Need to dispatch my 22 week old BO cockerel. I'm a bit nervous

[IrishBoy]

so how to you hold it's head down if you use a hatchet .. oh god i honestly don't think i can do this ..

Mum said deal is , if there is more than one roo. the others will have to go .. and it my two turkey chicks hatched and both were male .. both had to go ... oh dear ! ..

so far i think that one turk is a male the other a female


and as for my fove chicks ... i think they are all roos ... but that's just me lol

 

[chooniecat]

as for holding their heads down(keep in mind we have only done 10 chickens in our lives) our chickens have all relaxed(after a few seconds of being mad that we're holding their legs) after we have placed their heads between two hammered in nails on a flat wood surface(we have used 4' wide tree stump) and used a very fast swing. sounds horrifying but it IS quick and I am an animal lover but the only one disturbed by it is ME because the chicken has no idea whats coming.

 

[Winsor Woods]

If you're a little squeamish (and we all are when we first learn to process chickens) the hatchet sounds like a way to get the deed done quickly. Once you get through your first 5-10 chickens, you'll feel much better about the whole process. I originally got chickens/pigeons and became a falconer. because I love animals, especially birds and appreciate life. What a harsh reality to discover that there is so much killing/death involved with keeping any quantity of animals. Prior to this, I've only had dogs, and the occasional small animal. In small quantities, we can fool ourselves by really isolating the death part of the equation.

Coming to terms was really a good thing for me. It wasn't as bad as I had thought. Once you get to the point where you've processed with a hatchet, I'd recommend trying to use a killing cone and bleeding the bird out. There are some added advantages of having the bird's heart pump all the blood out of the body. First it tastes better, and second the meat keeps longer. So if you are ever planning on keeping meat birds and storing a bunch in the freezer, you'll get more mileage with bleeding them out. You just need their heart pumping for as long as possible to get out the most blood.

I know it sounds bad and I didn't think I could do it either. I thought it would be a slow and awful death but it really isn't. The trick is to use a really sharp blade. I got a scalpel with disposable blades. I've also used the kitchen knife to do this, but you really need lots of pressure unless you have a razor sharp edge. That could add to the suffering for both you and the bird. The first few chickens you bleed out, pluck a few feathers from the area you're going to cut. After you've got the feel for it, you won't need to pluck any. There is a sort of calming or relaxing effect that holding a chicken upside down or on his/her back has. My wife refers to this as "Tonic Immobility." They really don't know what hits them. You put them in the cone and they hang upside down and you just wait for them to calm a bit and after a few seconds, they're at peace with the cone. Then you make the cut into their neck and if the blade is sharp, they don't really seem to know they're being cut. Then the blood comes out of their body and they drift off. I think it's probably much more disturbing for the chicken to be held down and have it's head cut off. Chicken don't like to be restrained by hands, yet the cone doesn't seem to bother them as much. Also I'm sure the chicken is aware, at least for 10-20 seconds that it's head isn't attached. The blinking eyes of a beheaded chicken kinda freaks me out. I'm of the mindset that if the bird dies by drifting off, with it's body relatively intact, they'll be more at peace with the ordeal. So while the "DEED" may be over more quickly with the hatchet, I think it's more traumatic to the chicken's senses because you've got a conscious bird that you're not only cutting, skin, you're breaking bone and severing the head. I save the dismemberment for after the chicken is dead.

So those are just my thoughts. I'm not advocating that you use any particular method. I'm just describing the way I do it, and why I do it that way. You'll find your own way that is right for you.

Dan

 

[Bossroo]

After working at a Veterinary Pathology department for many years and putting down many species of animals, I can assure you first hand that the only time the heart doesn't pump is after an electrocution, the electric current disrupts the heart rythem and stops it. All other methods the heart continues to pump until the blood is gone then starts to flutter and then stops by loss of oxygen due to lack of blood.

 

[Winsor Woods]

Quote:
Hey Bossroo,

I agree that the heart beats for a little while when the head is chopped off. However, the longer the heart beats the more blood gets pumped out. Not severing the head is a way to keep the heart beating longer. Don't take my word for it though...here's where I got my information from....

In "Living with Chickens" by Jay Rossier, he states the following on page 137:
Quote:
The next time I'm processing chickens, I'll get some emperical evidence though. I'm kinda interested. I'll take two groups of chickens that weigh approximately the same and measure the volume of blood I get using these two methods of killing. I'll report back and then we can discuss the findings.

Dan

 

[chooniecat]

I have only been present when my son did the hatcheting. Initially I wanted it done as I had seen it on here(in cone, cutting jugular) and am going to purchase a couple of cones(yes-I know you can get them discounted on here and I plan to) so when I actually am the one doing it the chicken will bleed out. we hold the chicken over a plastic can and I THOUGHT there was a very small amount of blood that came out but having never witnessed this I thought it was normal. but at least the chicken was DONE quickly and did not notice much blood in the processing/cooking. I told my son of my concern of wanting it done quickly and he felt cutting the jugular would be a slower death so how long, then, DOES it take the poor chicken to die? too many questions! I mean, how long until chicken is UNAWARE of pain?? also this is just for personal consumption and I am hardly gourmet or picky and I eat my vegetables right out of the garden(weather permitting) I don't think anyone wants dinner at my house after reading this.

 

[Chickens in Elmwood]

We used a large pair of very sharp pruning sheer to snip through. However, the rooster was already dead before this because husband attempted to put him in a killing cone that turned out to be several inches too small. Poor boy's giant comb got stuck and pulled his head backward before we realized it. Then there was one little "Bwack" (I mean, it was a whisper, if chickens could whisper) and his neck was broken. I told dear husband that I could do everything but the killing/bleeding part. It's a good thing, too because I am not sure I would have had the physical strength to do it.

We also thought there didn't seem to be a whole lot of blood, but I don't know how much blood a chicken has...

On a brighter (somewhat anyway) note, we roasted him for dinner last night, after about 40 hours in salt water with a little ACV in it. The flavor was great, nice and juicy, but he was a little chewier than we are used to with store bought chicken. My four and five year olds each ate a leg and some breast meat and asked for more, so it must have been A-OK!

We were impressed with how WHITE the white meat was and how DARK the legs and thighs were. You don't see that much difference in store bought chickens.

Now we know we can do it, we are trying to decide what breed to try for meat birds this coming spring.

 

[Winsor Woods]

Quote:
Hey Chooniecat,

All good questions. I'm the same way with our garden and we're not gourmet's either. For us, we like to bleed out because of the longer storage time. It's just me and the wife so a batch of meat birds goes a long way if we can keep them in the freezer. If I don't think all the blood came out, I make sure we put it on the top of the pile in the freezer so it's the first eaten.

With the killing cones, it takes a few minutes for the chicken to get to the point where I'm comfortable that he's not aware of any more pain, etc.

What I do is put the first bird in the cone, cut the jugular and then wait 5 minutes. When I remove him from the cone, I put the next one in and slice the jugular and then scald the first bird, pluck and dress out. By the time I'm done with that, that second bird has already been in the cone, bleeding out for more than 5 minutes so I just repeat the process by having a bird bleeding out while I'm processing the one before it.

Dan

And I'd eat dinner at your house, don't worry about it.

 

[chooniecat]

thank you dan and I am still eating what I call Kazoo soup(cockerels name) from the chicken son killed couple weeks ago.(it had been frozen after cooking) have 11 8 day old meaties(first batch) and they are soooooo fat compared to 'normal' chicks. will purchase cones soon and hope these birds go even smoother than last did. I will use the cone tho and son still insists his way is best so we'll have a talk about what I have heard on here. thanks.

 

[Ashmeade]

If you don't want to do it you can always post on craigslist and have someone come get him and take care of it...