Yet another one of those slaughter methods questions...

[Miss M]

If it makes you feel any better (maybe?) I processed four fryers today...the first one I did was COMPLETELY done...no organs, no fur, no head left, nothing. Just meat and bone, in a bag. I grab the next one to start skinning and the first one (IN THE BAG!!) JUMPS off the counter.... That thing twitched so hard that it flipped off the counter onto the floor. I couldn't believe it! So....yeah...I don't worry about them twitching or kicking after I've dispatched them. I know my aim is true, my arm is strong, and I cut the throat as fast as possible to bleed them out...no fear that the dispatch is quick and as painless as possible.

:rotfl:

 

[Demamma]

Zombie rabbit :zombiebun:
Processing chickens is the stinkiest and grosses job anywhere. I rather clean up dog poop!!! :gromit: It is not as smelly and easier. :roll: I got about 15 chickens from a friend for a great price. I fattened them up and got all but two done. Just could not handle the smell. (Insert vomiting into a bucket here) I was dreading it. I will take rabbits anyday. :lilbunny: inkbunny:

 

[GBov]

Oh man I HATE processing poultry. I got a sweet deal on some very nice, big chickens and a few ducks...$2 apiece because the gal needed space and couldn't afford to feed 'em. MASSIVE birds for $2 each??? Heck yeah! Only thing was, I had to process 'em myself. I've done literally THOUSANDS of pheasants in my life, I figured, how hard could a few chickens and ducks be?

Yeah thing is, when I have a pheasant that needs dispatching, I wring the neck and done with it. No thrashing. These guys...too big to just wring their necks. To make matters worse I blew out my shoulder right before I was gonna dispatch them so I had to have a friend over to help. My friend held 'em, I quick-like chopped off their heads with a single hard blow with my good arm.

I've never seen so much thrashing in my entire life. It was horrid. By the time we were done, we were covered in blood, feathers and sweat. Miserable work!!! I'll take a dozen kicking rabbits over a single freaking chicken ANY DAY.

I'll have chickens when I have more space and am zoned for it...and I will eat all their eggs. Forget chicken meat, that's why I have rabbits.

Tie chickens feet together and hang up, then grip just behind head with a pair of long handled loppers and crunch jaws shut. Dead chicken and very little blood. The neck skin is flexable so it doesnt cut but the neck bones break neatly. So, with the head still there, the bleeding is much reduced. If you blunt the blade really well there will be no bleeding at all.

But make sure the string is strong, I did a turkey just before Christmas that did the convulsive leap flap thing after I crunched its neck bones and it broke loose! Yep, there I was chasing a, mostly, headless turkey round the back yard :shock: :lol:

Rabbits are MUCH easier and cleaner and sweeter smelling to process than ANY poultry! Wish some of them could taste like duck!

 

[GypsyTinker]

Regarding kicking, I take that time to thank the rabbit for it's life energy. Also, holding it by the saddle instead of the legs makes less fuss.

You could also imagine it being them running off to bunny heaven

All life has the urge to preserve itself. I've seen muscle twitching as much as 15 min after dressing an animal.

 

[GBov]

Regarding kicking, I take that time to thank the rabbit for it's life energy. Also, holding it by the saddle instead of the legs makes less fuss.

You could also imagine it being them running off to bunny heaven

All life has the urge to preserve itself. I've seen muscle twitching as much as 15 min after dressing an animal.

How wonderful an image! I will give it to my youngest son, it will help him alot, I think.

The first time I did a turtle it freaked me out a bit, they are still moving HOURS later, all jointed up and still trying to crawl out of the pan :shock:

 

[Truckinguy]

I shoot the rabbit with a pellet gun and then hold it by the scruff of the neck off the ground and there is no kicking. However, if I lower it until the toes touch the ground it kicks hard. It's a little hard on my arm but it prevents the kicking.

Ror the chickens I have a large bleach bottle with the bottom cut off and the lid opening cut a little bigger leaving the handle on. I stuff the chicken head first into the bottle until the head is sticking out of the top and behead it with an axe. With the bird stuffed into the bottle it is completely contained and I just wait until the feet stop kicking.

 

[PistolPackingMomma]

All this talk about zombunnies, headless chicken horsesmen, and the turtle...

:doc:

 

[Truckinguy]

All this talk about zombunnies, headless chicken horsesmen, and the turtle...

:doc:

Lol, zombunnies... that's hare raising...

 

[Kyle@theWintertime]

I've seen muscle twitching in a skinned, dressed rabbit before...I just roll my eyes and remind the rabbit, "Hey buddy? You're dead, remember?"

Ugh, pheasants stink worse than chickens. Honestly, they reek worse than any other critter when processing...s'why I don't pluck those suckers any more, I skin 'em because I have to hold my breath while I do it. Once they're headless, footless, skinned and gutted, they smell fine. :shock: I wonder why.

Makes me wonder though. I've worked on deer that have just collapsed before and never gotten a muscle spasm...yet rabbits will kick like the dickens and then twitch for like twenty minutes.

I like the "bunny heaven" thing. As for thanking them, I do that prior to dispatch. They always get a favorite treat...they hold still when eating so I can make sure to be accurate, and I figure, that way the last thing they were thinking about was "HEY I JUST GOT THE BEST SNACK EVER!!!!"

 

[MamaSheepdog]

You could also imagine it being them running off to bunny heaven

:goodpost:

We helped process a steer last year, and headless, hideless, gutless, his muscles were still twitching away. I have killed, beheaded, and skinned rabbits, walked over to the house do do the gutting, and found beating hearts! :x

It can be a little unnerving, but I try not to think about it too much.

 

[coffeenutdesigns]

If it makes you feel any better (maybe?) I processed four fryers today...the first one I did was COMPLETELY done...no organs, no fur, no head left, nothing. Just meat and bone, in a bag. I grab the next one to start skinning and the first one (IN THE BAG!!) JUMPS off the counter.... That thing twitched so hard that it flipped off the counter onto the floor. I couldn't believe it! So....yeah...I don't worry about them twitching or kicking after I've dispatched them. I know my aim is true, my arm is strong, and I cut the throat as fast as possible to bleed them out...no fear that the dispatch is quick and as painless as possible.

That would freak me out to no end! :x

 

[cathyd]

I use a CO 2 chamber. They are pretty much comatose or gone when I take them out. No movement, sometimes muscle twitching. (20 seconds or less) I just could not dispatch them any other way, I am a weenie. Once they are comatose I slit throat and hang them just in case they decide to come back to life :shock: Not that this has ever happened! My husband made the chamber from an ice chest. Neat and not messy. No blood except in the tub under my hanging hooks.

 

[skysthelimit]

Even with injection, there is still muscle twitching but usually not violently, but not always.

I use the wringer and occasionally get kicking out when dispatching older animals but have not yet experienced it on those under 16 weeks.

My theory is that the older ones are
a) bigger and harder to maneuver
b) have stronger/more calcified bones making it more difficult to do it as quick
c) have more life experience and know this is not the typical nail trim or cage transfere so are more riled up.

Because of this, when its time to dispatch an older bun I do them first, try and keep them as calm as possible and use much more force than on a young one and try and visualize ripping the head off as the alternative is a slower more violent death.

Interesting. I never really noticed any kicking until I started culling buns older than 16 weeks, breeding age.

chicken is definitely stinky. I do prefer the pull the skin off versus plucking, but it makes for a tough roasting when you don't have any skin.

 

[Demamma]

I have had headless chickens clucking and chicken heads without bodies blinking and clucking. Freaked my 16 year old son out when I showed him. All depends on where I cut the neck off. All this talk of chickens is making me hungry for some baked chicken. :dinner: :chicken:

 

[Frosted Rabbits]

I beleive Devon had a youtube video she posted at one point, that showed twitching long after the rabbit has been cut up--- It is all residual electrical activity--- anyone who has ever done the frog leg muscle dissection, and hooked it up to a meter and applied electrical shocks for responses will recall the length of time the muscles can stay reactive to stimulus

 

[carebear]

This is all so very fascinating!
I'm going to have to warn dh about all this. It might freak him out...

 

[UK-backyardbunnies]

I have had headless chickens clucking and chicken heads without bodies blinking and clucking. Freaked my 16 year old son out when I showed him. All depends on where I cut the neck off. All this talk of chickens is making me hungry for some baked chicken. :dinner: :chicken:

You'll know about Mike the headless chicken then?

 

[3mina]

I do prefer the pull the skin off versus plucking, but it makes for a tough roasting when you don't have any skin.

That's where moist heat and low and slow come into play, just like with rabbit

 

[mwtrees]

When bonking a rabbit walking away is NOT an option imho. What if....that blow was NOT sufficient to kill the rabbit. Getting it hung up and the throat cut is the only way to know for absolute CERTAIN that the rabbit IS dead. Especially if you are still new at processing. Last thing you would want to come back to is a rabbit that isn't dead. Then if you want to walk away that is fine.

CO2 unless done properly is not a easy death for a rabbit either. I'd much rather bonk a rabbit over the head, kicking and all than to have CO2 done improperly.<br /><br />__________ Thu Mar 14, 2013 7:01 am __________<br /><br />

I beleive Devon had a youtube video she posted at one point, that showed twitching long after the rabbit has been cut up--- It is all residual electrical activity--- anyone who has ever done the frog leg muscle dissection, and hooked it up to a meter and applied electrical shocks for responses will recall the length of time the muscles can stay reactive to stimulus

I've had "swimmers" in the cooling tub long after they have been skinned gutted and cut off the rack.

 

[Secuono]

But I think the shot to the head is far more violent and disturbing than a little kicking. JMO.

Implying what? The pellet gun is the method of dispatch I have readily available. My budget doesn't yet allow for a wringer, and I don't have anyone locally that can oversee teaching me the broomstick method and I sure as shooting would hate to try it and do it wrong, causing needless suffering. The pellet gun is messy, sure, but it gets the job done...so far I've had zero "mistakes" and while it bothers me to see them kick, I'm relieved they're not suffering.[/quote]


Not implying anything. Just saying that a little leg kicking shouldn't be a bother if a bullet blasting through a head is something you're ok doing and seeing. Again, just MY opinion, nothing more. Don't take it the wrong way.
You don't need anything but determination and a bar tightly kept in place.