Where the 'blinkety-blank" is that jugular vein?!!!!!!!!!

[schmism]

I prefer bird faceing away from me, in the cone upside down.

(im right handed)

Ill pinch the comb and pull down useing my left hand,although not entirely always a good choice if the bird is struggling.

For a more secure hold, I hook my left index finger under the beak holding the beak down, restraining the head. Wrapping my thumb around the back of the head and catching the back of the comb.

I use a long blade 8" knife for a long sweeping cut. Just above the ear lobe were the feathers start. starting toward the front (side away from me) just before the midline of the bird (avoiding the trach), makeing the cut upward at a slight angle toward the rear as if you were drawing a line from the front of the bird up around the ear lobe to the side of the kneck.

The veins/artery's are on the front side (not the back). After about the 5th bird or so you start to get a "feel" for how effective your cut is.

The above will leave 2 long cuts cutting both veins leaving the trach intact allowing the bird to continue to breath, and more importantly the heart to still beat thus pumping out as much blood as quickly as possible.

Clean quick humane kill.

 

[frogdog]

When someone's airway is blocked and they cannot breathe, a doctor can open a stoma at the tracheal notch...in effect, opening a hole in the trachea. Problem is solved. Why then, would opening a hole in the trachea by slicing it fully open, create a panic of not being able to breathe? What you have been reading is someone who is imagining how they would feel if their trachea was cut open....it is not factual in regards to anatomy and physiology.

Take it from a nurse who has worked on a vent unit and someone who has killed countless chickens over a lifetime...the birds can indeed breathe if you cut across the trachea...they just breathe from a different hole. Try it and see what you think then.

I agree that it is important to distinguish facts from the "this is how I would feel if's" that are sometimes disguised as facts. That said, I do believe that "how would I feel if" can be a good starting point. Whether dealing with a fellow human or a chicken, minimizing stress, fear and pain is important at all times. We started out with the holding, killing, and processing areas out of sight from one another. After the holding pen door wasn't latched completely and the birds saw their flock-mate dispatched - and didn't seem to care one bit - we adjusted our perspectives. They just don't react to death as people generally do (or injury, for that matter). While a lot of folks start out with chickens, we didn't. Our dispatch method is based on our earlier experiences with lambs and goats - which are strategically shot in the head and then bled out. The notion of cutting the throat of a fully conscious animal does not sit well, so everything - regardless of size - is rendered unconscious prior to being bled out. And, since it's "what I would want if", everyone is fully focused on the treat in front of them before they're dispatched, -except I would like chocolate cake instead of sunflower seeds...oooh, with dark chocolate buttercream frosting!

Having never experienced my trachea incised, I would be curious to know if it is painful for those who have. In an emergency situation, like a blocked airway, I would think that there would not be time to administer even a local anesthetic. If that's the case (no anesthetic), I would think it would be a fair comparison to incising a chicken's throat, in terms of immediate pain. What have you heard from patients?

Liz

 

[Beekissed]

Most are not incised without anesthetic, so no feedback from patients. On the other hand, I've been incised on my abdomen without anesthetic...twice...it burned a good bit but was not horribly painful. At least, not painful enough to cause me to yell out or flinch away, though it was uncomfortable. More or less like sustaining a deep cut on your finger or hand from a knife...it burns.

Most patients who do sustain deep tissue injury from a sudden event like an accident will report that, initially, they felt no pain but just pressure until the shock symptoms subsided and then they began to feel the pain. Time and again one reads and hears accounts of people who sustained massive injuries like the loss of a limb or digit, an impaling into the body or head, and even being shot or stabbed and they did not feel pain when the wound was inflicted but did feel a tug, pressure, or a blow.

Over hundreds of chickens that I've killed by cutting the neck, only a few have made any noise of any kind that would indicate the cut was felt acutely...most showed no reaction at all until the heart had pumped out enough blood to signal a fight or flight reflex in the body and then their body is signaled to move, the heart quickens to fill blood volume in the vessels, etc. These are still symptoms of shock, so it's still not clear if the bird is feeling pain at that moment as movement of the body is not necessarily a pain indicator but could be just adrenalin release as signaled by the nervous system.

 

[buffbrahmaboy]

I've only done about 50 birds but it gets better with practice. First lesson learned: Cut AWAY from you or you'll eventually mix chicken blood with your own. I use the ear as a reference. The breast faces me in the cone. Pick a spot between feathers and make a quick, long cut with a very sharp knife. Tilt the head until you see an arterial spurt. If you don't do this the wound may quickly seal shut even if the vessels have been severed. I now do both sides but you probably don't have to at first. The next technique I plan to learn is the brain stab.

I just noticed how old the original post is. Sorry for responding to such an old issue!

 

[frogdog]

Interesting. We'll probably stick with our current method for now, but it's good to have some real-life comparisons as reference.

Thanks and have a wonderful day!
Liz

 

[Clsikes]

I have found the quickest way is with a good pair of limb cutters, the long handled kind. It goes through the skin, veins, and spine very quickly.