Self-Reliance: How do you?

[bocephus]

RafterW I remember when we were young going to my Uncle’s farm to butcher chickens, my dad would cut the heads off and give them a fling and my brothers and I would round them up. We then had to pluck them. I think you have a far better set up.

[glen]

bocephus said in Self-Reliance: How do you?:

RafterW I remember when we were young going to my Uncle’s farm to butcher chickens, my dad would cut the heads off and give them a fling and my brothers and I would round them up. We then had to pluck them. I think you have a far better set up.

My favorite part of helping Mom kill and pluck chickens was chasing my sisters with the pulled off heads LOL

[RafterW]

glen lol, we didn’t get to chop heads off, just a quick slice to the jugular

[Deepwoodsbutcher]

Anybody use a captive bolt for chickens? I have one that is designed for poultry and rabbits. It works great. The birds are dead instantly and then bled out.

[Deepwoodsbutcher]

Here is a picture of it

[processhead]

Deepwoodsbutcher It looks like a miniature beef knocker.

[cdavis]

Deepwoodsbutcher never heard of one.

[Deepwoodsbutcher]

processhead That’s exactly what it is. Just spring loaded

[calldoctoday]

Deepwoodsbutcher I have never tried that. I used to use a chop to the neck for the rabbits & it worked perfectly, but you had to do it perfectly too. The chickens were a slice to the neck & bleed. The bolt sounds interesting & I have heard of folks using it before, but do not recall their comments.

[Deepwoodsbutcher]

calldoctoday I like it because it’s quick and calm. It is still possible to miss (chicken brains aren’t exactly big targets). A little education and patience goes a long way. I would say it’s less “dramatic” then the old chopping block and axe. I used it on some cull hens I did on site and the farmer was impressed with it. She had usually done them herself with an axe, and she wanted to buy the captive bolt gun by the time we were done.

[glen]

Deepwoodsbutcher Mom used a narrow board over the neck, both feet on the board pull the body up and toss it into the grass. Chickens bled out as they flopped around in the grass

[Deepwoodsbutcher]

glen yep. Some call this the “broomstick” method. It can create large areas of blood pooling in some cases, especially in rabbits. The captive bolt eliminates that issue add makes for consistent carcass appearance. Not a huge problem for individual use, and maybe not at all in chickens though.

[glen]

Deepwoodsbutcher Not a problem, 4 or 5 chickens at a time, killed, plucked, cleaned and cut up before noon
One for that night and the rest in the freezer