The little things I learned

[K0k0shka]

I find that it does get easier the more you do it, actually. Though that probably depends on your personality, or some critical mass of how many you must do before you reach the saturation point and get desensitized.

I know some say you won't get as good drainage that way, but I've never had an issue.

I had really annoying drainage problems when I first tried cervical dislocation on its own, without cutting the neck right after for drainage. I did the broomstick method and hung the bird upside down in the kill cone until it stopped kicking, then I cut the throat to drain it, and even though it had been just a couple of minutes, by that point it was too late - the blood had started coagulating inside the bird and would not easily flow out. I cut the whole head off and still only got a few drops. When I started processing, I found a giant glob of blood jelly in the neck under the skin (pulled by gravity and collected there before I cut the neck), and there was blood all over the organs, oozing out of the heart, and it made processing really messy and annoying. So now I make sure to cut the throat immediately after popping the neck, before I hang the bird, to make sure it drains properly.

 

[fowltemptress]

I find that it does get easier the more you do it, actually. Though that probably depends on your personality, or some critical mass of how many you must do before you reach the saturation point and get desensitized.

I worked in research for a decade before quitting, and the bulk of my job involved killing animals. Before that I was a caretaker in the labs, which involved even more killing than when you're actually on the research side of it. My ratios were even higher than most of my coworkers, too, because a surprising number of researchers and caretakers had never killed an animal in their life before taking the position. Since they were often uncomfortable with it, and it somehow became known that I wasn't squeamish about it, whenever cages were flagged for euthanasia I'd often be sought out for that aspect of the job. I love animals and never want them to suffer, but I've never viewed a quick death as suffering, so it wasn't a problem. But that many years of daily terminations, and it can hit you hard. I got super sensitized to it, to where I started crying every day and not being able to sleep at night. Others can get desensitized, and at my work those are the folks who would be asked to take time off and be sent to psychologists to try to help bring that sensitivity back. Reason being that when you get desensitized, you also stop being able to as easily see any sort of distress in an animal, so you'll wind up causing unnecessary pain, or failing to identify issues in animals - things labs take very seriously. I'm actually thankful I'm the former type, even if it hurts me more. But I needed to get away from research, because the switch in me that flipped wasn't flipping back, and it was killing me.

I kill my own animals for food now, not because I want to (because I don't; that flipped switch in me still leaves me wracked in sobs afterwards), but because the thought of where grocery store meat comes from leaves me feeling even worse and more guilty than if I do my own animals myself. I'm in complete control of their quality of life this way, and it helps me feel a little better about myself. But it still does feel like a war within myself every time.

All that is just to explain why I feel the way I do, and that I do not expect that would be the case for most folks: I didn't intend to scare anyone off the idea of raising their own food. Nor do I think getting desensitized in the way you describe is a bad thing; the lab setting is unique, in that the animals have such an unnatural, restricted, and controlled living situation that it's only the least we could do to be hypervigilant in regards to identifying, preventing and eliminating any unnecessary distress. Also, this wasn't an attack on labs. A lot of the caretakers transitioned from jobs at rescues where they just got burnt out on the number of animals coming in that, for lack of a better term, were outright tortured at the hands of folks with good intentions, to say nothing of people who neglect or purposely harm the creatures in their life. Having volunteered at rescues myself, I can assure you it's a relief working at a research facility, where the animals are well fed and cared for with 24-7 veterinary care, should it be required.

Yeesh, I typed a novel. Didn't mean to be a downer, either. I love raising birds and spending time with them, and the meat is delicious. In fact, leaving out the killing, butchering is fun! It's like a puzzle in reverse, and takes me back to when I was a little girl watching my mom field dress deer and knowing jerky was in my near future. Plus, smoked goose and smoked muscovy is simply out of this world, and I absolutely recommend it to anyone who hasn't tried it.

 

[Amer]

How do you cook up waterfowl if not roasting?

 

[K0k0shka]

I worked in research for a decade before quitting, and the bulk of my job involved killing animals. Before that I was a caretaker in the labs, which involved even more killing than when you're actually on the research side of it. My ratios were even higher than most of my coworkers, too, because a surprising number of researchers and caretakers had never killed an animal in their life before taking the position. Since they were often uncomfortable with it, and it somehow became known that I wasn't squeamish about it, whenever cages were flagged for euthanasia I'd often be sought out for that aspect of the job. I love animals and never want them to suffer, but I've never viewed a quick death as suffering, so it wasn't a problem. But that many years of daily terminations, and it can hit you hard. I got super sensitized to it, to where I started crying every day and not being able to sleep at night. Others can get desensitized, and at my work those are the folks who would be asked to take time off and be sent to psychologists to try to help bring that sensitivity back. Reason being that when you get desensitized, you also stop being able to as easily see any sort of distress in an animal, so you'll wind up causing unnecessary pain, or failing to identify issues in animals - things labs take very seriously. I'm actually thankful I'm the former type, even if it hurts me more. But I needed to get away from research, because the switch in me that flipped wasn't flipping back, and it was killing me.

I kill my own animals for food now, not because I want to (because I don't; that flipped switch in me still leaves me wracked in sobs afterwards), but because the thought of where grocery store meat comes from leaves me feeling even worse and more guilty than if I do my own animals myself. I'm in complete control of their quality of life this way, and it helps me feel a little better about myself. But it still does feel like a war within myself every time.

All that is just to explain why I feel the way I do, and that I do not expect that would be the case for most folks: I didn't intend to scare anyone off the idea of raising their own food. Nor do I think getting desensitized in the way you describe is a bad thing; the lab setting is unique, in that the animals have such an unnatural, restricted, and controlled living situation that it's only the least we could do to be hypervigilant in regards to identifying, preventing and eliminating any unnecessary distress. Also, this wasn't an attack on labs. A lot of the caretakers transitioned from jobs at rescues where they just got burnt out on the number of animals coming in that, for lack of a better term, were outright tortured at the hands of folks with good intentions, to say nothing of people who neglect or purposely harm the creatures in their life. Having volunteered at rescues myself, I can assure you it's a relief working at a research facility, where the animals are well fed and cared for with 24-7 veterinary care, should it be required.

Yeesh, I typed a novel. Didn't mean to be a downer, either. I love raising birds and spending time with them, and the meat is delicious. In fact, leaving out the killing, butchering is fun! It's like a puzzle in reverse, and takes me back to when I was a little girl watching my mom field dress deer and knowing jerky was in my near future. Plus, smoked goose and smoked muscovy is simply out of this world, and I absolutely recommend it to anyone who hasn't tried it.

Maybe desensitize wasn't the right word, and you are right, one wouldn't want to get so desensitized that they stop feeling empathy entirely. Sounds like you went into the other extreme, got super-sensitized. I had to go to therapy for some trauma and the therapist called it "compartmentalization" - you put the traumatizing thing in a separate "box" in your brain and close the box, then proceed with your life as if the boxed up trauma didn't exist. When you revisit/relive the trauma, the box can get opened and you can feel its full force, but if you keep it closed, you can limit its effect on you and keep going. She said it was a coping mechanism I developed sometime in my childhood, and it was common and very effective (though not without its own downsides). I find myself doing that with other things as well, not intentionally, that's just how my brain deals. So while I may be desensitized to this one thing, because it's in its box, it doesn't mean that I stop feeling in general - each new experience undergoes its own processing, and it may or may not get put in its own box. If it's just regular day-to-day stress, it usually doesn't. I have kids and animals that I care for, and have the full spectrum of emotions and empathy when it comes to them. It's just that when slaughter time comes, I enter slaughter mode, and I suppose the trauma from that is mostly in its box, so I can go through it without much emotional turmoil. I still hug and say goodbye to each animal I kill, and I go about it as humanely as I can, and of course I'm sad, but not crying or losing sleep kind of sad, just... "life sucks" kind of sad. By contrast, when I've had to put pet chickens down because they were sick, whether via a vet or by myself, or when I saw one die, that's a different pathway and it hits me differently... In the moment I can keep my cool and keep the box closed - at the vet's office, or while doing the deed myself. But at a later time, like when I get back into my car, the box bursts open and I have a good long cry. So I don't think I've lost my mind yet Different people deal differently...

 

[fowltemptress]

How do you cook up waterfowl if not roasting?

Smoking is my favorite, by a mile. If my husband wasn't into variety, I'd smoke everything. I'm happy eating the smoked bird plain, but it's also good sliced cold and used in sandwiches, or chop the smoked bird up, add some pickle, onion, and barbecue sauce for a barbecue sandwich. Pan searing the breasts to medium rare and served with sauce of some type. Or slice up the meat and use it in whatever Asian dish of your choice. I like using muscovy in Asian dishes that call for beef, and goose in the ones that call for pork. I'll also throw meat in the slow cooker with chile peppers, onion, and seasoning and let it go all day for pulled duck tacos, which is my husband's favorite. I grind up the meat for sausage sometimes, but I usually use the ground meat for chili dishes. I'm still experimenting, too.

 

[K0k0shka]

How do you cook up waterfowl if not roasting?

My husband does amazing sous vide ducks! He cooks 3 for Thanksgiving and 3 for Christmas. After they come out, they are ready to eat and super tender, he just crisps the skin before serving - in a pan, under the broiler, etc. Rotisserie duck is also amazingly good.

 

[Amer]

Also, how dare you, sushi is amazing, have you even tried it?

 

[fowltemptress]

Also, how dare you, sushi is amazing, have you even tried it?

Haha, yes. I have a lot of friends who love it, and each one has said, "Oh, you just haven't found what you like yet!" So for their sake I always tried a different type, until I finally grew old and wise enough to be able to tell them, "Nope! I've got lasagna waiting at home. Enjoy your fish bait!"