Quickest and most humane way to slaughter?

[User635240]

Hi, I've just started butchering cockerels, mostly for my dogs. I put them in the cone and slit their necks with a filet knife. I thought this is supposed to kill them instantly. But while they are bleeding out, they are still breathing, and their hearts are still beating, for 1,2, sometimes 3 minutes. It seems like they are suffering. Is there some way to kill them instantly, like the magic wand for ruminants?

 

[MysteryChicken]

For Slaughter I've been doing kill cone, & slicing the jugular vein(s) with a scalpel. If done right, they will lose conciousness, & die within 2½ - 3 minutes.
You want a good stream of blood, when you do this.

Other option I've done, is the broomstick method(Cervical Dislocation). But when it comes to gutting the bird, it's messy with blood still in the body, unlike the kill cone.

 

[User635240]

For Slaughter I've been doing kill cone, & slicing the jugular vein(s) with a scalpel. If done right, they will lose conciousness, & die within 2½ - 3 minutes.
You want a good stream of blood, when you do this.

Other option I've done, is the broomstick method(Cervical Dislocation). But when it comes to gutting the bird, it's messy with blood still in the body, unlike the kill cone.

Thanks. I guess I'm empathetic with the bird suffering in those 2-3 minutes. Would cutting the head clean off while in the cone be more humane? If so what's the best tool?

 

[Molpet]

I cut the head off with PVC pipe cutter.

Not the ratching kind

 

[Birdinhand]

Thanks. I guess I'm empathetic with the bird suffering in those 2-3 minutes. Would cutting the head clean off while in the cone be more humane? If so what's the best tool?

What you’re likely seeing, as long as you are being successful at getting the arteries to either side of the neck, is not the bird suffering. If done right, cutting the two main arteries to the head instantly drops the blood pressure and they pass out. The thrashing about is reflexive. If you want to compare, cut the head off and you will still see the same reaction. The expression “running around like a chicken with its head cut off” is a real thing, they miraculously have the ability to even run, as if they are still awake, not that unlike the tail of a lizard continuing to thrash about after it’s fallen off (in this case to distract predators while the lizard escapes).

To minimize suffering, I hold the bird upside down, tucked under my arm, holding its wings still. I do this for a minute or so, which causes the blood to rush to its head and disorients it, then I place it in the cone and rapidly, with efficient determination, makes the cuts. I also make sure to dispatch out of site of the other birds. The book “animals make is human” is a good general resource for how to approach the taking of animal life for our sustenance, in a humane manner.

 

[MysteryChicken]

Thanks. I guess I'm empathetic with the bird suffering in those 2-3 minutes. Would cutting the head clean off while in the cone be more humane? If so what's the best tool?

They don't suffer during that, unless done incorrectly.