[shetlandpaul]

you need to be able to kill one for when you find a seriously injured/sick one. you may not have someone else around to do it.

[goosepimple]

thanks shetlandpaul, I'm not that pathetic that I couldn't bring myself to do that, that is an entirely different matter and I have had instruction in it 3 times  (from the man up the road who despatches the cockerels) so that I am able to do it if required.  In fact I tell anyone who is thinking of getting hens that they should be properly prepared for that if the event arises and that they should reconsider getting the hens if they think they can't.

[cairnhill]

Does anyone know of courses on how to do the deed and how to prepare the birds for eating?  In Scotland preferably.

[shetlandpaul]

i was just suggesting if you get your friend to make sure your doing it right the next time there are birds to kill you will find the process easier. no plesent but easier. and your not pathetic.

[goosepimple]

ok :

[NormandyMary]

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).

No Im just the same. When my chooks were poorly and I knew their end was near, I'd take them to our neighbour who would "do the deed" for us.(OH is even softer and soppier than I am). However, now Im stuck as our neighbour has moved, so when I finally get my new lot of chooks, any that need doing will have to go to the farmer up the road. I KNOW that I should be able to dispatch myself, but Ive never been able to kill anything bigger than a spider.

[plt102]

Hi there - we have a new wall mounted poultry dispatcher and 6 (now 5) cockerals and 11 meat birds and it is time to get them all ready for the freezer so we can let our bantam hens have more space and perhaps hatch off some more birds.

My other half had a really distressing moment last week where the adjustment was too loose in the dispatcher and it didn't do the job properly. Our cockeral was stunned a bit but then got up happily and started pecking around and crowing again. She had to get our farmer friend to finish the job off by hand, after catching him again.

We have now adjusted the dispatcher but are really nervous about getting it wrong again. The gap is now about 1/2 centimetre - will that do the job for smallish cockeral bantams (the dispatcher handily came with no instructions...) or should it be any smaller (would rather not chop head off if possible)

Also, we have been advised to pull the body when the clamp is still on to make sure the job is done properly. Is that a good idea?

We really don't want any of the other birds to suffer.

P.S. we don't have an air rifle but do own an axe if essential....

[SallyintNorth]

I'm sorry to hear you had a distressing experience.  We all do, and like you all try to make sure it is only the one time.

I don't think you can make the gap too small for such a small bird - I have it at about 1/2 centimetre for full-size birds.  The jaws aren't sharp, so it can't cut the head off.  It works by the jaws pushing the vertebrae askew, snapping the spinal cord.

Make sure you have it just a little way down the neck from the wattles and aren't catching the wattles in it.

You can do no harm to double-check the bird is dead by pulling either the body or the head before releasing the jaws.  Pull at an angle, then you are doing the same thing as the broomstick method.  You may get more blood pooling into where the jaws have been - I hang them up by their feet for a while to let the blood collect in the neck before I gut them.

A vet once told me to check for an eyelid reflex - if you pass your finger across the eye, close but not touching, and the eyelid flickers, it's not dead.  Conversely if the eyelid does not flicker, it's dead.

Hope that helps and you feel more confident about the next ones.

[princesspiggy]

anyone keeping chooks should learnt how to kill them. ask someone to show u. i thought defra recommended neck dislocation so i dont know why u are all shooting them, they are not pheasants! our puppy had a habit of skinning the chooks necks and leaving them alive to wander around the yard so quick despatch was essential to stop there suffering. thankfully he doesnt any more, but dispatch is a job u need to know how to do.