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Kill Cone vs Cervical Dislocation for Poultry

 
Steward of piddlers
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I have seen two options available for devices to help with poultry dispatch.

The most common has been the kill cone.

Galvanized metal poultry kill cone.


The second option I have stumbled upon is a device for cervical dislocation. I've seen it better marketed towards meat rabbits but have found a meat poultry specific style.

Metal device for chicken cervical dislocation.


Anyone have experience with either, both, or something else?
 
gardener
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I made one out of plastic container by cutting the bottom off and attaching it a couple feet off the ground. The opening is wide enough for the head to come out and the body fits inside the container so the wings can't move.
IMG_20241130_102759.jpg
Recycled container chicken cull station
Recycled container chicken cull station
IMG_20241130_102754.jpg
Top view
Top view
 
pollinator
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I've killed chickens by both methods (not an actual kill cone but a diy version, and a broomstick for cervical dislocation).  Of the two I prefer the cervical dislocation because it is a much quicker death;  chickens killed by bleeding out at the neck took too long in my view--this is an animal welfare issue for me.  When I break their necks, they flap a lot, but there is a gap between the head and the neck:  they are definitely dead.  

Also, one more thing:  the only time I killed ducks I read that their legs are too weak for the broomstick method;  it would more likely break their legs than their neck .  With them, I gave them the full chop with a hatchet and I actually prefer that method most of all, despite never using it on a chicken (not killed any since).  One swift chop:  dead.  With the broomstick method, I have to feel the neck to make sure it's fully dislocated and once or twice I have had to repeat, not having pulled hard enough the first time.  
 
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Chicken processing;   Don't feed the birds 2 days ahead, water only.   I use 3 u-fence posts, 8' apart wire across
the top.   A dozen or so plastic bread bags, cut a hole in the ends, about 3" round.   Reach through the bag, index and middle fingers spread. get chicken's head between fingers, thumb under beak pull head through hole and bag over body. kill bird with axe, head off, hang bird feet first on wire on fence posts to bleed out, by the time 12 or so done 1st is ready to be scalded, plucked, feet removed & cleaned.  We would do about 50 in an afternoon.
 
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I let them eat, just have to be careful not to nick the crop with the knife so you don't get wheat and stuff everywhere. I lop the heads off with a wide bladed hatchet, drop the bird straight into a tall barrel where they can do the dance without splashing blood everywhere and getting dirty. When all's quiet tip them out onto green grass, hose them off and pile them into the laundry basket for the trip to the hot tub. I two thirds fill the big stainless steel laundry sink with water from the hot tap (that's faucet in American) and add one jug full of boiling water from the kitchen which gives the ideal temp for a scald. I also bought a bag of rubber chicken plucker fingers on eBay and converted one of my pottery wheels into a chicken plucker. It makes life so much easier! No hand plucking except for a few stubborn bits on wing tip and sometimes tail and the feathwers all end up in one wet blob next to the plucker- not blowing around or stuck all over your hands.
 
May Lotito
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I haven't heard about the cervical dislocation method before today. That does sound similar to the way of killing a lab mouse. Then I looked up the chicken harvest BB https://permies.com/wiki/145776/pep-animal-care/Harvest-Chicken-PEP-BB-animal and the recent one by Rebecca was done by cervical dislocation. Does the chicken need to be bled afterwards?

Also in the colleage physiology course we euthanized rabbit by injecting air in the ear vein and were told that was the humane way. I don't know why but nobody kills and harvests meat rabbit like that.
 
Jay Wright
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Hold the rabbit around the hips or back legs with your non dominant hand. Cup the fingers of your other hand under the rabbits face with your thumb laying between its ears and pointing back down the spine. Put the arm holding the back end of the rabbit across your body so that hand ends up just above the opposite hip. In one motion tip the rabbits head back beyond ninety degrees with the thumb hooked over the back of the head and push straight down towards the ground- hard. You'll feel the head and body separate internally. Dad and I used to trap and shoot for a living when things were tough or the market was good. We used to buy our .22 ammo five thousand rounds at a time and set a hundred to a hundred and forty traps each night. We had our own mobile meat chiller for years- it held several hundred rabbits. I've probably killed more than twenty five thousand rabbits using the method described above.
 
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