indoor butchering of small rabbits

[akane]

I have a ND x MR doe that didn't sell and soon another litter of the same breeding. Then I will have the odd pure ND that doesn't find a home like the himis cause no one wants the red eyes. They are being butchered at around 1 lb live weight which is the perfect size for my shiba who needs about 1/2lb of food a day.

We are now raising them in the condo so I can't use my pellet rifle. I tested the drowning idea that worked well on the guinea pigs but unfortunately my test subject struggled for 30-60seconds before passing out instead of the 5 seconds it took the guinea pigs. This is not a humane method. I'm looking for my rabbit wringer but even if I find it I'm not sure there's anywhere to mount it. I'm leaning towards broomsticking but can it be done on such small rabbits? If I mess up are they going to start screaming and get my neighbors all riled? For some reason the more packed the housing in the US the more other people think they need to interfere in each others' lives.

Our last downstairs neighbors screamed at us and reported us for a rabbit drinking out of a bottle at night. Luckily they moved and the new downstairs neighbors are not home all day and are far louder than us. Someone else though reported us because they saw us carrying in small animal bedding with 2 dogs and the wording in the rules is a little vague on how many animals you can have. We gotta fly under the radar here and I'm not even sure it's legal to butcher an animal inside city limits.

 

[mystang89]

I don't see why it wouldn't work even on small rabbits. If the diameter of the broom stick is small enough to be in between the head and the shoulders all that is left is to step on it and pull the feet. If you don't want to do that you can always take something hard and and give it a good wack to the head. Slit the throat and let it drain out. Never had any noise from either of those methods.

 

[dayna]

Yeah, broomstick it or whack it over the head and cut the jugular.

 

[Zass]

Yeah, for smaller rabbit just use a smaller "broomstick". Their vertebrae separate more easily, so you probably won't have to worry about failure. Just pull hard and fast to make sure it's quick.

 

[Sinnfox]

Only time I ever had one make a noise was the whack in the head method...I apparently am not strong enough to do that on a larger rabbit, and giving a rabbit a headache really annoys them ...so I switched to broomstick..only problem is if you either don't tug hard enough because they sometimes don't die right away then...or tug way to hard...to hard is just really messy but no sound >.>

 

[Owl]

Broomstick. If using the "whack to head" method, I whack in base of neck, not in the head. Have seen others fail in the head when the base of neck is 99.9%

 

[mystang89]

giving a rabbit a headache really annoys them

lol, I can see a rabbit getting smacked in the head and then start yelling at the person with that stern look on its face. :evil:

Broomstick. If using the "whack to head" method, I whack in base of neck, not in the head. Have seen others fail in the head when the base of neck is 99.9%

True^^

 

[a7736100]

A rabbit that small even I am strong enough to: hold the head with my left hand and hind legs with my right hand; hold left arm straight out and pull with right like drawing back a bow and arrow. The neck will snap. Much easier than the broomstick method.

 

[Ramjet]

Watch the video of Grumpy dressing a rabbit , he put the rabbit down by hand , it appeared very quick & painless ... with nary a sound from the bunny. These being very small rabbits , it seems this would be an easy way of doing the deed.

 

[3mina]

The really teeny ones I prefer to do by hand, less chance of an accidental decapitation :x
Broomsticking will work great for the teenies too

 

[akane]

Whacking reminds me of the failed attempts at filleting our first fish. They were drying out before dying of lack of oxygen so my husband read to whack their head against something. Have you ever tried to whack a large slippery catfish across the edge of the sink? It didn't work. They have a head like a rock and they go flying across the floor every time.

 

[Ramjet]

Whacking reminds me of the failed attempts at filleting our first fish. They were drying out before dying of lack of oxygen so my husband read to whack their head against something. Have you ever tried to whack a large slippery catfish across the edge of the sink? It didn't work. They have a head like a rock and they go flying across the floor every time.

I use a ball peen hammer on catfish ..... to put them out of their misery before I skin them. One good whack will put even the biggest ones down for the count.


Here's the link to the video of Grumpy dispatching one with a simple pull on the neck , its at the 1:20ish mark of the video.

Maggie........you can sticky this if you wish.
It's the same video I had posted a couple of months ago.
It's safe....no worries.


http://www.keithfosterphotography.com/V ... -TBhXBVC/A

I may actually try this method on my next butchering session as it doesn't splatter the brain like my sons pellet gun does .... that way I can use the brain for tanning.

 

[PSFAngoras]

I've never had issues with cervical dislocation either by wringer or broomstick. Though I like the idea of not needing a wringer, i seriously doubt if I'm strong enough to try grumpy's method on my usual size FC candidates. It might work on something as small as your talking about though.

 

[Jessykah]

I agree with all of the methods suggested here. I think it would be very easy to use the broomstick method....but I had a bad experience doing this indoors...I always use the broomstick method when I butcher outside. This winter I butchered indoors for the first time. When I used the broomstick (I just use a small tree branch) on my hardwood floor, the rabbit's front section (behind the front legs) dislocated. The neck did not dislocate at all, and the rabbit suffered...So I thought that was weird, but probably won't happen again...but it did, so I went outside to do it on the uneven snow-covered ground, then brought inside for processing (too cold outside). It never happened again. Every time I did it indoors, it didn't work. I don't know why, but it always works perfectly every time I do it outside...just my experience.
I have only had 2 rabbits scream when butchering, and it was NOT as a result of being killed...it was just because the rabbits were scared from being caught. They screamed when I placed them on the ground, so I calmed them down until they stopped, then I used the broomstick. So it was just from fright, with only 2 siblings. Out of years of processing rabbits, that was my first and only time I had screams. So I wouldn't worry about that if I were you.
Here is the link to my post on how I process indoors:
my-winter-process-station-t19355.html
Hope this helps

 

[Sinnfox]

giving a rabbit a headache really annoys them

lol, I can see a rabbit getting smacked in the head and then start yelling at the person with that stern look on its face. :evil:

that is pretty much exactly what happened o.o...was aiming for the base of the neck and she moved her ears at just the right time to make it hit the very back of her very hard head... she screamed at me once then acted like nothing happened :?

 

[grumpy]

Watch the video of Grumpy dressing a rabbit , he put the rabbit down by hand , it appeared very quick & painless ... with nary a sound from the bunny. These being very small rabbits , it seems this would be an easy way of doing the deed.

The method I use "does" take a certain amount of upper-body strength.
And....I've done it this way for nearly forty-years.
It takes some practice to get that "quick-downward-snap" down pat.
My reason for learning this and my continued use of it is that
I've never liked the bruising caused by the "whack-em" method.

Plus the fact that I missed one time years ago and danged near broke my hand.
I know "now" that you can hold 'em different. Back then....I didn't. :x

grumpy.

 

[akane]

Well it mostly worked. I didn't get to the rabbit as quickly as planned so she was 3lbs. Good size for the akita. I filled my 5g bucket just in case and did it in the bathroom also just in case so there wasn't mess all over the wood floor. Put the broom on her, stepped on it, and pulled up. She squeaked, there was a crack, and then the head popped out from under the broomstick. I may have to get a narrow wooden dowel instead. She kicked for a long long time but it was only her hindlegs moving. I cut the head off and let her bleed out in the bathtub for awhile before skinning for dog food use.

 

[BlueMoods]

Another alternative is the way we do suckling pigs - just cut their throat and let them bleed to death. Takes less than two minutes and, you definitely get them bled out well that way. It does take a deep cut that severs the windpipe to keep them quiet but, it works quickly.

Next time consider using an older rabbit for ground meat, they make good burgers.

 

[ohiogoatgirl]

When i have to cull younger/smaller rabbits anymore i dislocate by hand in a stretching motion much like a left handed bow pull-back would be. But i have fair strength from farm work so it may not be best for everyone.
I hold the back feet in my left hand and my right hand around the neck. It has its back to me and i just push out with the rigjt hand and pull back with the left. Neck pops just like broomstick method. And since i already have it held i can loosely hold the ears and back feet while it does the death kicks to make sure it doesnt bruise up the meat. You could have your string and loop for hanging all ready, loop a back foot, stretch and pop, let it hang down and hold the ears and cut the head off/slit the neck to bleed out. <br /><br /> __________ Fri Feb 14, 2014 9:53 am __________ <br /><br /> ** note: i havent done this for indoor butchering but i imagine with the ~18inch of snow we got yesterday i just may end up doing this over the tub! My meatmutt litter is 9wks already.