Newbie , botched first try, need help please! Graphic description

[RoosterML]

For those of you who say to use a pvc pipe cutter can you post a picture of the actual one you use? There are so many I think it would be very helpful for those who want to use that method. Or at least a name and model #?

 

[Molpet]

For those of you who say to use a pvc pipe cutter can you post a picture of the actual one you use? There are so many I think it would be very helpful for those who want to use that method. Or at least a name and model #?

Dawn Industries 1-5/8" Plastic Pipe Cutter at Menards https://www.menards.com/main/p-1444428688236.htm

 

[ladybrasa]

Oh, I used tree loppers. I don’t recall the specs exactly - they are Fiskars from Lowe’s and bypass type? When I got them I had no idea there was such a variety in these types of tools! Not a great handyman type

I will say if anyone uses or contemplating using loppers, sharpen them every time! We could definitely feel a difference between the first bird and the last bird. The job got done though. Maybe I just don’t have the best quality? Also to note, sometimes the head hung on by some flexible bits like tendons or piece of skin or something - very alarming if you are squeamish - but everything important has been severed.

 

[MysteryChicken]

Hi,
I'm new here and really hope you all can help me or I just might have to become vegetarian!
I have had chickens for years, but have always wanted to raise my own meat birds for ethical reasons. I like the idea of knowing my food had a nice life and as peaceful as possible exit. But I totally botched the peaceful exit part... A few years ago I had someone show me the ropes. I was unable to make the cut .at.all. They said the blade was dull ( they were processing a lot of chickens to sell). So I knew to cut the sides of the neck under the jaw bone of the bird but figured I just needed to make sure I had a truly sharp knife, which I did. It cut very well, clean and even seemingly painlessly. However, I don't think I got the artery or I had super chickens. What is supposed to only take minutes took way too long to be humane in my book! I did re cut in an attempt to find the right spot, unsuccessfully. I need to know exactly what it is to look for or feel for before the cut. How deep do you need to cut, I saw neck muscle, I didn't want to cut that and cause more pain! I did brush up online and using a book I have before hand and still messed up. IF I ever try this again, I want to be so sure that I'm getting it right. I am very distraught over this and so glad I only got 2 birds to start with rather than a bunch.

2nd part. They finally passed. I did the poke the eye to ensure no response thing to make sure they were truly done.
So I started to process them. I had to skin them because I don't have any scalder set up yet. That went fine but then the breast meat started to twitch! I finished up the first bird ok because it didn't move much so I figured just neurons still firing. Please tell me that's normal. I don't recall ANY movement when I was shown but they also had a scalder and pluckers, so I would imagine any neurons left got pretty beat up.
But I could not finish the second one because I was too freaked out. Skinned fine, but after cutting into breast meat the twitching was so bad I was horrified. It was like it was trying to get away. So I stopped totally. Now here I am terrified to even think of raising my own meat of any kind for my family.
Are the birds supposed to hang around for a while first if you don't have a scalder?
I hope you guys can help me. Please don't be too harsh! Sorry for such a long post.
Thanks.

Twitching meat is a sign of freshness.

There's a couple of other ways to cull a chicken quickly, & humanely.

There's one method you take a sharp knife, & stab it through the back of roof of the mouth. This stabs the brain, & death is instant.


Decapitation is another good one, instant death.


Broom stick method, a different technique for Cervical Dislocation. It separates the brain stem from the brain.

Shoot in the chicken head with a .22, instant death.

 

[AprilsZoo]

Thank you all for your replies.
I was unable to find the @frugal article.
I did watch the video. That sounds good, but now I'm wondering, first howdoesone person hold an upset chicken and put its head in and work the lever on the neck breaker device? Also does it drain the blood as effectively as cutting ( he saiditall drains into theneck cavity)? Anyone use one of these and can tell me what it like using them? (I will look it upongoogle too)
Is it any easier to use than the suggestion of a pvc pipe cutter?
I am doing this on my own so everything has to be easy for one person to handle.
Thanks so much.

Here’s the article by @frugal — Killing, Plucking ... & Cutting up your Chicken
There’s 60-some-odd pages of discussion. Probably worth a read thru for other people’s tips & tricks that they added.

As far as using the neck-breaker, perhaps there are more videos on YouTube that document how others are utilizing the device?
Here’s one:

Personally, I don’t think it’s quite as foolproof as it‘s said to be... to me, having to readjust and clamp down multiple times doesn’t seem like a sure, clean kill. Seeing the duck being dispatched didn’t improve my opinion. Seeing the duck blinking, moving his beak & kicking, well, he didn‘t look “disconnected” to me. Top it off with the fact that the poor person doing the killing seems to be getting a beating from all the wing flapping, twisting around and kicking... it does look rather violent, or at least chaotic.

Here‘s a decapitation method that still results in a flapping bird but at least you know it’s gone. T-post decapitation method.

I think if you want a contained, non-flapping bird— the cones are the way to go. I think I like the idea of using (long-handled) heavy-duty 1.75” pruning shears to just lop the head completely off so there’s no worry about whether or not the right vessels have been cut. The head’s gonna need to come off soon enough anyway, so might as well do it at the start.

The pipe cutters are an interesting option, but I think getting all-metal ones would be a good idea. They look pretty much the same but there’s nothing plastic. And in my experience they are almost always painted some shade of orange or red. Funny, I think we have 4 pairs in the garage right now... probably 2 sizes. It always seems like whenever we need them for some pvc project we can’t find them . They hide, I swear. So we finally break down and go buy another set, only to find them a few days later. (We also have at least 3 of the type that spin around the pipe... but those are for narrower diameter pipe. Same deal though— when you wanna use one, it’s nowhere to be found. It’s like a tool conspiracy out there.)

 

[Ridgerunner]

Here‘s a decapitation method that still results in a flapping bird but at least you know it’s gone. T-post decapitation method.

That's the Broomstick Method, just using something different for the broomstick.

They hide, I swear. So we finally break down and go buy another set, only to find them a few days later. (We also have at least 3 of the type that spin around the pipe... but those are for narrower diameter pipe. Same deal though— when you wanna use one, it’s nowhere to be found. It’s like a tool conspiracy out there.)

Your telling on yourself. They don't hide, you just don't know where you put them. It takes some self-discipline and I'm not always as good as I should be but I use a certain shelf in the garage for "things that cut". Knives, saws, box-openers, and pipe cutters, things like that. At least I know where to start looking. I still wind up with duplicates like you do but this helps.

 

[AprilsZoo]

That's the Broomstick Method, just using something different for the broomstick.

When I’ve seen the Broomstick method, it didn’t pull off the head. I’ve seen and read many instances where for various reasons, people who are relatively experienced in the art of butchering, have failed to dispatch a chicken using their trusty broomstick.
I wouldn’t personally use either method: broomstick or t-post. I don’t consider myself especially sensitive or squeamish, but the idea of a dying chicken flapping & flopping around makes me feel .

Your telling on yourself. They don't hide, you just don't know where you put them. It takes some self-discipline and I'm not always as good as I should be but I use a certain shelf in the garage for "things that cut". Knives, saws, box-openers, and pipe cutters, things like that. At least I know where to start looking. I still wind up with duplicates like you do but this helps.

That’s the most frustrating part. Almost without exception, we find the do-dad right where it was supposed to be. Our garage is pretty organized. So it never makes sense. It’s enough to make you question your sanity—
DH: Honey, did you use the needle-nose vice-grips? They aren’t in the toolbox.

Me: Sure they are... the big ones, the small ones, & the pointy ones were all there yesterday, I saw them myself.

DH: I was just out there... they aren’t there. Show me where you saw them...

Me: <Heads out to the garage with DH... opens the drawer of the giant Craftsman tool chest... begins moving stuff around, then taking things out one by one.> They were right here on top, I swear. I was looking for the baby sledge. I expected it to be in with the other hammers, but I opened the wrong drawer.

DH: The sledge is on the shelf.

Me: yeah, that’s the second place I looked... but the vice-grips were in that drawer, I promise. I don’t understand...They‘ve gotta be here.

<we both continue looking for another half-hour>

DH: Nevermind, I’ll use the small ones.

<fast-forward a week or two>

DH: <walks up to me working in the garden, holding the needle nose vice-grips> Where did you find them?

Me: What do you mean? I didn’t find them. Where did you find them?

DH: They were in the drawer with the others. You didn’t put them there?

Me: Nope... guess it was the ghost again. Glad they showed up... I told you that’s where they were.

Keep in mind, there’s no one else in the house to be moving things on us. In the example above, we didn’t need to replace the missing item, because DH was able to use an alternate pair... it doesn’t always work out that way. So then a duplicate gets bought.

I‘m telling you, it’s like “Tool Story” out there... the light goes off, and the tools start running around like Woody, Buzz, et al in Toy Story.

 

[Helicopter Mom]

Hi,
I'm new here and really hope you all can help me or I just might have to become vegetarian!
I have had chickens for years, but have always wanted to raise my own meat birds for ethical reasons. I like the idea of knowing my food had a nice life and as peaceful as possible exit. But I totally botched the peaceful exit part... A few years ago I had someone show me the ropes. I was unable to make the cut .at.all. They said the blade was dull ( they were processing a lot of chickens to sell). So I knew to cut the sides of the neck under the jaw bone of the bird but figured I just needed to make sure I had a truly sharp knife, which I did. It cut very well, clean and even seemingly painlessly. However, I don't think I got the artery or I had super chickens. What is supposed to only take minutes took way too long to be humane in my book! I did re cut in an attempt to find the right spot, unsuccessfully. I need to know exactly what it is to look for or feel for before the cut. How deep do you need to cut, I saw neck muscle, I didn't want to cut that and cause more pain! I did brush up online and using a book I have before hand and still messed up. IF I ever try this again, I want to be so sure that I'm getting it right. I am very distraught over this and so glad I only got 2 birds to start with rather than a bunch.

2nd part. They finally passed. I did the poke the eye to ensure no response thing to make sure they were truly done.
So I started to process them. I had to skin them because I don't have any scalder set up yet. That went fine but then the breast meat started to twitch! I finished up the first bird ok because it didn't move much so I figured just neurons still firing. Please tell me that's normal. I don't recall ANY movement when I was shown but they also had a scalder and pluckers, so I would imagine any neurons left got pretty beat up.
But I could not finish the second one because I was too freaked out. Skinned fine, but after cutting into breast meat the twitching was so bad I was horrified. It was like it was trying to get away. So I stopped totally. Now here I am terrified to even think of raising my own meat of any kind for my family.
Are the birds supposed to hang around for a while first if you don't have a scalder?
I hope you guys can help me. Please don't be too harsh! Sorry for such a long post.
Thanks.

We started last year in butchering our own birds. My husband did the "deed", I couldn't watch. We used kill cones and they worked great. Kept the birds nice and calm. We did purchase a kill knife specifically for butchering. We also watched the following videos (found at the very end of the post) which helped immensely! We used a turkey deep fryer for scalding and did purchase a plucker. The birds were then dropped into a clean 32 gal rubber trash can filled with ice water after coming out of the plucker. I pulled the birds out of the water, cut off legs and pulled heads off, gutted them and removed any pin feathers. Then they got dumped into another clean 32 gal rubber trash can of ice water to help drop the body temp down and keep bacteria from forming. Worked great!! Don't give up, you can do it. Just need to refine your system some.

The picture below was our setup last year. This year we are planning to purchase an actual scalder.