[CrunchyKat]

I used the broomstick method on a cockerel a few months ago, he was pretty big and I wasn't sure I would be able to break his neck. It was easy and very quick.

[Sudanpan]

I use the broomstick method if I have a situation where despatching is necessary

The flapping always makes me feel awful - logically I know its all down to lower motor neurone activity not being suppressed/inhibited by the upper motor neurones (brain basically) once the neck has been broken, but it doesn't really make it any easier!

Just make sure you have a foot either side of the chook's head on the broomstick otherwise the stick can slip.....

Tish

[Rosemary]

I can't help thinking it's a bit ridiculous shooting chickens with an airgun. Where does the pellet go if it goes straight through or if the bird moves just at the wrong moment? The accepted way is to break the neck, either by hand, using a purpose built despatcher, or using the so called broomstick method. A swift blow to the back of the neck with a "priest" also works well.

"Accepted" by whom? It used to be acceptable to hang, draw and quarter criminals but we don't do it now.

Pellet goes into the sand floor or the telegraph pole. It's point blank range and the bird doesn't really move, if you allowit to settle in the cone.

So called humane depatchers are not approved by the Humane Slaughter Association because there is no stun, just crushing of the neck. Using the broomstick will also crush before the neck is broken.

A swift blow with a heavy object will either stun or kill so should be followed by a definite kill method.

[SallyintNorth]

I have what is described as a humane disptcher screwed to the side of the stable you place the chooks neck in and close the handle in breaks the neck and chook is dead. It even works on geese with a slight adjustment on a screw.

I have one of these too.  Mine is on a good heavy D-shaped fence post so I can move it to where I want to use it.

I always fetch the bird in the dark if at all possible.

Edited when I read Rosemary's post:
I didn't know it was not now regarded as humane, I shall have to rethink.  I really don't want any kind of firearms on the premises.

[Sylvia]

If you get in touch with DEFRA they will send you a booklet on the accepted ways of killing poultry. I use a stunner as I have arthritis in my hands and can;t trust them to do the job properly but if you can break their necks this will be a lot cheaper.

[crosser]

what about putting them in a box connected with pipe to car exhaust...  sens them straight to sleep...  ok if your not going to eat it... 

[Darren]

what about putting them in a box connected with pipe to car exhaust...  sens them straight to sleep...  ok if your not going to eat it... 

you are joking right?

hold the chicken by the legs put its head in your hand with your thumb over its throut, fold the head back over its neck and pull down wards until you feel the head dislocate from the end of the neck, it will flap but thats only nerves then hang by the feet for 20 mins and it will bleed out into the cavity you you have a cleaner carcase if you are going to eat it

[Victorian Farmer]

i thinks the road cone is the best idea you could have them made and sell them very good.

[Womble]

Not sure there's a market for road cones TBH. Perhaps the council should just hang signs up at roadworks that say "Approved Poultry Dispatchers - Please Take One"  .

[colliewoman]

Thank you all so much for the replies, Rosemary i am stealing your idea
Whilst it may not be an accepted method, it does take away the fear of not  being firm enough. it is my fear (and many others i would imagine) that i would not use enough force and not have a clean kill. i can squeeze a trigger though and the road cone is an amazingly intelligent solution to holding firmly and eliminating flapping.

[Billy Rhomboid]

Using the broomstick method you don't need to exert a huge amount of force - you bend over with the chook then you straighten up. I have done this with large gees as wells as chooks, ducks etc and never once had a less than instant kill. The only 'danger' is pulling too hard, if anything , and pulling the bird's head right off, which can be very messy if you then let go and it flaps about with blood spraying. But there is definitely no question of whether or not it is dead.
I would always recommend the broomstick method to someone despatching their first bird or nervous about the operation.

BTW in that YouTube video is it just me or does using a spanner about 5" long seem an unusually fiddly way of doing it?

[hughesy]

"Accepted" by whom? It used to be acceptable to hang, draw and quarter criminals but we don't do it now
[/quote]

 A/ By people who have to kill poultry.  B/ WTF has that got to do with killing poultry?

[shetlandpaul]

colliewoman make sure you only shoot them in the back of the head just up from the neck. shooting in the front will not give a clean kill. mainnly eyes and other things. always put a second pellet in just to be sure. and then cut the thoat or take the head off. if you have done it properly there will be no blood squirting but if there is the bird is still stunned and then cut the throat. make sure you have a soft wood backstop. don't use the ground the pellet can go through and bounce back.

a rifle is a lot better than a pistol. you will get a lot of flapping even if you took the head off so either use a cone or get someone to hold it. i get suspicious if there is no flapping it tends to mean its stunned. watch its feet they are a good guide as to when they are dead but it takes practice to read the signs.

a decent airrifle ours is a bsa .22 will do geese easily and turkeys the turkey is a tougher bird so stun and cut quickly don't wait to see if they are dead. basicly your using the gun in place of a captive bolt stunner. the prefered method is by stunning and cutting using an electric stunner which needs training. followed by beheading and kneck dislocation. the dispatchers are not recommended asd they crush the neck instead of breaking it. but whatever method you use your objective is a quick pain free death. you will mess up a kill and once you have you will be sure to make sure it never happens again. no method is nice but if you achieve a quick death its not as bad.

[SallyintNorth]

The dispatcher I have dislocates the neck rather than crushing it - the pokey-out bit gets inbetween two vertebrae and shoves them apart.

As shetlandpaul says, you will mess up a kill one day and then make sure you never mess one up again - which is why I got the dispatcher.  And yes, no method is nice but it is by far the best when you know you've done it very quickly and cleanly - especially when you've witnessed the alternative. 

[goosepimple]

I'm a useless smallholder as I can't kill anything or even send stock to the abattoir - I just sell it and let someone else do it or get the man up the road to do the cockerels for a couple bottles of wine.  I find this method effective! (ok so I have a weakness ... shhh....it's not a bad one I hope).