shoot in head to kill rather than axe method?

[unionwirewoman]

Quote:
what are the two screws for to keep it from flopping around after you cut off the head??

The 2 nails are for holding the head while you chop it off . Insert neck in between nails , pull body back , swing axe . A good way to cull when it's a one person job .

 

[rufus]

OK, after living in this gun happy neighborhood, I have to urge you not to shoot chickens. Those bullets keep on going until they hit something pretty solid, like your wife's car or your new $200,000 tractor, or something worse.

A quick sharp knife is a lot safer.

Rufus

 

[PurpleChicken]

Quote:
what are the two screws for to keep it from flopping around after you cut off the head??

The 2 nails are for holding the head while you chop it off . Insert neck in between nails , pull body back , swing axe . A good way to cull when it's a one person job .

Thanks!! Well said.

 

[lynxpilot]

I used the 22 once because they were hard to catch. I'm no Annie Oakley and had a few not-so-clean shots. Better way would have been to catch them in the coop first thing in the morning and use the chop method. It was just as traumatic for me as it was the chickens.

 

[HobbyChickener]

I use the break and then chop method as well. I learned the hard way that it is something that you shouldn't do in front of the "next in line" or for that matter anyone that might be in the line or that you want to come close to you for a while. Keep them cooped, don't feed them for 24 hours, and make it clean and quick how ever you decide to do it. Good Luck

 

[Downinmyback]

For over forty years i have used the wring the: neck method which i learned from my parents. It is the most humane way to harvest birds . It is a fast and easy way after you learn the method. I use a AX when i harvest any of my old stock because they are tougher.

 

[meriruka]

Quote:
I think it's the "after you learn" that is scary for someone who has never done it before. I believe it's the most humane way, but I'm terrified to try it because I'm afraid I'll just injure the poor thing..

 

[silkiechicken]

I too don't let the next in line see as I put them in a crate around the side of the back of the house. Although once my layers (the forever flock) came around back to investigate the meat birds!

They tried to come right up and join in! I had to shoo them away!

 

[TechEdFireman]

I posted this on the "Sticky" topic on the Meat Birds ETC.

When we would butcher when I was younger, we never chopped the head off and let the chicken run around. We hung the chicken from a piece of heavy copper wire shaped in a W. To keep the chicken's head from moving around too much we then took a piece of that same heavy gauge wire and had in the shape of a hook connected to a gallon jug half full of water to weight the chicken down this went through the nostrils, so all that could move would be their wings. To dispatch them we would take a sharp knife and cut the artery going to the brain in the back of the throat. They would bleed out this way with little or no mess. Then dunk them and pluck.

 

[NS2A]

I specifically remember reading in the "Storey" book, NOT to chop the head off because the meat can get tough that way. The cone method is better according to the author.

But I like the wringing method, just yeah, if its not done right...