Pithing??

[sewhorsey]

Hello,

In my quest to quickly and humanely dispatch my meat birds I recently came across the "pithing method"...After Googling this term, I get that it has something to do with a hind brain and is usually after stunning (?)...

Can somebody with experience help me out with some info/tutorial?

Thanks so much! Amy

 

[ChickenToes]

Here's a link that concerns pithing.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=89082

As for myself, I would never try pithing birds. I like the old-fashioned behead-with-an-axe method.

 

[sewhorsey]

Thanks for the link!

That was very helpful. Could pithing be used after slitting and bleeding out is completed? Will the feathers loosen if the bird is pithed after death?

 

[flopshot]

Quote:
from the above mentioned post:
"Pithing was never intended for this purpose. In reality pithing is a means of rendering a specimen immobile for disection/study purposes.
We used it in biology class with frogs & kittens. The objective is to have a brain dead but still breathing/heart beating subject that can be cut open without muscle reflex.

If done correctly, pithing will scramble the brain & sever the spinal cord. What you end up with is a animal that is very much alive, but unable to feel pain, or move."

 

[sewhorsey]

Hi there,

I read that part of the post, but I have also heard of applying this technique to loosen feathers.

Has anyone done this? I can't see a problem with doing this to a bird already dead, but would it function to loosen feathers?

Thanks, Amy

 

[Big George]

Stick with the tried and true. I use a cone and they are dead in a matter of seconds. Very clean and a good bleed out . Water with a few drops of dish soap in it at 150 degrees lessens the smell and helps with saturation. Feathers come right out. Did two cornish this morning.

 

[sewhorsey]

I haven't tried soap in the scalding water before. Thanks for the tip. I also am currently using a cone and regular scald and it works fine.

I am still curious about the "old timers" who will use a pithing like technique to loosen feathers. Has anyone tried this?

 

[sesa]

Sounds like zombie chickens to me

 

[Peruvian]

I have tried pithing birds before cutting the neck arteries, but it's difficult to tell if it has worked in my experience. I mostly do it to comfort myself assuming that if they are brain dead they don't know what is happening.

 

[cassie]

My grandmother used to pith birds and then dry pick them. The pithing loosened the feathers and she could dry pick a chicken in two minutes flat. After reading the instructions for pithing in my 60-year-old Practical Poultry Management book I don't see how you could have a bird that was "live but unable to feel pain" after that. The brain would be pretty much destroyed if you followed the instructions.