Pithing vs. jugular slice for dry pluck...?

[NevadaRon]

Quote:

LOL, but seriously, "harvesting" is a term hunters use and it sounds much better to me.

I understand (though secondhand, not from experience) that cutting the jugular does relax the feathers. That method seems the most humane to me, and as a bonus it is Biblical, too!

BTW,

!

 

[Oven Ready]

My standard 'dispatch' method is to pull the neck and then chop off the head, hang them upside down and let gravity bleed them out.
I've never noticed head movement using this method - wings and feet yes. Pulling the neck makes it very easy to chop the head as the bird isn't moving, so no chance of having 'chicken' fingers on the BBQ.

We usually dry pluck, I find it tears the skin less and is more relaxing (for me not the bird) than wet plucking and less messy and my daughter can join in. She's better at it then me because her little fingers can grip the smallest of feathers.

We have Japanese Bantams and the only feathers that give some trouble are the very small hard ones on the leading edge of the wing, near the 'thumb'. When we catch jungle fowl we use the hot water method because they are jumping in lice and dry plucking a bird with lice leaves you itching for weeks everytime you think about it. See, now I've already started itching my hair.

Good luck to you whichever method you use

 

[Royd]

I am wondering, if, while the bird is bleeding out, from the jugular cut, and it is still alive, but just barely, why not pith it, at that point. Then, you could relax the feathers, and get a complete bleed out.

 

[darkmatter]

I pith and wouldn't do it any other way now. (I've done the head chop like grandma before) I hang the Roos by their feet, I use old bungie cord hooks with cord loops for the feet from a line at a level where I can work sitting down. (did I mention, I'm old and lazy?) I use a thin narrow strong knife and insert through the roof of the beak and scrape the back of the skull----I don't push hard enough to come out the back of the head---besides that is where my other hand is---holding the chicken head. The bird goes stiff, then limp, and I then cut the neck for them to quietly bleed out into the bucket. Much better then flopping all over the yard without a head. I then proceed with the scald, pluck (I use the textured fingered rubber gloves I get at home depot), I have a pair of pliers handy in case I have a few hard to pull wing feathers. Singe the hair feathers off, wash, clean, cut up, brine soak-----freeze or cook.

Oh....yeah....be sure to collect your birds off the roost in the dark first into a cage for daylight processing. If you do have to catch them in the day, you can use a chicken hook:

 

[rhoda_bruce]

Well humans and chickens are 2 entirely different species, but I once had a patient who was dying of cancer and he was also loosing blood from an unknown location. The cancer hurt him something terrible, but when he was low on blood, he didn't complain at all. So when we saw him just sitting there, quietly, we knew he was very low on blood. Now if I was his doctor or family member, I would have just left him like that, but we had to keep sending him in for transfusions and then the pain would start up again and I would give morphine.......go figure. Then someone must have put 2 and 2 together because the transfusions stopped.
For weeks I was hoping the bleed would go wild on us, because that death would be better than the other one waiting for him.
One of my co-workers @ that time had indicated to me that she was once low on blood and needed a transfusion and I forgot what other medical reason she had, which should have been somewhat terrible, but she claimed that she felt no pain at all, due to the loss of blood.
I think about that sometimes when I make my cut. I never could really break the necks anyway, so bleeding out works well for me.

 

[leamallett]

Thanks for all the great feedback, everybody!

Does anyone have any further thoughts regarding "Royd's" advice regarding pithing after the jugular cut? That sounds like a possibility and makes a lot of sense to me... then you get the good quiet bleed-out with the heart still pumping, AND the ensuing release of the feathers. Timing I imagine would be key here. Any estimation as to how long after the jugular is cut do I have...?

It would really help to see someone who knows what they're doing perform the deed, but everyone around here does the 'ole chopping block method. I tried searching online for video clips of pithing, but came up empty-handed.

Sooooo, if any of you who are savvy in the art of pithing are up to videotaping and posting onto YouTube, I'd REALLY appreciate it!

Thanks, y'all!
Lea from Canada


ps) Here's a pic of me gutting my first chicken last week at our friends' place. My brother Loren always had the honors when we were kids, so this was all new for me! This first one really psyched me out (the warmth, textures, and sound of membranes ripping just about did me in), but I sucked it up like a good farm-kid and went on to do about 8 more--it got a lot easier the more I did! Halleluia!!!

 

[sonew123]

Quote:

 

[CMV]

I, too, am interested in learning how to pith. I've looked everywhere for videos and found nothing. It seems to be a dying art form. I have an uncle that explained the mechanics of it, but he said he couldn't do it himself. He made a hash of it, and ended up having to scald and pluck anyways. When he told me about it originally I thought he was pulling my leg, but BYCers confirmed he was correct and I have been wanting to learn how to do it ever since.

 

[cluckcluck42]

Just on the argument of chopping vs slicing, I would rather have my head chopped off than have my throat sliced and feel the blood and life spurting out of me. I think if there is any 'life' after the head is chopped off, it doesnt include pain, so that is my choice. We chop heads then skin our laying flock roosters, but when we have to do our meat chickens I'd like to do the same (chopping off the head) but I have heard that the feathers are really hard to pluck after. Hey I may just start a thread with that question actually.

 

[Ibicella]

I do pithing. Personally, I don't see the point in cutting the jugular first and THEN pithing. It's kind of overkill, in my opinion.

Normally when I pith, I'll turn the bird upside down or hang them till they go into hypotonic immobility. It makes it easier to hit the right place, and because they are relaxed at time of death, plucking's a breeze. Chickens have very little brains so it's kind of easy to miss.