Author Topic: Help needed in Essex (Read 15376 times)

scattybiker1972 · « **Reply #15 on:** January 05, 2010, 08:19:28 pm »

pretty much the same as poultry,only rats can bite. pinkies ect quick throw on ground circling arm round from back.
older ones hold and break neck against step or use a pole type thing [priest?] is it? like with fish. to hit back of neck.wouldnt do it with wild ones tho.
tried freezing some it was horrible.they do go to sleep pinkies its almost instant,pups and fuzzies takes longer,so i wouldnt do it again.i checked on them and they wernt dead,just someone told me it was painless,you just get cold ands go to sleep.

MiriMaran · « **Reply #16 on:** January 05, 2010, 08:21:05 pm »

Thanks, my friend freezes pinkies too.

doganjo · « **Reply #17 on:** January 05, 2010, 08:36:57 pm »

the tail and a hard wall are useful!

Maddox · « **Reply #18 on:** January 05, 2010, 11:20:24 pm »

Hi Harry

I feel the chickens are far to big for me to ring there necks so its cleaver & broomhandle for me, Ive a wall dispatcher on order too.

I will let you know how it goes, cant wait to cook one though..lol
Maddox

harry · « **Reply #19 on:** January 06, 2010, 04:39:58 pm »

All you need now is the air pistol and youve got the full set. Just a comment.. do you know what to do with the broomhandle, you dont chase it and try to hit it

fix the dispather to the wall or wooden post better than you think you need to, mine is about chest height so you can pull down with max pressure, do it once that should do it then move the neck an inch and do it again to make sure, you should feel a sort of crunching of the neck. also you need to nick a lost roadside cone and nail it to the wall next to the dispatcher at knee height upside down, then do the neck then slide the flapping bird into the cone so the neck comes out of the small cone hole (cut it to size), this keeps things tidy and stops bruising while they bleed upside down, some people cut the neck at this point a bit to drain the blood, i dont. i also use a cone with an air pistol, head hanging out of the hole the pull the trigger. watch where the pellet may end up after passing though. ive got the dispatcher thats shown on a previous reply in this subject and mine is fully adjusted to completly close, it doesnt cut or break the skin

DJ_Chook · « **Reply #20 on:** January 08, 2010, 07:54:10 am »

Hi Maddox,

I'm on my 6th batch of cobb/ross table birds. My largest was over 17lbs. When I have a bird that's only 7 or 8 lbs, the quick wrist action to break their necks works fine for me. But after unfortunately almost torturing a 10lb bird with that... I've moved onto the broom handle method for the large birds.

Hold by legs, head on ground, broom handle over neck, your feet on broom handle.......Pull hard. I don't hang about doing it, all over in a second. Once their head touches the ground, get your foot on the broom and get it done immediately. My only issue with this method is that I usually end up with a detached head. $:-\$

90 mins from dispatch to fridge. 5 mins kill + bleed, 5 mins gutting, 80 mins plucking. One day I'll build a whizzbang plucker. I hate dry plucking.

DJ Chook

Wizard · « **Reply #21 on:** January 08, 2010, 01:26:18 pm »

Hello all Just a little word of warning.We got a rat in the cavity of our lean to.Its made from 2x4 inch wood with T&G boards on the weather side and plaster board in side and a zinc roof. The deep freeze and washer are kept there.Kath first noticed some droppings near the veg trolley.So I called on one of my farmer friends and said"hev yer got a bit of rat poison I can scrounge We hev a rat in the out house cavity" "Course try 2 or 3 of these they are like lollies just tack a 3" nail through the hole onto a bit of board and you will see when hes been by the lolly being chewed and hes to late hes swallowed some hes dead"Sure enough next mornin it had been and quite a bit was missing Next day no droppings next week THE MOST FOUL SMELL IN THE BACK WAY.THEN A FORTNIGHT OR SO LATER THE BACK WAY WAS FULL AND i MEAN FULL OF BLUEBOTTLES URH!!!

Wizard · « **Reply #22 on:** January 08, 2010, 01:36:47 pm »

If you go to the River Cottage Community web site and click poultry in poultry click killing my chickens there are lots of info and a poster offering a set of photos on wringing a chickens neck.It really is quite easy if you are not squeamish and its your darling pet.This is a big problem especially if there are children involved.

harry · « **Reply #23 on:** January 09, 2010, 05:29:47 pm »

D J CHUCK, interesting, 17lb birds , whats all that about, would like to raise some

DJ_Chook · « **Reply #24 on:** January 09, 2010, 07:46:40 pm »

Harry, yeah 17lbs plus. These cobb ross hybrids are monsters. Poor things. We've an average dead weight of 12lbs at 10 weeks old. The very large birds are on average 16 weeks old.

DJ Chook

harry · « **Reply #25 on:** January 09, 2010, 08:40:32 pm »

DJ. can they be slowed down on semi free range, do you have to buy day olds or can they be home bred.

DJ_Chook · « **Reply #26 on:** January 09, 2010, 09:06:41 pm »

Hi Harry, Yes, they can be slowed down by free ranging them & restricting the amount of food you allow them. I have to say though, it wasn't much of a slower growth rate. It's a difficult choice.. they are always hungry little things, it breaks my heart to see them chirping for food when trying to restrict what they eat. I don't restrict their chick food, I let them free range from 6 weeks old

I get all my chicks from Cyril Bason. http://www.cyril-bason.co.uk/ They do deliver, but I only live 30 mins from there, so I collect.

Day old were about £1.60 each, growers (5 weeks old) were £3.50 each.

When I did my costings there was nothing in it, from 1 day olds to 5 week old growers. It was costing me about £3.50 to get my birds to 5 weeks old. I always buy the day olds. I got the growers once and they weren't that great.

I sorry I've hijacked this thread. If I can sus it out.. I'll do a new thread with some videos of my meat chicks. I've a 6 week video diary of my 1st ever batch.

DJ Chook

Maddox · « **Reply #27 on:** January 12, 2010, 06:04:14 pm »

Hi All

Well the deed was done (well half of them) and all went well, DJ we have the same type of birds as you and our largest was 15lb clean (its in the oven as we speak for our tea..lol) I dread to think what a free range 15lb chicken would cost in the shops!! We got ours from day olds and were free from a family member but we intend to buy our own next time as we have enjoyed our first batch so much.

Thank you all for the advice, not quite sure what I would of done without it.

I cant wait to taste my own 1st free range Chicken

Maddox

scattybiker1972 · « **Reply #28 on:** January 12, 2010, 06:07:13 pm »

how did you find/feel about dispatching them?

MiriMaran · « **Reply #29 on:** January 12, 2010, 06:10:46 pm »

Not enough info Maddox!

How did you do it? How did you feel? How was plucking/drawing e.t.c.?

Help needed in Essex - The Accidental Smallholder