New to this... having some trouble.

[poularde]

Thank you for all the suggestions. It gives me hope for a better experience this next time in a couple of weeks. I will feel a little more confident. Great descriptions. I think i know what I was doing wrong.

 

[Saltysteele]

i'm in the "cut it clean off" camp, not the "just cut the artery" camp.

sometimes you will hit a neck bone and it won't go through. don't let it dissuade you from the task at hand, just try down the neck a bit further (like 1/8 or 1/4").

it also helps to use the knife to kind of push the feathers up, so you are starting your cut on skin, and not having to slice through feathers first.

you'll get it. most important thing is to watch where your hand is in relation to where the blade is going to go after it's through the neck

 

[poularde]

OK so wha tis the benefit of cutting the artery to cutting the head clean off? What makes you choose one or the other?

 

[Tracydr]

Quote:
The head gives me a handle to direct the spray of blood so that it doesn't spurt all over the place. I can make sure the spray goes right into my bucket and not all over me.

 

[itsy]

Can't you bleed out with only cutting one side? I have to do my meaties soon and the first bird I processed - I only cut one side and it was still quick. Shoot - Maybe I should have done both sides......Maybe it would have been even quicker.

 

[Tracydr]

Quote:
That's what I do. I just cut the left side, my right, and it seems to go pretty fast. Birds don't have much blood and even if you just get the jugular vein, not the carotid artery, you're still going to get a pretty huge amount of their total blood volume within a few minutes. If it gets pumped up to the brain by the carotid, and you have them in the head down position, it seems to go even faster.

 

[itsy]

Thanks, Tracy! Made me feel better! I held the head slightly back from the cut as well to make sure it stayed open and flowing. I thought to do the other side, but the death flapping was too much for me and I wasn't able to cut it!

 

[halo]

Ive had a terrible time using a knife. Probably just not sharp enough, but Ive never been able to make just a swift clean cut. What I ended up doing was getting a pair of really nice sharp shears, and I just snip the neck. Works much better for me. I dont just cut the head off, because from what I understand (and I may be wrong) is that you get a better bleed out by leaving the backbone intact. So I just snip under the throat far enough to get a good cut.

 

[Saltysteele]

Quote:
when you cut the head off, the bird is dead before it realizes the pain (hopefully, as long as you can get it done quickly).

you've got to cut the head off, anyway, so just do it to begin with. there's no fooling around, just cut it off and you're done.

 

[bigredfeather]

Quote:
To me, if you cut the head off, it does not allow the brain to tell the heart to keep beating, so the bird is dying from it's head being cut off. If you just cut, the heart continues to pump and the bird is bleeding to death. I'm sure it works, but I would question if your getting the same amount of blood out of the bird.