Butchering Chickens

[wedge40]

Dad would tie em to a cloths line by their legs wack the heads off with a sharp knife and let em bleed. Then off to the hot water to be plucked. First time I spent all day plucking feathers I swore I'd never eat chicken again.
Wedge

[Bird]

We always had chickens and they were a variety of breeds. I even had some bantams. My grandparents also had guineas. I remember visiting a great aunt and uncle who had a large flock of turkeys, but I never had any personal experience with live turkeys.

[vtsnowedin]

The cones have their advantages. They hold the birds wings tight against the body so you don't have to deal with all that flapping. Before the bird can think what the F---$$ you can pull down his head to stretch his neck then make a clean cut with a sharp knife that either takes off the whole head or plunges in then out forward and cuts everything except the spinal column. You can leave them for a minute or two to bleed out into a bucket set below to keep that mess in one easy to clean up spot then move them on to the hot water and the motorised chicken plucker. If you have more then a half dozen birds to do I recommend you rent one of these. they work fine and save hours or tedious labor on a day when you already have more then enough disagreeable tasks to do.

[dmccarty]

Try doing that with a 40 lb turkey. Our gobbler got too big and was smashing hens when he mounted them. Had my foot on his head, swinging the axe. He was beating me with his wings. He barely fit in the oven.

Do you have link to a video? I would like to watch, err, learn your technique.

Later,
Dan

[sweettractors]

I can't believe no one has mentioned "ringing the neck" of a chicken. Around here that phrase may also be used when you are threatening someone with punishment. As in "I am going to ring your neck", if you do that. Ken Sweet

[forgeblast]

I used the ax and stump method when the rooster went after me one day. Stewie was his name after that. I am thinking about getting some meat birds this year and the cone is looking like a good idea.

[sjerden]

I can't believe no one has mentioned "ringing the neck" of a chicken. Around here that phrase may also be used when you are threatening someone with punishment. As in "I am going to ring your neck", if you do that. Ken Sweet

Growing up my grandma used to "ring their necks". She would hold on to the head and swing the body around and around until it twisted off. I've seen, and used all methods - axe, broom stick and ringing their necks, but hadn't seen the cone until the Mennonites started moving in around my farm about 10 years ago.

[haroldy]

father in law would put knife thru roof of chickens mouth , chicken would not flop at all and would bleed thru mouth
odd nobody mentioned this way, seemed an easy way to do the task..

[Egon]

Can't recall any trouble with the axe method. The wings were folded down and held with both legs by one hand.

Turkeys were handled much different when butchering.

[forgeblast]

Turkeys were handled much different when butchering...
I was watching "alaska the last frontier" (about homesteaders in alaska) and the one guy uses a machette and walks up behind them and just lops off the head.