[pharnorth]

I hold them by the feet, rest the breast on the ground and shoot straight down through the head.

With big turkeys etc it might be easier to have two people but i manage ok.

Soft ground as a backstop

Many thanks. Next time I have a big bird I'll try this. 

[Bionic]

We have just had to dispatch a drake that was being picked on. They made him lame from which he never recovered and one eye was pretty poor.
He has been kept apart the whole summer but was so desperate to be with the others that I thought I would try again this morning.
It took them about 30 seconds to gang up on him again and I couldn't bear to watch so thought despatch was the best answer.
It was our first time and he wasn't for eating. He was wrapped up so that his wings couldn't flap and OH laid his head on a tree stump (duck not OH) and soothed him then quickly brought the chopped down on his neck.
It was very quick and I am not sure that anything else would have been any more humane.

[RPF]

I put Muscovies in a traffic cone with the end cut off to allow the head and neck through. Then shoot them in the head with a .22 air pistol followed by cutting the neck to let them bleed out. It seems more humane than when I used the broom stick method as quicker and the bird is calmer. I'll try it with my cockerlels as had a bad experience trying to wring the neck of a big year old Orpington the other day.

[Creagan]

Very interesting thread, if a bit morbid! I had been toying with using my air rifle to dispatch my geese when the time comes, glad to see this is considered a reasonable method. Good chance I may chicken out of course, they might just become flappy ornamental lawnmowers!

[Daleswoman]

Thanks for this thread, I have also been looking for a way to humanely dispatch 3 turkeys in a few weeks time and having done cockerels in the past by neck dislocation I don't feel I am strong enough to do this properly with even bigger and stronger birds.

I was thinking of an air pistol / rifle and a shot through the back of the head into a straw bale, but am liking the look of that small captive bolt kit, it seems cheaper to buy than an airgun, too.

[Kimbo]

Im also grateful for this advice on a topic that isn't very nice to ponder on. We are about to dispatch our first 2 surplus cockerels and tbh we have been putting it off. But we have now gone down the .22 air pistol route and feel a lot more confident about doing it humanely . So many thanks

[Clansman]

Just make sure with the pistols that they are of sufficient power.

the legal limit is 6ft lbs and a few will have less than 3ft lbs which is about as low as i'd go.

[Kimbo]

Thanks Clansman, weve done the deed. Followed your excellent instructions and, although I wouldn't want to do it every day of the week, it was OK.


Ive PMd you Clansman. X

[Creagan]

Just had a thought- what would be the best type of airgun pellet for point blank poultry dispatch? If I'm going to do this, I want to do it right...

[Clansman]

I don't think type will make much difference at that range.

I use a .22 more from a safety point of view rather than anything else.

I had a few .177 go straight through the head but I don't think there's really much difference between a smaller hole right through your brain or a larger hole not all the way through, both ways kill just the same.

[Clansman]

Culled a 34lb turkey stag last night with my air pistol again no problem.

I just laid this one on its front whilst holding the legs in one hand and shot it with the other hand, it stayed quite still while I held it.

[Bex]

I don't think stun guns are legal in this country but theoretically would that not be a good way to knock them out before throat cutting?
I know they use an electrified water bath commercially. What if you put them in a killing cone, zapped either side of the head with a stungun, then cut the throat or cut off the head?

Obviously that's only possible in countries where stun guns are legal.

[Clansman]

You can buy proper electrical stunners which work as you say but they are expensive.

[Clansman]

http://www.hsa.org.uk/stunning-and-slaughter-electrical-stunning/equipment-3

[Bex]

Seems they don't advise use on anything bigger than a chicken.
But I'm yet to find a reasonably priced bolt stunner.
Does anyone know why they decided decapitation was inhumane? Seems like the swiftest way to me.