My homemade kill station in action (pics)

[debtrag]

Richard E. Nixon :

"And even once their in it...dont the bite while you try to get ahold of their head?"

I think that's an interesting question. I would like to know how other folks handle it, but here's my answer:

Yes, they often bite. I get bitten often, when I get too close to the birds who aren't keen on humans.

But their bites do not hurt. Guess their jaws aren't strong enough to inflict much pain, but YES they bite me; I just don't care.

I disagree here. My 6 yr old dd tried to pet one of our roosters the other day and he ripped the skin off her wrist. I wasn't paying close attention, shame on me, but he will be one of the first to the "kill station".​

 

[debtrag]

There is a slaughter book at Tractor Supply that describes how to kill chickens by hanging them upside down and piercing the roof of their mouth with a sharp point. My aunt swears by it and butchered all her chickens this way a couple weeks ago. The greatest thing about it is that you don't have to scald them to take off the feathers, they just pluck right out. My aunt added that after she hangs them, rocks them for a few seconds to calm and relax them as the blood flows to their head.

Anyone else tried this?

 

[jaku]

Quote:
I'd be afraid I'd miss and stab myself in the hand.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

Quote:
This is called "pithing" and has been discussed on this forum. You should be able to find the threads by using the Search. I tried it just once with little success. Other folks that do get it to work often recommend it.

I you could pith chickens while they're in the cone just as well as slit throats or cut off heads. Let us know if you can get the technique to work for you.

 

[FisherMOM]

I bought a little megaphone at the dollar store so that I can butcher my bantam rooster... if I can bring myself to do it. (I took the Tinkerbelle stickers off it it!)

 

[anthonyjames]

I am curious how high up or down you cut the traffic cones from the top?

 

[terri9630]

Quote:
She tasted mighty fine (17 months, actually -- she was OLD)

My wife brined her overnight, then roasted her. We ate the breasts for one meal, then everything else got boiled for a few hours and made into a chicken-and-rice casserole.

All kidding aside, she was probably the best, most flavorful chicken I'd ever had. We're eating the rooster from the pictures at the beginning of the thread now, and he's really good, too (in a chicken-veggie pie). WAY better than store chickens, to us.

It's weird. We bought pasture raised Cornish Xs (done like Joel Salatin does, in tractors) for a while a few years ago, from a local farmer, but I didn't really like them. Our plain old yard birds, who have about 3/4 of an acre to roam in and eat a ton of bugs and garden scraps, blow everything else out of the water (for us, anyway).

Maybe part of it is a sort of placebo-type effect, where the fact that we raised them and treated them like royalty has something to do with the perceived flavor. I dunno. All I can say is I'm looking forward to prepping the next one on Friday.

My neighbour has several 6yr old chickens that are still laying. They tend to stop laying around 18 months or so to moult and pick back up again.

 

[chicmom]

I love it! Very basic design......simple and very convenient to work at! TWO THUMBS UP!

 

[FisherMOM]

I have two 3 year old leghorns that are laying soft shelled eggs when they do lay...
It's awful because their eggs break in the nest box and ruin the other eggs that the other girls have laid.

would 3 year old birds be too tough to eat?

 

[mstricer]

Okay where does one get traffic cones?