Pithing video. Graphic warning

[Lark60]

I have started dispatching my Cornish rock cross birds and was asked by a friend to make this video.

My process is a culmination of information collected from this site and many YouTube videos. I knock the bird out with cervical dislocation (though I don’t know if I actually do break the neck but they are stunned) then pith them by inserting a knife up into the brain and twist to sever the brain from the spinal cord.

I usually decapitate the head right after pithing but don’t in this video so there isn’t blood seen. That is also why I hold the head up. If I were to let it hang, the bird bleeds from the mouth.

I find it is easier for me to decapitate the bird and hold the body till the thrashing has subsided. When I just cut the jugulars after pithing, I worry the bird is not dead when the thrashing starts. I have seen the mouth open and close when the head is decapitated so I know it’s dead.

I use the puppy pad to cover the bird and catch the blood while it bleeds out. Keeps my kitchen clean. I live in the city so my work has to be inside to avoid nosy people calling animal control.

 

[Mosey2003]

When I just cut the jugulars after pithing, I worry the bird is not dead when the thrashing starts. I have seen the mouth open and close when the head is decapitated so I know it’s dead.

If you're doing both cervical dislocation and pithing, the bird is dead-dead. The thrashing is simply electrical impulses, and will happen almost no matter what.

 

[Lark60]

I have had problems getting the birds to open their mouth to just pith them and have worried that the neck is not completely dislocated. So I stun them with stretching the neck (and hope I have dislocated the neck) and then quickly pith them. If they are dead-dead, I’m ok with that.

 

[aart]

I don't think that neck was anywhere near broken....did you feel/hear it snap?

 

[Lark60]

I do feel a snap when I pull the head upward after stretching. When I stopped the video, I let go of the head and it flopped sideways and bleeds from the mouth. I found that cutting the jugulars speed up the bleeding out so I pluck the feathers from the neck area over the vessels and cut them.

 

[aart]

I do feel a snap when I pull the head upward after stretching.

Then do you wait to bleed(cut jugular) until after the death throes from snapping neck are complete?
...and why pith?
Are you dry plucking?
I've read that pithing can help release the feathers.

 

[Lark60]

Then do you wait to bleed(cut jugular) until after the death throes from snapping neck are complete?
...and why pith?
Are you dry plucking?
I've read that pithing can help release the feathers.

Yes I do cut the jugulars right after pithing so they bleed out quickly. I dry pluck the neck while waiting for the bleeding to stop (and the thrashing too) then I can cut off the head without dulling the blade on the feathers.

I finish plucking after a quick scald in 140 degree water.

Yes, pithing does make it easier to pluck a bird. I have tried it both ways and like pithing. Anything that makes the job easier is a plus in my book!