Is the broomstick method as foolproof as it seems?

[SweetieChicken234]

M

If you lay the chicken on a solid level surface it will prevent it slipping out from underneath the broom handle as you lift up. I prefer to kill them before I ever take a knife to them .

Oh he didn't slip out. My husband had 1 foot on the stick and my foot was on the other side. I felt him start the flapping like instantly after I felt the neck pop. I think I was startled and stopped pulling. The head was nearly off but my husband took the ax to finish it. That bird was gone instantly. It was unbelievable how fast he was gone. It's so fast.

Experience will make this process smoother. For a first time I think this went well.

 

[BarnyardChaos]

we kind of ripped the skin pulling out feathers unfortunately. It looks a bit mangled but it will still taste good.

I'm new to this thread so haven't read everything. Did you scald the bird before plucking? That will make plucking MUCH easier - a breeze, really. If the scalding water is too hot, or you leave the bird in too long, it can pre-cook the skin and then it tears when plucking. I've found 145-150 F is ideal, and I stop the scalding when wing feathers slip out easily with almost no pulling.

 

[SweetieChicken234]

I'm new to this thread so haven't read everything. Did you scald the bird before plucking? That will make plucking MUCH easier - a breeze, really. If the scalding water is too hot, or you leave the bird in too long, it can pre-cook the skin and then it tears when plucking. I've found 145-150 F is ideal, and I stop the scalding when wing feathers slip out easily with almost no pulling.

We had a few problems with the scalding part. So I don't have a good thermometer for the water temp. I need to get one. Our tap water is very hot so I figured this may do the job. Also we found out our bucket was too small. I couldn't swish him around in the water long enough. He wasn't a meaty bird but he was long. Not the best situation with water temp but we learned for next time.

I think if we can improve those few things by next time it will be easier.

 

[McChooky]

Lift with your legs. Keep your back straight

My biggest issue so far with the broomstick method is accidentally decapitating chickens, but it always kills them instantly regardless

I consider myself lucky that all of mine still had their heads but my first one had to be done twice.

 

[SweetieChicken234]

Teddy came out great! I roasted him at 350 for 85 minutes. Tender. I let him sit in the fridge for 5 days to make sure rigor had passed. Yummy chicken! The only problem we had is my husband was somehow mentally bothered that he was our bird. My husband played with them as chicks but then never really interacted with him much except throwing some snacks. He had a very hard time eating Teddy. On the other hand, I actually raised them and did the daily care. Go figure.

 

[Molpet]

Teddy came out great! I roasted him at 350 for 85 minutes. Tender. I let him sit in the fridge for 5 days to make sure rigor had passed. Yummy chicken! The only problem we had is my husband was somehow mentally bothered that he was our bird. My husband played with them as chicks but then never really interacted with him much except throwing some snacks. He had a very hard time eating Teddy. On the other hand, I actually raised them and did the daily care. Go figure.

Glad he came out great.

Easier when there is a few in the freezer and he doesn't know who is for dinner

 

[K0k0shka]

I haven't read all 8 pages, just coming here to say that I hate the broomstick method. I may start a new thread with the cons, if one doesn't already exist, to offer a different perspective and balance out all the rave reviews My usual method of dispatching is cutting the spine at the neck with a pair of heavy duty long blade metal cutters, while the chicken is in a kill cone. That's pretty quick and convenient, but I'd heard/read so much about the broomstick method, that I decided to try it. I recently dispatched 5 large cockerels using this method, hoping to practice on them until I get it right, and I hated it. I hated that in order to step on the broom with both feet, I had to press down on it hard enough to cut the bird's airflow. Even if it wasn't long between stepping and pulling, it was long enough for me to see it open its mouth and gasp for air, which was unsettling. Then, with almost every pull, either the broomstick came out from under my feet, or the rooster's head came out from under the broomstick. I was on a hard flat surface (concrete floor), and made sure to step so the broomstick is in the middle of my foot, but maybe I have small feet? Maybe I pull too hard? Most of the birds I had to reposition and do a second time, because it didn't work well enough the first (you can tell that it worked when the head dangles freely). After you fail the first time, the bird starts screaming this very particular death scream, which is upsetting. On the last cockerel I finally figured out one thing that helped, wish I'd thought of that sooner - it works MUCH better if you pull the body forward, in the direction that its head is facing, as opposed to straight up! That snapped the neck instantly and nothing slipped out of position. Even when done right though, yet another aspect of it that I don't like is that, in my 5 cases at least, I couldn't get the head to come off no matter how hard I pulled, so I still had to cut the throat for the blood to drain. Easier said than done on an animal that's already thrashing and flailing! Getting it into the cone in this state is a battle, trying to reach up from the bottom and find the head, to pull it through the hole and cut, is another battle. By the time I have secured it in the cone, found the head, and cut, the blood has started coagulating and forming a plug in the throat, obstructing the flow of the remaining blood. I had no idea it happened so quickly! So it took longer to drain out, and didn't drain as fully as when cutting happens right away. There was still blood inside, in the organs, in the meat, globs at the neck, which was messy and annoying. So I much much prefer securing the bird in the cone first, then killing it by cutting - either the whole head off, or just the spine (which still opens the skin for draining), or the classic slicing the throat, whatever - the point is, you are doing it on a restrained bird that isn't thrashing, and draining begins right away while the blood is fresh. Trying to drain once the bird is dead and flopping is a PITA, and apparently the little time it takes you to wrangle it and cut, is enough to complicate the draining and make gutting an annoying mess. I'll be going back to my trusty old cutters and the cone.

 

[SweetieChicken234]

I haven't read all 8 pages, just coming here to say that I hate the broomstick method. I may start a new thread with the cons, if one doesn't already exist, to offer a different perspective and balance out all the rave reviews My usual method of dispatching is cutting the spine at the neck with a pair of heavy duty long blade metal cutters, while the chicken is in a kill cone. That's pretty quick and convenient, but I'd heard/read so much about the broomstick method, that I decided to try it. I recently dispatched 5 large cockerels using this method, hoping to practice on them until I get it right, and I hated it. I hated that in order to step on the broom with both feet, I had to press down on it hard enough to cut the bird's airflow. Even if it wasn't long between stepping and pulling, it was long enough for me to see it open its mouth and gasp for air, which was unsettling. Then, with almost every pull, either the broomstick came out from under my feet, or the rooster's head came out from under the broomstick. I was on a hard flat surface (concrete floor), and made sure to step so the broomstick is in the middle of my foot, but maybe I have small feet? Maybe I pull too hard? Most of the birds I had to reposition and do a second time, because it didn't work well enough the first (you can tell that it worked when the head dangles freely). After you fail the first time, the bird starts screaming this very particular death scream, which is upsetting. On the last cockerel I finally figured out one thing that helped, wish I'd thought of that sooner - it works MUCH better if you pull the body forward, in the direction that its head is facing, as opposed to straight up! That snapped the neck instantly and nothing slipped out of position. Even when done right though, yet another aspect of it that I don't like is that, in my 5 cases at least, I couldn't get the head to come off no matter how hard I pulled, so I still had to cut the throat for the blood to drain. Easier said than done on an animal that's already thrashing and flailing! Getting it into the cone in this state is a battle, trying to reach up from the bottom and find the head, to pull it through the hole and cut, is another battle. By the time I have secured it in the cone, found the head, and cut, the blood has started coagulating and forming a plug in the throat, obstructing the flow of the remaining blood. I had no idea it happened so quickly! So it took longer to drain out, and didn't drain as fully as when cutting happens right away. There was still blood inside, in the organs, in the meat, globs at the neck, which was messy and annoying. So I much much prefer securing the bird in the cone first, then killing it by cutting - either the whole head off, or just the spine (which still opens the skin for draining), or the classic slicing the throat, whatever - the point is, you are doing it on a restrained bird that isn't thrashing, and draining begins right away while the blood is fresh. Trying to drain once the bird is dead and flopping is a PITA, and apparently the little time it takes you to wrangle it and cut, is enough to complicate the draining and make gutting an annoying mess. I'll be going back to my trusty old cutters and the cone.

Wow!! You really had a time with this! I'm sorry to hear this. Lucky for me I was able to do it well first try. I did a lot of research on methods to cull chickens.
https://www.thefeatherbrain.com/blog/holding-a-chicken-upside-down
I read this and decided against ever using a kill cone. For me this felt not such a good thing to do. Each has their own method and reason.

When I had to do my rooster with the broomstick I kept him horizontal and laid him on the ground. I kept holding his legs in my hand and threw the stick over his neck with my other hand. My husband and I both stood on either side of the stick but not until the very second I was ready to pull his legs. He didn't even have a second to gasp for breath. It was so fast it was unbelievable. My husband chopped off his head while he was flapping and I just held him upside down by the feet so he could bleed into the grass. For a first cull this worked perfectly. I did this in the grass on a harder dirt area.

Maybe your boys were just really big with tough necks? I think someone here commented that you have to pull harder with the bigger boys to get the head off. In a few more weeks I have 2 more boys to cull.. I do hope it goes as smoothly.

 

[1cock2hens]

I've been watching a lot of videos on this method and I think I can do this. I've never killed an animal. Usually I try to save animals but why buy those tortured store chickens when I can raise my own humanely? I don't like supporting that system of abuse.

Does this broomstick method really work first try for the person that has never done this? I'm trying to gauge how hard I will need to pull the legs once I step on the stick. I actually prefer if the head comes off so I know the bird is dead immediately. That will be best case scenario for me. Maybe I should pull very hard. Lucky my neighbor has eaten many chickens he raised himself and is more than happy to help me with this process. He doesn't do the broomstick but he's tried to break the neck and says he's got about 50% failure rate- prefers the ax to get it done fast.

I don't think I have it in me to take a sharp object to the bird and either cut it or ax off the head. Too many ways to mess that up and cause painful injury.

When my family first got Into commercial chicken raising the field man told us the way he recommended culling wad using a broomstick and just knocking them upside the head sharply one time, he said practice makes perfect. My stepfather didnt like that, he would pick them up and literally in the blink of an eye snap a chickens necks

Important to realize that commercial chickens get butchered around 2 months of age so they probably are easier to kill than a heritage breed that has been raised longer

 

[Klutch]

If it take two people to dispatch a bird, you need a different method.