Well I finally did it! I killed my mean red rooster, Rufus, and scalded, plucked, dressed him out and put him in the fridge. He jumped me on my day off when I had time to do him. Cut my finger taking his head off. Not bad though. Got to adjust the technique slightly to prevent that in the future. But his head came off quick and clean. I used my Dad's butcher cleaver that is carbon steel and can be sharpened to knife sharpness. Held his head in my left hand and put the blade on the back of his neck at the base of the skull and then pushed through hard. My mistake was not holding my left hand still. My left arm curled slightly countering the thrust of the right and I nicked my forefinger. Must hold the left rock steady next time.
I had tied him from the shower head by his feet by baling twine and forgot what my mother had told me how the body doesn't die right off but runs around flapping without its head. I had not tied the wings down so I got "babptized" in blood. The shower looked like an episode of Dexter. So my husband comes home from work while I am scalding and plucking and haven't got to the clean up portion yet. When he saw the shower he came out on the porch and asked "You are cleaning up the Psycho shower aren't you?" Of course!" I answered. So the shower got bleached and I still had time to shear a sheep that day. It was a good day off.
