Originally posted by: RossMAN
Just curious, the livestock you decide to eat ... how do you do the deed?
Well, when I offed the chickens, I started some water boiling in the house. Grabbed a very sharp knife, dropped it by a tree. Grabbed some lightweight rope and tossed it over a tree limb , tied with a loop on each end. Went in and selected two chickens (one of the two probably would have died within a few days anyways - his breathing had a raspy sound; product of growing too quickly.) Hung one on each end of the rope by their legs. Grabbed the knife and carefully sliced across the arteries in their necks (don't cut their heads off.) Blood of course poured out in a continuous stream until they were dead. They never struggled; I think the knife was sharp enough that it sliced without really causing pain. Meanwhile, as they bled out, I went into the house to perform some first aid on the back of my wrist, since I bumped it with the knife, leaving a nice bleeding gash. Then, I took out the big pot of boiling water and a garbage bag to the chickens. Dipped a chicken into the water for about 10 seconds. I couldn't believe how easy it was to pull feathers after that. Dipped it again, and got the majority pulled out. Then repeated for chicken 2. Took them to the sink in the house to finish pulling a few pin feathers here and there.
Then, sliced the heads off the rest of the way, cut the legs at the knees, removed the last section of the wings, removed the neck, cut around the tail and anus, disemboweled them, rinsed the insides, rubbed them with seasoned salt, and put them into the rotisserie. Fed the livers and hearts to the dogs. Set the timer on the rotisserie, cleaned up what little mess there was from feathers, and relaxed til the chickens were done cooking.
To off the pig, I dropped it off at the butcher, picked out how I wanted my meat to be done, and drove away.