Humanely Harvesting Whole 'Hickens

[guyabano]

Okay. Since I got back into the hobby of herp-derping about two years ago, I made the decision to raise their food items as well. I've been breeding and harvesting rats quite successfully for just about as long.

I started out with Esmeralda, the b!tch of a rescue retic who was just gorgeous. (the one in my profile pic) I have since released her. She was getting quite large and wasn't calming down, so I figured she'd be better off. (for those who don't know, I live where retics naturally "occur", so carm yo mitts hari)

Then I got Margherita, my burm and Stella, my little beeper. Stella should be fine with rats her whole life, but Margherita is a bit of a size queen and she has taken a liking to big cocks. Chickens.

I bought a few broiler chicks about a month ago and they're getting quite large. My question is: What is the best way to humanely harvest them?

I'm quite proficient at performing cervical dislocation on small mammals. I can kill and prep a chicken for human consumption no problem.

I saw a video on YouTube of a person performing a cervical dislocation on a chicken and it's head came off. Not the result I was looking for. If anyone can help with this, I'd be really grateful.

[Little Wise Owl]

I imagine you could just bop 'em on the head real hard or break their neck. There's this thing called a "Rabbit Wringer" that can be used on chickens too. It's a tool that quickly snaps the neck.

The Rabbit Wringer - Humane Meat Rabbit & Poultry Harvesting - How to kill, the best way to kill

[guyabano]

Originally Posted by Little Wise Owl

I imagine you could just bop 'em on the head real hard or break their neck. There's this thing called a "Rabbit Wringer" that can be used on chickens too. It's a tool that quickly snaps the neck.

The Rabbit Wringer - Humane Meat Rabbit & Poultry Harvesting - How to kill, the best way to kill

Ooh, interesting link. I don't think I'm going to be buying a "kill station" just yet, but I did see a very interesting .gif of the device being used on a chicken. It provided me some much needed insight. Thanks for the wisdom, Little Owl.

I have no issues with gore, death or killing (as long as it is with purpose) but it is imperative that the animal's suffering is kept to a minimum. I suppose I could just go off and see how much force exactly is required to break a chicken's neck, but I'd rather not risk going too soft and maiming the animal or too hard and ripping it's head off. The latter just seems unnecessary and wasteful. Since snakes live off of whole prey, I think keeping as much of the chicken where it used to be would be a plus.

I would very much like to approach this from an educated position. Any thoughts and input from others are still very welcome.

[Jim Smith]

When I was a teenager, I worked on a farm had to kill chickens as part of my job. They way I was taught was:

1. Holding the chicken by the feet in a head down position, place your first two fingers under the chicken's head; your middle finger under the jaw by the throat and the pointer finger right next to it under the beak.
2. Place your thumb one the back of the chicken's head and pull straight down while lifting slightly with your hand holding the chicken's feet.

This dislocates the chicken's head from the spine, immediately killing the chicken. Do not pull too hard or you will end up with the chicken's head in your hand and the remainder of the chicken dangling from your other hand. Believe me, I know this is true.

I hope this helps and I hope this graphic description does not offend anyone here.

[guyabano]

Originally Posted by Jim Smith

When I was a teenager, I worked on a farm had to kill chickens as part of my job. They way I was taught was:

1. Holding the chicken by the feet in a head down position, place your first two fingers under the chicken's head; your middle finger under the jaw by the throat and the pointer finger right next to it under the beak.
2. Place your thumb one the back of the chicken's head and pull straight down while lifting slightly with your hand holding the chicken's feet.

This dislocates the chicken's head from the spine, immediately killing the chicken. Do not pull too hard or you will end up with the chicken's head in your hand and the remainder of the chicken dangling from your other hand. Believe me, I know this is true.

I hope this helps and I hope this graphic description does not offend anyone here.

Jim, thank you for your insight. This gives me a deeper understanding of what needs to be done. Might be kind of weird, but I feel like I have a better understanding of how much force to use. Between your description and the helpful .gif from the website that Little Wise Owl shared, I believe I'm as prepared as I can be.

Today is feeding day. I'll be thawing out a rat and and killing a chicken. Hopefully the chicken will remain intact. Wish me luck!

[guyabano]

I've been a little busy with holiday season stuff lately, but I figure I'd type out what happened last Wednesday.

Spoiler alert, it went wrong. Horribly wrong.

So, Wednesday afternoon. I'd already started thawing out a rat for my ball python. One that was previously healthy and living in my rat colony. It met it's demise quickly and painlessly with a calming head scratch followed by a quick snap.
I walk over to my chicken coop where my five broilers I've been raising up were. Picked out the biggest c0ck and strangely enough, it only had one eye. No joke.
With Olaf one-eye in my hands, I walk out to a spot where none of my other animals can see me do the deed. I calm Olaf down and let him know he's fulfilling his life purpose and that it's okay and it'll be over soon. I comfortingly rub him under the chin and he relaxes a bit.

I deftly put pressure on the base of his skull and grasp his feet simultaneously. As I quickly pulled my hands apart, I felt Olaf tense up. I thought for a moment that I should pull a bit harder and the millisecond I added more tension, his neck just gave.
I remember the split second moment that I stared at the lifeless head and neck sock in my hand, horrified. My other hand contained a flailing chicken body with a skinned neck flopping about squirting blood everywhere. It wasn't soon before the blood got sprayed into my eyes. I couldn't see anything, so I had to let go of the flailing body. I wipe my eyes, and open them to the sight of a floppy, headless, lifeless bird unit writhing on the ground without an ounce of coordination. I know it was dead already, but it looked awful.
"WHAT THE F*CK." I mouthed under my breath.

Olaf was no more and once his body stopped flailing and spraying, I took him to Margherita's enclosure and offered him to the snake on tongs. She came close and looked confused. She took a moment to look over the headless "thing" and just moved away from it. I knew she wasn't going to take it, so I now just had a dead, headless bird on my hands.

F*CK.

I wasn't planning on butchering an animal that afternoon and quite honestly, aint' nobody got time fuddat. I had other plans, but rather than see an animal I'd raised myself go to waste, I had to butcher it. Unprepared and without a pail of scalding hot water, I proceeded to pluck the chicken. Dry. Not pleasant at all, but I got it done. Got my scalpel a fresh blade and started cutting and cleaning it out. The last time I did something like this, I was maybe 8 or 9 years old. Luckily, I remembered most it.

So now, I have a whole chicken in my freezer waiting to meet a good recipe.

As for Margherita, I let her calm down and tossed her a live bird the next day. Killed and ate it no problem. 2 down 3 to go. Those broilers are already quite large and I don't want to keep them living for much longer. I'll have to figure out chicken cervical dislocation another time. Soon.

Click HERE for a semi-graphic picture of the butchered Olaf.

[FWK]

Ahaha, excellent story! I helped my dad kill and clean hundreds of birds as a kid and this brought back many memories.

[guyabano]

Originally Posted by FWK

Ahaha, excellent story! I helped my dad kill and clean hundreds of birds as a kid and this brought back many memories.

It was an interesting situation for sure! Thought you guys might get a kick out of it.

[eminart]

If you've ever heard the term, "running around like a chicken with its head cut off" then you now understand. Believe it or not, they actually WILL run around for a few seconds without their heads. Makes you wonder how much or how little their brains actually do.

[Akuma223]

I loled at Olaf one-eye. Nice Skyrim joke!

[toddnbecka]

There was a chicken in the news a couple years ago. It was a botched butcher job, cut off the head but left the brain stem intact. The headless chicken lived for quite a long time that way, they just poured food (and presumably water too) down the neck. Apparently the brain stem had the necessary connections to keep the body alive, reminded me of a cockroach. They can lose their head and the body will go on, even laying eggs, for a month.

[guyabano]

For those who were wondering about Olaf One-Eye's fate.



I chucked him on the rotisserie and cooked him up with an olive oil, paprika and rosemary baste yesterday. Fantastic chicken. Came out incredibly moist.

I still think it's pretty cool that I cooked up a bird that I lovingly raised as a baby chick and brutally killed as an adult.

For those wondering what recipe I used:

Baste:
1/4th cup olive oil
1tbsp. paprika
1tbsp. salt
1tbsp. rosemary, dried or fresh
1/4th tbsp. black pepper

-rub the inside of the chicken with a pinch of salt
-chuck the chook into the preheated rotisserie on high for 10mins.
-slip a chunk (maybe 1 square inch) of butter up the chicken's butt
- drop heat down to about 200C or 400F baste at the 10min mark, 30 mins after that and once more another 30 minutes later
-continue cooking for another 10minutes for a total cook time of 1hr20m*
-remove bird from rotisserie and allow rest for 10-15mins.
-carve and consume

I still have half a bird left in my fridge. It's what's for dinner.

*cooking time may vary for different sized birds. Olaf was ~3lbs.