Need a chicken killin' tool.

[FortyTwoBlades]

So much of the practical information about the simple life has been lost it is good times to hear someone wrote it down.

Tell me about it. In my personal research on American scythes I've run into that exact problem. A lot of relevant info must have been passed on through oral tradition, and very little written material is available on them.

Next time I cull a bird I'll need to try the braining method. Svord makes a spike with a knife handle that I think would work well for the purpose, though they market it for use in killing fish.

[Operator1975]

I havent taken the time to read all the responses, on here, but if I had to do it, I would do it in one of two ways - like I do rabbits - pick them up and ring their necks clean off, or use my woodsman pal. There are a million options. Dont make it more complicated than what it is.

[FortyTwoBlades]

The most common method of offing a rabbit I've seen involves lifting them by their haunches with one hand so the the back of the skull is cleanly presented, then just giving them a firm whack with a club. You know you did it hard enough if blood comes out their nose. Dead almost instantly, especially if you give them two whacks for insurance.

[gldngrk]

just make sure when you try the debraining method its shows you must stick the rear]lobe] of the brain and give a quarter turn of the blade "a characteristic squawk indicates a good stick" if the front of the brain is pierced the feathers may tighten, so this will take some practice
grandma must have sent a lot of chickens to their reward to get good at it.

[FortyTwoBlades]

just make sure when you try the debraining method its shows you must stick the rear]lobe] of the brain and give a quarter turn of the blade "a characteristic squawk indicates a good stick" if the front of the brain is pierced the feathers may tighten, so this will take some practice
grandma must have sent a lot of chickens to their reward to get good at it.

I'll keep that in mind! Thanks for the tip. As I like to say, "you learn something old every day."

[Steve Tall]

Here's a century-old reference, complete with a picture of the special "knife for killing poultry":

http://books.google.com/books?id=ouc...6%2C311&edge=0
http://books.google.com/books?id=ouc...7%2C147&edge=0

from
The Poultry Book, by William Bernhard Tegetmeier and Harrison Weir, 1912
http://books.google.com/books?id=ouc...illing&f=false

[FortyTwoBlades]

I swear, man, you're a whiz when it comes to finding stuff on Google Books!

[Kentucky]

I always killed rabbits with the back edge of my hand..Hold them by the back feet and one solid whack across the spine/neck does it everytime...I always killed possums by putting my foot across thier neck and giving the back legs a big hard jerk..Snaps thier neck clean..

[Grease]

The most common method of offing a rabbit I've seen involves lifting them by their haunches with one hand so the the back of the skull is cleanly presented, then just giving them a firm whack with a club. You know you did it hard enough if blood comes out their nose. Dead almost instantly, especially if you give them two whacks for insurance.

Just don't try that with a chicken. I know a guy who bludgeoned a chicken repeatedly with a baseball bat, and found it running around the next day.

[FortyTwoBlades]

Just don't try that with a chicken. I know a guy who bludgeoned a chicken repeatedly with a baseball bat, and found it running around the next day.

God--they're so spazzy in general with such tiny heads that I'd have a hard time just hitting the thing in the first place, let alone making sure it was dead!

[Square_peg]

So much of the practical information about the simple life has been lost it is good times to hear someone wrote it down.

And a lot more was about to be lost when the internet came along and people started sharing all that information. If the internet had came along 20 years later everything would have been lost. It's such a blessing to have so much information available at your fingertips.

[JSMcustoms]

Pick your favorite Becker chopper. Anything from the BK2 on up will do nicely as a head hacker.

[Square_peg]

from
The Poultry Book, by William Bernhard Tegetmeier and Harrison Weir, 1912
http://books.google.com/books?id=ouc...illing&f=false

Great link. The whole book is available free for download. The PDF version is now on my hard drive.

[Kentucky]

Heres a couple of pics to take yall back'..

[FortyTwoBlades]

Great pics.

[Ed Fowler]

steve Tall - great book, thanks for the information. When I was going to Jr college I worked at a dairy, Chickens we kept were able to fly up into the attic of the house at night where they roosted. This was in a warm area of Colo. During the day they were free range, best chickens and eggs I ever ate. Their menu was picking grain out of what was not completely digested by the cows, bugs and what ever they wanted to eat. Some times during the winter we would supply them some grain. Yokes dark yellow, eggs like few today will ever know.

We also had an old peach orchard where we would turn out some young pigs in the late summer and fall, they would eat the peaches and when the peaches were gone we ate the hogs. The chickens would also pick on the peaches, clean up our corn and hay fields.

There is no better eating anywhere!! Eggs, fresh milk and pork a few turkeys and chicken along with a few store bought potatoes and flower for the gravy was most of my diet for 2 years.

Years later I would talk to a PHD who was in poultry science, he talked about conversion ratios etc. Too bad. future generations will never know.

My first ex wife's uncle made good money carbonizing chickens, he was an artist. Had the biggest house in town and the biggest long haired cat I ever saw.

[bearhunter]

Heres a couple of pics to take yall back'..

Take me back? Hell!
My wife and I have been known to kill hogs
And they sure taste good

[gldngrk]

the book i have with pictures that has more about raising all kinds of birds than you may ever need is called "raising poultry the modern way by leonard s. mercia "
the book i have was printed in 1975 so you can still buy it on used book wed sites
and back in the day i had a girlfriend who came here from the azores and she used to kill rabbits with the same method KENTUCKY describes when she wanted to make me a special dinner. but i think she did it to show me that i better be nice to her. lol but one chop to the neck with her hand was all it took and bunny was off to the pot.

[Mannlicher]

I am sure that a small Wetterlings hunter ax would do fine work on a chicken

[Square_peg]

I always killed rabbits with the back edge of my hand..Hold them by the back feet and one solid whack across the spine/neck does it everytime...

I've killed many rabbits in a similar fashion using a small club - hammer handle - blunt object. In one instance the rabbit was only paralyzed. Though it was motionless it's eyes followed me. I felt bad and gave that one another whack.