings and goslings I got in May. Bob is the only one that the waterfowl respect and began laying eggs at six months. She had quite a few shell-less, double yolkers and busted ones laid from the roost, but she will stay because she’s the firstfruits of our ranch and is Ms. Personality.
I love your leashed baby!! I’m tempted to leash train my gander and train him to be my social distancing service animal Most people are more scared of geese than even dogs. He is a brat but I love him, can’t wait until next year to see what kind of daddy he makes.
Bill and her babies, Bob finds our security cam and Lorenzo prefers imports

Ok I did some reading about blackhead. Wow.. I think I read this before and forgot. I can't blame you at all for not keeping chickens around turkeys. That is scary business. Turkeys are at so much risk from this.

 

[SweetieChicken234]

On the pain question, they should not feel pain on the head while positioning or from their legs. Once the vertebrae separate, nerves and blood vessels do at the same time and it’s instant. They do bleed out under the neck skin unless you decapitate at the same time. When you are butchering this all goes into the trash.
It’s less messy and safer for all involved, have a backup method of your choice jic axe/knife/gun etc.
Despite the initial skepticism and squeamishness, my family fully approved and said the flavor was incredible and worth it. We bought a game cleaning table and sink from Amazon and set it up over the compost pile so feathers and rinse water went there. Giblets were cooked for gravy and fed to the dogs. Plucking was easy with the scald technique in a muck cart but impossible to get them all, so I cooked it in the skin but didn’t eat it. All told we got 3.6 lbs of meat after bones, oogey bits and a million taste tests out of a 5 month old Narrangansett. I think next time or for the waterfowl I will probably skin them vs plucking, saving the downy feathers. I don’t raise any of them for meat, but they aren’t pets for the cost of feeding them and it’s management of the males/colors that don’t sell, for me.
You can do this, pull UP and pull hard, steady without jerking. Have someone help you if you can, even just to stand by or stand on the broomstick.

Well we finally did a rooster. The beta rooster(cockerel). The alpha is a very good flock leader so he will remain as so. The beta rooster has been starting to go after me a bit for picking up a hen. I've tried to push him away but he's giving me that look. We decided it was time. We've been trying to find him a home but no luck. Very hard to rehome boys. He was actually 6 months old. I will indeed miss him but I'd rather take him out before he attacks me.

I did the broomstick method. I held his feet and laid him down gently. My husband stepped on the stick and I stepped on the other side. I pulled his legs up immediately and with a steady pull- no jerking. I felt the neck pop and he started flapping right away. His head was almost off and my husband had the ax in hand just in case. He cut the head off as soon as the flapping started- just to be sure. I'm confident Teddy was gone as soon as the flapping started. I don't feel that he suffered. My husband says the same. He thinks we acted quickly and with as minimal of pain as possible.

He's in my fridge now just chilling. I left the plastic bag open just a tiny bit to let air transfer. I know to let him sit in fridge for 2-3 days before we cook him. We tried to be as clean as possible but I can't help but worry about getting sick. My husband did knick the crop and it spilled out. I rinsed it well with cold water many times in the process.