Practice beheading chickens.

[DragonRider]

Hmmmm. Glad I found this thread, I may have to do this a little sooner than I had thought too. I got some Cornish Rocks that are a little older now than I think they were supposed to be, so I am going to have to butcher them myself as well....

 

[Elke Beck]

So please don't contaminate your hard earned meat. Bleed them out!!!

Blood is not a contaminant. Leaving the blood in the animal may make it taste stronger or more gamey, and the meat might be prone to spoil a little faster, but otherwise, not bleeding out a chicken is not going to spoil the meat. Look at all the game birds that hunters shoot in the field, all the large game animals. These are shot, they do not have their throats carefully cut or a knife thrust into their brains to pith them. Quiet often by the time the animal is tracked down after running away from the spot where it was shot, it has dead for quite some time so there will be very little blood coming out.

All I am saying is let's not over dramatize the importance of bleeding every last drop of blood out of the chickens. It may be esthetically unpleasing to find clotted veins, but no one is going to die from eating meat that has blood in it.

 

[mr T]

Alright I am jumping in on this debate.

First, do what you are most confident in and what you are most comfortable with. Main thing is to commit and get it done with as little suffering as possible.

I use a bucket. Any bucket that your chicken will fit into snuggly. Five gallon is generally to large. Some of the smaller mop buckets from home stores 3 or 4 gallons works well. You don't want space for it to move around. I cut a hole in the bucket large enough to pull the head through. I had it nailed to the side of my barn but anywhere to secure it off the ground will work. A tree perhaps. As stated before an upside down chicken gets fairly calm. Place the chicken in the bucket upside down and pull the head through the bottom hole. Once again the bucket should fit the chicken snugly and be taller than the body as it might flop out as it is dying if it is too short and not snug. Stretch the neck down by holding its head down with your hand and use a sharp knife in your other hand to slice one half of the neck to out the side. It doesn't have to be a big or fancy knife. You are not trying to sever the spinal cord but right beside it, out one side. Not slicing its throat, middle to the side. This way you will have the chicken bleed onto the ground or in another bucket to keep the mess down. It will take a few minutes but it will bleed out cleanly and quietly pass. You can walk away for 5 minutes if you want to. I don't know if blood "contaminates" the meat but I do know that it is best to get the blood out of animals in general quickly. That goes for lots of things, even fish. It will definitely lessen the quality of the meat.

I guess for me I worked on a farm where they raised turkeys and I got the job of the bucket man. It is easy, and relatively quick for everyone. I just found that easier than having the bird looking at me while I swung a large hatchet/axe and hoped I hit it in the right spot and didn't miss.

 

[BCMaraniac]

Blood is not a contaminant. Leaving the blood in the animal may make it taste stronger or more gamey, and the meat might be prone to spoil a little faster, but otherwise, not bleeding out a chicken is not going to spoil the meat. Look at all the game birds that hunters shoot in the field, all the large game animals. These are shot, they do not have their throats carefully cut or a knife thrust into their brains to pith them. Quiet often by the time the animal is tracked down after running away from the spot where it was shot, it has dead for quite some time so there will be very little blood coming out.

All I am saying is let's not over dramatize the importance of bleeding every last drop of blood out of the chickens. It may be esthetically unpleasing to find clotted veins, but no one is going to die from eating meat that has blood in it.

I agree Elke. The truth is, if you use a cone to bleed out, and you leave the bird in the cone too long after bleeding, the wings don't drain as well. I assume that this is because they are tucked in close to the body and are somewhat compressed. I'm still gonna eat 'em.

Everybody should just kill their chickens in the manner in which they feel most comfortable,for it is generally the method at which they are most proficient.

 

[Elke Beck]

The truth is, if you use a cone to bleed out, and you leave the bird in the cone too long after bleeding, the wings don't drain as well. I assume that this is because they are tucked in close to the body and are somewhat compressed. I'm still gonna eat 'em.

I've noticed this, too. And if feet are not straight out, I find blood in the joints. And, yes, I am still eating it. Last night was a bit chilly, so I had a very good chicken noodle soup from stock made from feet and bones. There was some clotted blood in the breast that I thawed to put into the soup, and it still tasted really good. It did not kill me, and if there is any left when I get home, that's what's for dinner!

 

[BCMaraniac]

I've noticed this, too. And if feet are not straight out, I find blood in the joints. And, yes, I am still eating it. Last night was a bit chilly, so I had a very good chicken noodle soup from stock made from feet and bones. There was some clotted blood in the breast that I thawed to put into the soup, and it still tasted really good. It did not kill me, and if there is any left when I get home, that's what's for dinner!

YUM!!!! You don't have little rats in your house that raid the refrigerator, do you??LOL My big rats are home from college for the summer, so nothing will be left in my fridge!

Drainage of the wings are probably a issue regardless. Everything else hangs upside down in the direction of the neck except for the wing, which would have to be pulled up toward the feet to drain. I guess that is why if you order wings at a restaurant, you find clotted blood in the vessel that runs along the bones.

 

[Elke Beck]

YUM!!!! You don't have little rats in your house that raid the refrigerator, do you??LOL My big rats are home from college for the summer, so nothing will be left in my fridge!

Drainage of the wings are probably a issue regardless. Everything else hangs upside down in the direction of the neck except for the wing, which would have to be pulled up toward the feet to drain. I guess that is why if you order wings at a restaurant, you find clotted blood in the vessel that runs along the bones.

Here we blame it on the dogs or on polar bears. As in "Where's the piece of cake I left in the refrigerator for later!?!" "The dogs must have gotten it."

Little known fact: If you do not pay polar bear tax to the males in your household, polar bears will raid your refrigerator and cupboards. My brother told me about this when he was in his teens, and I have seen it time and again. Funny how they only take the ready to eat food, and never the stuff that needs to be cooked.

When I butcher this weekend I am going to see if I can pull the wings up straight after they stop twitching. Maybe I can get a better bleed out. I am also going to try caponizing them after they are dead. I want to see if I could do it, because I just can't have the nonstop 5:30 a.m. crowing. If they would do it once, okay, but when it is crowing every 10 seconds (I timed it) for an hour starting at 5:30, then I get a wee bit grumpy. I know capons can crow, but I understand they are a lot less dedicated to the sport and many never even start.

 

[BCMaraniac]

Here we blame it on the dogs or on polar bears. As in "Where's the piece of cake I left in the refrigerator for later!?!" "The dogs must have gotten it."

Little known fact: If you do not pay polar bear tax to the males in your household, polar bears will raid your refrigerator and cupboards. My brother told me about this when he was in his teens, and I have seen it time and again. Funny how they only take the ready to eat food, and never the stuff that needs to be cooked.

When I butcher this weekend I am going to see if I can pull the wings up straight after they stop twitching. Maybe I can get a better bleed out. I am also going to try caponizing them after they are dead. I want to see if I could do it, because I just can't have the nonstop 5:30 a.m. crowing. If they would do it once, okay, but when it is crowing every 10 seconds (I timed it) for an hour starting at 5:30, then I get a wee bit grumpy. I know capons can crow, but I understand they are a lot less dedicated to the sport and many never even start.

I guess we will have to start paying a black bear tax! Usually Lacy(our Maltese) gets blamed, even though she has no thumbs. I think Papa Bear is most likely responsible.....and yes, I have noticed that it is the leftovers that usually get taken. Would you believe that he even uses my microwave? I know this because I have, on occasion, found the microwave door open.

I am butchering tomorrow. Six CX---one roo and 5 pullets. My DH has to work the evening shift tomorrow, so we are going to do it early tomorrow am. Did you say that you only process 3 in a day because you do it by yourself?

Every 10 seconds?? This is the Red Ranger, right?? I have seriously been considering caponizing all of the Red Ranger roos that I get in my shipment Monday. You may have just made my decision easier..... My adult rooster(a Lavender Orpington) doesn't really crow that much early in the morning. He never wakes me up.

How old is this roo again.....13-14weeks? Getting his testicles out will be a bit harder, given they get more friable and have a tendency to tear. I think the age of caponization determines in large part whether or not they crow. I would be inclined to think that if he is already crowing that he might continue. If he does, give him a few weeks longer to get a little more meat on his bones, then off with his head! I have a production red, probably a RIR, that was supposed to be a pullet that I got at TSC when I got my meat birds, who are 10 weeks old. I am going to caponize him as soon as I get the CX processed. If I succeed, great. If I lose him....then I have learned a lot.

 

[KNHKLUCKERS]

Blood is not a contaminant. Leaving the blood in the animal may make it taste stronger or more gamey, and the meat might be prone to spoil a little faster, but otherwise, not bleeding out a chicken is not going to spoil the meat. Look at all the game birds that hunters shoot in the field, all the large game animals. These are shot, they do not have their throats carefully cut or a knife thrust into their brains to pith them. Quiet often by the time the animal is tracked down after running away from the spot where it was shot, it has dead for quite some time so there will be very little blood coming out.

All I am saying is let's not over dramatize the importance of bleeding every last drop of blood out of the chickens. It may be esthetically unpleasing to find clotted veins, but no one is going to die from eating meat that has blood in it.

Page 388 Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens...."Kill the chickens quickly and humanely with a minimum of stress, since stress reduces meat quality. Of several possible methods for killing chickens, the one most commonly used in backyards is the least suitable.
Using an ax. Most people's image of killing a chicken is to lay its neck on a stump and chop off its head. Using an ax is not the best idea, however. An ax severs the bird's spinal cord, tightening the feathers, and also severs the jugular vein at the same time as the windpipe, letting blood into the lungs and contaminating the meat."
The book goes further to explain how it can be done by hand or foot or my preferred method after the research that I have done by using a knife.
So I would like to apologize for using the term "contaminate". Your right blood is edible, and in my opinion sometimes tasty and high in iron. I still make Booda from my Great grandmothers recipe which requires pig blood as the main ingredient. However most people I assume, when raising meat birds, do so for quality. Page 389 Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens...."Bleeding is an important part of the killing process to ensure no trace of blood remains in the meat for the best flavor, appearance, and keeping quality. It must be done while blood still flows freely."

Side note...as an avid deer hunter...if I could get that deer to let me tie it up by the back legs and bleed it out..I would...until then the arrow is going to have to do the trick. Either way I'm still eating it!!!

 

[Elke Beck]

Page 388 Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens...."Kill the chickens quickly and humanely with a minimum of stress, since stress reduces meat quality. Of several possible methods for killing chickens, the one most commonly used in backyards is the least suitable.
Using an ax. Most people's image of killing a chicken is to lay its neck on a stump and chop off its head. Using an ax is not the best idea, however. An ax severs the bird's spinal cord, tightening the feathers, and also severs the jugular vein at the same time as the windpipe, letting blood into the lungs and contaminating the meat."
The book goes further to explain how it can be done by hand or foot or my preferred method after the research that I have done by using a knife.
So I would like to apologize for using the term "contaminate". Your right blood is edible, and in my opinion sometimes tasty and high in iron. I still make Booda from my Great grandmothers recipe which requires pig blood as the main ingredient. However most people I assume, when raising meat birds, do so for quality. Page 389 Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens...."Bleeding is an important part of the killing process to ensure no trace of blood remains in the meat for the best flavor, appearance, and keeping quality. It must be done while blood still flows freely."

Side note...as an avid deer hunter...if I could get that deer to let me tie it up by the back legs and bleed it out..I would...until then the arrow is going to have to do the trick. Either way I'm still eating it!!!

Hey, I did not intend any offense. Storey's Guide is a good manual, however, it is the author's opinion. I have had turkey killed with an axe, and it was almost a religious experience, it was so good, so I am a little skeptical about the premise that killing with an axe is so bad. It just seems like there is a lot of pressure put on people who are learning this process, and for most people they don't need any help feeling nervous and worrying that they are going to make a mistake.