Killing your meat birds - how do YOU do it?

[max13077]

I was lopping their heads off, but too many of them were breaking their wings flopping and getting blood all over.

I started using a broom handle. You set them on the ground and put the broom handle over their neck. Quickly step on the handle at the same time you pull the birds feet till you feel the head pull out of the neck. Then quickly drip to your knees and hold the bird until the stop flapping. When they've stopped quickly hang them up and slit the throat just under the bill. The blood will have already been collecting and will pour out.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

Before I learned how to butcher, I would sell my extra roos to folks in the neighborhood -- mostly Caribbean islanders -- for meat. Many of them had an aversion to the commercially-produced meat sold in the grocery stores -- the stuff most other people consider "good" and "sanitary" and "safe"-- and preferred the meat they could process for themselves.

Some people ask me "How can you bear to eat a bird you've known since it was a baby?" but my thinking has changed to "How can I put something in my mouth if I don't know where it's been?" Of course there are times when I eat store-bought meat, but now I tend to get smaller amounts of meat from more quality sources and make it stretch. And I try to NEVER buy meat sandwiches from dollar menus.

Back to the original topic -- the last time I butchered birds was the easiest attempt ever. I took each bird and first relaxed it by putting it on its back & stroking its keel until it was calm & still. Then I wrapped a length of duct tape around its middle to hold its wings against its sides. Next, I zip-tied the legs together and hung the bird upside-down from a metal frame over a garbage can with a black plastic liner. By now the bird was very relaxed, and had been hearing kind, soothing words the whole time. Then I placed one hand over its eyes, pulled the neck straight, and with a very sharp knife cut the blood vessels right below the jaw on each side. The bird instantly went limp and all the blood went into the garbage can. The black liner made the blood look less noticeable. The duct tape kept the bird from flapping & splattering, and by the time I tore it off, the bird was past noticing.

The only thing I'll do differently next time is to devise some type of noose made of rope or cord to tie the legs & hang the birds. That way I don't have to keep buying & discarding zip-ties.

 

[DCS]

I similarly talk to my birds through the whole thing, although I don't know if it's more for me or them. It does seem to calm them down.

I might have to try the duct tape idea, although I've taken to collecting the down, and want to try to make pillows. Or *A* pillow, perhaps.

I made a hanging rope with loops at both ends - easy to loop around feet, and hang from the broken branch I typically use. I slit the throat, and while it is VERY personal and a bit difficult, I think it's the best way for me.

 

[neckringer]

I had a teribbly mean rooster once whom, I could not catch in my muddy yard so i popped him in head with my trusty .22 rimfire and that my friends was all he wrote. I am considering having chicken hunts in my back forty with some close friends come butchering time. Who needs to go to some expensive game ranch. I wonder what i could charge for a guided chicken hunt. Anyone on BYC into taxidermy?

 

[jaku]

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Haha, awesome.

 

[Judy]

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Having read about this at length, and being a nurse, i am inclined to go with the throat slit. I suspect the trick is to poke it into a cone and slit, all very quickly; you can talk to the chicken and pet it while carrying it to the cone, and if it will stay calm, this should stop the adrenalin problem. I don't believe any other method prevents suffering any better, and it seems to me to be the way to go in terms of blood drainage. I just don't think the chicken can have any consciousness after a second or two of this extent of blood loss. As for cutting off heads, I always wondered whether the head retained some consciousness for a while.... What if the blood clotted off and stayed in the brain? How long was Marie Antoinette aware after the guillotine fell?

There's also a way to poke something straight into the brain, I think via the mouth, which I assume would be instantaneous, but I haven't found much info on this, and feel sure I would have to see it done to learn to do it correctly. Certainly not something I'd want to try without being sure of how to do it.

A .22 to the head should be quick enough, but then you lose a lot of the blood drainage. But for me this will be method #2 if needed, like to do in a bad roo....

 

[Judy]

BTW, must admit I did not read this whole thread before posting. There are some great approaches on here to avoid unnecessary chicken suffering.

 

[jaku]

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I looked at this way as well. I never tried it because I envisioned whatever instrument I was using for the stabbing coming through and stabbing me, making a horrible flapping chicken/me kabob. My other problem is that if it missed, now you're fishing around the inside of this poor bird's mouth stabbing for the right spot to kill it. Sounds pretty aweful. Plus, I heard if you do it wrong, it will actually make the feathers hold tighter.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

That method you're describing is called pithing. You can do a search for other threads on that topic, it's been discussed at length before. Some folks have found great success using that method to dispatch their birds. Others, including myself, have not.

I was reluctant to attempt the throat-slitting method because it does get you so close & personal to the actual dying bird. Using an axe or a broomstick keeps you at least that much removed from The Deed, I guess using a rifle removes you even further. But now that I've seen how quickly & calmly the bird dies after having his throat cut I'm going to use that method from now on.

Until I get a breed of meat birds who are able to butcher themselves.

 

[towtruckman]

I use the killing cone. I picked up a mid sized traffic cone a the hardware store cut it to fit and screwed it to a board at a good working hieght . I slit thier throats it takes a little bit to get used to it and appears to be cold blooded but works the best they bleed out better. With the cones they don't break their wings from flapping around. I also scaled mine and pluck them one of those deep fat fryer kettles and burner set ups work great! My family would rather take them in to get them done but I am cheap one day 40 or so chickens and your done.