Mentally gearing up... going to process 6-10 Delawares & BR - ADVICE?

[tnchickenut]

Quote:
Stupid question: what is eye shot?

I'm showing my city-slicker side now, huh? Under my avatar may say, Englewood, TN but I moved to this area when I was in junior high and even then we lived in town... this farming stuff is all new learning for me. I'm determined to do it, though!

 

[CoopCrazy]

I will say I tried to use a sharp knife the other day to dispatch a mean roo and It was terrible.. It is very diffucult to cut thru the bone and it is lookiing at you the whole time.. The next one I did with a hatchet and it was much better .. And yes all chickens will flop no matter wether you use the cone and pithe, or a block of wood and a hatchet ( Muscles will spasm ).. its easiest for me to chop off the head and toss to the side til the deaththrows are over..

 

[tnchickenut]

If you use a hatchet... you use a block? And how do you get the chicken to stay put long enough to aim and swing? You can't put your hand out there... you'd lose it, right?

 

[petrelline]

If you're just starting out cutting the jugular vein is very, very hard. It's humane, yes, but its also just tough, emotionally, to manage. I had to work up to it. A hatchet or a machete is much easier.

Even easier (and requiring less equipment) for a beginner might be the broomstick method. You put the chicken's head on the ground, put a broomstick on top of it's neck with your feet on either side, and then give the chicken's body a good yank. It dislocates the head from the spinal column -- you'll feel it right away -- it's fast, and it doesn't require very much upper body strength. HOLD ONTO THE CHICKEN. It will flop around for a while after it's dead. This is normal.

After the chicken has died you can hang it up, cut off the head and let it bleed out the rest of the way. You won't get as good a bleed with this method than if you cut the neck, but it won't be too bad. This is how I cull sick chickens and baby birds that I'm not going to eat, and it works well.

 

[CoopCrazy]

Quote:
I use a stump or large block of wood with two nails in it .. PLasce the neck in between the two nails and stretch the body then chop

 

[yotetrapper]

I place the birds head and neck on a 4x4 or hunk of unsplit firewood, kneel on it's legs, and hold the neck taut with my left hand and whack with a hatchet with my right. Just don't whack your hand, lol.

 

[BarkerChickens]

Quote:
Stupid question: what is eye shot?

I'm showing my city-slicker side now, huh? Under my avatar may say, Englewood, TN but I moved to this area when I was in junior high and even then we lived in town... this farming stuff is all new learning for me. I'm determined to do it, though!

I live in Southern California and while I don't consider myself a city girl (aside from a few years in the suburbs, I grew up in the outskirts, more rural areas, but definitely not raised on a farm..unfortunately). Eye shot? Like ear shot (within hearing range)...eye shot - within sight range. We don't let our flock see or hear what is going on.

 

[speckledhen]

Stacy, we processed my first Del cockerel by doing the bleed-out method. We hung him upside down by his feet on a tree limb. My DH used an exacto knife, found the carotid artery under the jaw and did a small cut. He bled out and just passed out from blood loss, not much flapping at all. It was quiet and easy. That way the blood pumps out of the bird as long as the heart is beating.

 

[17roses]

We use a killing cone and "loppers". I really wanted to know it was dead instantly without the running around. The front of the loppers is sharp and cuts the throat while the back is blunt and breaks the neck. I lopper it and go inside for about 15 minutes, when I come out it has mostly bled out and has stopped spasming.

 

[tnchickenut]

Ok. I would have never guessed the eye-shot thing... lol. Never would have connected it with ear-shot. I wouldn't do something like that around my others anyways. I'd never get another egg again out of protest. I read "Animal Farm".

I think I can do this. I mean, I never thought I could shoot a chick, but I had to because it was crippled. I just thought of how miserable it would be when it started to get bigger and it got harder and harder to get around. Now, not that it's any more pleasant, I can put a animal down easy. This just seems different because they are healthy.

I think I will try to find some cones, set up a place to bleed them out. (there are chickens in all corner of my yard so that is a challenge.) Maybe behind a building. Seems like something I could do... I honestly would most likely turn my head as I run the blade. Do the birds make a noise? God, I hope not.

I got time to psych myself up. They are only 7 weeks. I should start looking at them and imagining them fried... maybe that will help. lol. Just joking.

Now, I have to be the plucker too. Anyone think that wussy me should invest in one first or do the first ones by hand just incase I'm too "chicken" to go through with it?