The Ballista Bolt Gun for Stuning Poultry during culling

[Amina]

It works great every time on chickens, for me. I have also used it for young rabbits with success. I can't speak to ducks.

 

[fatcatx]

It works great every time on chickens, for me. I have also used it for young rabbits with success. I can't speak to ducks.

Amina - do you remember where you bought yours? I made the mistake of not purchasing when I was mulling it over. Now that everyone has turned into a COVID prepper, I can't find one.

 

[tactilecontact]

I've also been considering this method, as I'm rather unsteady with an ax.

 

[KeystoneEarthMorgie]

I have used the bunny rancher bolt gun to dispatch about 12 roosters so far. I feel like its tricky because there are ao many feathers on the head. (Perhaps i need to place the bolt better?) but i can’t always kill them in one shot.

 

[Pollo Blanco]

You could always buy a Harbor Freight framing nailer. That way if you decided that 'offing' the birds just wasn't your thing, you could always use it to build a bigger coop! @cavemanrich

 

[Still mad]

Just checked bunny thread too - only thread I found had naysayers but no one who had actually used it?

I bought one and used it for the same reasons ( not comfortable with an axe) and hoped to humanely stun them before cutting. It was horrific..about half were injured but not stunned. A well stunned chicken has a thrashing body but a still face..so no blink,vocalization, breathing, voluntary movement.
They were meat king under 16kg, the device was new,and bolt placement was correct. I know that because I dissected the heads and could see hole in skull and bruising over mid brain. I think it doesn’t deliver enough force. I am a 71 year old women and I could cock the spring new out of the box.

 

[Sosalty]

"Is the skull thickness of a duck decidingly thicker than a chicken? The manufacturer does have a larger more powerful device but I'm not sure it would be needed."
I bought one and used it for the same reasons ( not comfortable with an axe) and hoped to humanely stun them before cutting. It was horrific..about half were injured but not stunned. A well stunned chicken has a thrashing body but a still face..so no blink,vocalization, breathing, voluntary movement.
They were meat king under 16kg, the device was new,and bolt placement was correct. I know that because I dissected the heads and could see hole in skull and bruising over mid brain. I think it doesn’t deliver enough force. I am a 71 year old women and I could cock the spring new out of the box."

I bet the ballista has generally adequate, but not ample power for their price point. If it can be taken apart, I'd try to double the spring power.
Springs

 

[TaylorGlade]

With 30 eggs put in the incubators two days ago - David bought one of these. It will be about 20 weeks before he tests it on males headed to freezer camp.

 

[Emerson24]

I prefer the bolt gun. Cutting the neck like people do just causes the bird to release catecholamines in response to this which is a contaminant to the meat. So, if you're whole point of being self-reliant is to eat a better quality of meat, then cutting the neck would not be my method of choice. I guess if you're proficient with the axe, then it's as a good. Overall, I still think that pinning a birds head down will increase the stress level which is what you want to minimize. For me, holding the bird for 30 seconds so it can acclimate to the situation, and then using a bolt gun followed by bleeding it out is the way to go.