Pithing Revisited

[Mosey2003]

I think they'll be a bit bigger than that, but I'm not really worried about it.

 

[Parront]

I think they'll be a bit bigger than that, but I'm not really worried about it.

Barred Rocks, right? I will be interested in your results. I used to have Orpingtons and Leghorns. Since we are over 5000' altitude, I am thinking about rocks instead of Cornish-X next time I raise meat birds, this fall I hope.

 

[Mosey2003]

Barred Rocks, right? I will be interested in your results. I used to have Orpingtons and Leghorns. Since we are over 5000' altitude, I am thinking about rocks instead of Cornish-X next time I raise meat birds, this fall I hope.

Yes. This will be a new line for me, but they shouldn't be too far off what I already have, I wouldn't imagine. My 16 week cockerels dressed at 4lbs last year, so I'd imagine they wouldn't be tooooo wee at 12 weeks.

 

[Parront]

Yes. This will be a new line for me, but they shouldn't be too far off what I already have, I wouldn't imagine. My 16 week cockerels dressed at 4lbs last year, so I'd imagine they wouldn't be tooooo wee at 12 weeks.

That is huge compared to a 10 week Leghorn! I had to get rid of them they were too obnoxious! They taste good at that age, and I should have processed them sooner even, the way they were bothering the hens that time!

 

[Mosey2003]

That is huge compared to a 10 week Leghorn! I had to get rid of them they were too obnoxious! They taste good at that age, and I should have processed them sooner even, the way they were bothering the hens that time!

I hear ya!

Yeah, these are SOP birds, I hope to focus even more on carcass weight in the future, but this has been a bad spring and I had to completely change things up. I have no idea on this new line as far as weights, they may be even better than my other line.

 

[Mosey2003]

Update: I tried pithing one last night. That did not go well

She was not cooperative at all about me opening her mouth. I felt like I hit the spot and twisted, but she didn't expire from it, so I went ahead and slit her jugulars. I will try again on a dead bird and see if I can't get the feel of it before I try it live again. Not as easy as anticipated.

 

[archeryrob]

I have always killed by what I call Windmill. I just spin them until the neck snaps while gripping the head.

In waterfowl they sell this tools called the Finisher. Its a long point you insert at the bottom back of the skull and piece the brain case and kill the bird. I have never used one and do not know how it would work on chickens.

 

[Mosey2003]

I don't have problems killing them in other ways. I just wanted to try the pithing.

 

[Lark60]

After finding this thread I tried a few different ways to dispatch some birds. The first one was a Cornish rock cross that had a dislocated knee at 4 weeks. I used a he manual cervical dislocation and then pithing. Then I hung the chicken by the feet and cut the jugulars. When the chicken started thrashing, the dislocated knee completely separated. That was a bit traumatic for me but confirmed that I made the right choice to cull the bird.

The next opportunity to test pithing was with 3-14 week cockerels. One was processed by cervical dislocation then pithing then decapitation. One was processed by cervical dislocation and decapitation without pithing and the third was cervical dislocation and jugulars cut.

The birds that were pithed had easier plucking. The bird that was decapitated without pithing thrashed more after the head was severed.

My choice will be cervical dislocation followed by pithing and decapitation. This seems to be the better way to cause unconsciousness, then disruption of the brain from the body and removing the head is just a personal choice. Once the head is off, the bird is meat instead of a recently killed animal.