Stun Blow....what are we doing wrong?

We try to provide the stun blow first before butchering and processing and are wondering what we are doing wrong because there is still the squeal from the rabbit. This leads us to believe we are not being efficient or doing it properly. We use a crow bar. Any help or videos or tips would be appreciated. Thank you!

First, thank you for asking.

When the rabbit screams, imho it is conscious.

I used the backside of my Glock army knife, most important is to hit the right spot. That would be the cross when you draw lines from eyes to opposing ears. Hit really hard, and if there is any doubt, several times. Practise with a plush animal, a piece of wood, whatever, since your other hand will be rather close holding the ears down, and two fingers pinning their shoulders.
I knee on the ground, bunny between my legs (feet crossed so they cant wiggle backwards), wait til they calm down, and bop them.

I think a crow bar (the ones I know) is too heavy, hard to bring it to the necessary speed and being accurate. A 3/4", 1ft long steel pipe would imho be better, I like the knive becaus its about 5mm broad square back easily broke the skull, has a good grip and the center of gravity is about where it hits the rabbit, a similar piece of flat steel would work too.

Hard to describe, but you see it instantly in their eyes when they are gone.

Now I use a selfmade captive bolt gun, big advantage is that I have all the time I need to aim, and there is less bloodshot meat.

Preitler":x2lx4pum said:

First, thank you for asking.

When the rabbit screams, imho it is conscious.

I used the backside of my Glock army knife, most important is to hit the right spot. That would be the cross when you draw lines from eyes to opposing ears. Hit really hard, and if there is any doubt, several times. Practise with a plush animal, a piece of wood, whatever, since your other hand will be rather close holding the ears down, and two fingers pinning their shoulders.
I knee on the ground, bunny between my legs (feet crossed so they cant wiggle backwards), wait til they calm down, and bop them.

I think a crow bar (the ones I know) is too heavy, hard to bring it to the necessary speed and being accurate. A 3/4", 1ft long steel pipe would imho be better, I like the knive becaus its about 5mm broad square back easily broke the skull, has a good grip and the center of gravity is about where it hits the rabbit, a similar piece of flat steel would work too.

Hard to describe, but you see it instantly in their eyes when they are gone.

Now I use a selfmade captive bolt gun, big advantage is that I have all the time I need to aim, and there is less bloodshot meat.

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I think that was a good description..

-- I use a piece of 1/2" galvanized water pipe [about 3/4 inch in outside diameter] about a foot long.. but I have several other things I use also-- all are about the same size...
--on young rabbits 8 to 10 weeks I use "cervical dislocation" --[ but just because it is quicker and easier for me when I have a lot of fryers to butcher]...

I am still a couple months from butchering any. I have seen the broom stick method does it work as seen?

I have heard the stun blow isn't always effective. I found a video where a guy used the Hopper Popper. It's a little less traumatic and apparently at least snaps there neck so there's no pain. But it dislodges their spine from the brain if I'm not wrong..

bigfoot_158":32pr60mv said:

I am still a couple months from butchering any. I have seen the broom stick method does it work as seen?

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That's what I use, especially on the big rabbits, like the adult NZWs I had to cull. You have to be quick and kind of flexible to get the stick over the neck and step on it with one, then the other, foot. I found learning that part was hardest for me, but easiest for the rabbit as she would just squeeze out unharmed if I did it wrong. Once you have the rabbit secured under the stick, it's a quick move to raise the back legs and death is instant with just a little twitching afterwards.

Good luck!

I do broomstick method myself. I'm not a huge fan of those pre fabricated bars used to dislocate in a similar method because even in the seller's own videos they don't seem to completely kill the rabbits like they should despite requiring what appears to be more force pulling down on the animal. That or they're nailing the device too high up to be effective. You can see the rabbits clearly still struggling and showing responses to stimuli to their limbs as they're moved to the skinning hangers. I've never had a rabbit react that way after broomsticking (there are some movements sometimes but they are always just vague feet pedaling for 10 seconds or less or just obvious muscle spasms).


I just googled and found a good video for hopper popper and they mounted it to a cement block on the ground. It was clearly far more effective this way.
I might use one in the future but it will have to be mounted like this one - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmzZqIcSO8c

.22 to the back of the skull, just behind the base of the ears, pointed slightly forward.
I made a small, bottomless, containment pen out of cage wire that I put them in.
I set it on the ground, put the bunny in, and wait a few seconds until a blade of grass or pine needle gets their attention. They stop moving around, I ease the barrel in point-blank.... They never know.
I am a carnivore with a serious aversion to animal suffering. It HAS to be instantaneous.

We used the broomstick method for a long time, it works. I find that narrower bars provide a cleaner kill than larger diameter ones.

My husband can preform cervical dislocation on fryers (for this, 8-11 weeks) with just his hands. This is faster than broomsticking, and seems to be less stressful for the buns, so it's our current preference for that age group. By the time 12 weeks rolls around, we prefer the pellet rifle. The important thing about using a pellet rifle is to take the time to look at a picture of rabbit's skull first. The brain is pretty far back.

Zass":43ck7qa3 said:

By the time 12 weeks rolls around, we prefer the pellet rifle. The important thing about using a pellet rifle is to take the time to look at a picture of rabbit's skull first. The brain is pretty far back.

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This is the spot and angle that's working well for me. I'm in the woods, so I use a .22. I'm sure it's more than what's needed, but I'm a newbie and an old softy.

Excuse me for being graphic but, I get really good bleed out. (exit wound) By the time I get them hung up by the back feet, there's little left when the head is removed. I believe the last few beats of the heart pump most of the blood out.