(2007) by Melinda Stone
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Follow neophyte urban homesteaders on their journey from securing a live chicken to evisceration and finally a successful dining experience. This video is meant to inspire and provide viewers a sense of what it takes to process living chickens for the dining table. If you would like more detailed information and step-by-step instructions on how to butcher and prepare chickens for eating please visit these helpful sites:
How to Butcher a Chicken in 20 Minutes, How to Butcher a Chicken in 20 Minutes
I know this wasn’t the intention of the video, but it left me wanting to be a vegetarian even more. Especially from the scene of setting up the chicken to get butchered.
that cleaver was not sharp enough to do the job as quick as it could have.I f the ax is good and sharp and enough force is used you should not have to “saw ” like in the video. It should just pop off ErinM
There really are more effective ways to do this, and yes, that cleaver was not sharp enough. If you search around, you can find a few websites that describe holding the bird upside down so his/her wings won’t flap, making two nicks in the neck at the carotids, and letting the chicken’s own heart pump most of the blood out. The chicken goes to sleep as blood flow to the brain is lost, then just a few shudders and it’s done. Highly recommended…
sharpen your friggin cleaver! oy.
This video just turned me off of your whole site. Why even attempt this kind of work without the proper tools?
You look like a bunch of hipsters moonlighting as homesteaders.
Chris,
Sorry to hear you do not like “Making Chicken Dinner.” The piece was made in earnest. No one in the piece is a professional and they are learning how to do something that they have never done. I do not think the piece is glamorous but shows an honest day’s work trying to do something only read about. I do hope it inspires folks to recognize that meat processing is not easy. At our farm, and at the farms surrounding us, meat cleavers are the preferred tool. I know there are many ways to kill a chicken and I believe it best for each person to choose the method that works for them.
it’s unfortunate that the people involved did not take the time to RESEARCH what they were about to do fully, or potentially ask around to those who were more experienced. if you are going to laughter an animal, you need the PROPER tools and you need to do it properly, quickly, and humanely. this video is a complete turn off i agree, and makes the participants look like morons. cruel morons to boot- would it have been a huge inconveneinec to sharpen the cleaver properly, or were you just too excited to make a hip homesteading video and you forgot that the instrument needed to be sharp enough to kill the animal fast and without excessive suffering? idiots. shame on you.
this video is not for pussy vegetarians
That was totally inhumane!! If your going to do something like this at least research how to do it PROPERLY!!!! Totally turned me off your site – NOT something that inspires at all – how can you think this is inspiring ?? !! What were you thinking?? A Meat Clever maybe a useful tool but not if isn’t sharp enough to do the job !! It says in one of the comments by Melinda that at YOUR farm a cleaver is the preferred tool for this job – than I would have assumed you know how to SHARPEN/use one!!! I grew up on a cattle farm and we had various livestock and NEVER did we use an improper tool…Well I won’t be visiting your site again…that was just gross….
Please go to youtube and view Joel Salatin butchering chickens. We do it here all the time and never chop a head off. A cone and a sharp knife make for a calm painless and humane slaughter. Also check out “howtobutcherachicken.com” very good.
Thanks for putting this up! I am pretty sure I can do this myself now. I think your terrific for taking your time AND money out and making this available for FREE for us people that would love to learn.
Maybe all these people with their negative opinions about how you need to do a better job should go somewhere else. Funny thing is… with a tad of common sense any person with a functioning brain could have seen that had you slammed that hatchet down faster, you could have taken that girls hand off, there ARE some people out here with some sensibilites.
Please know, that I really appreciate your website greatly!!!
Research, Mesearch, I agree it was a bit awkward to watch as they struggled with the beheading, but it was honest. Whatever happened to making mistakes? No amount of research is going to make up for the actuality of doing something for the first time. The knife should have been sharper, I think they know that now and not from research, but from experience ( which I believe we all would agree is where true learning exists). I appreciate that even though flawed you guys still shared this experience with us.
Thank you.
P.S. I would suggest people lighten up and remember the last they messed up a project no matter how prepared they thought they were.
If the beheading had gone on for a long time perhaps your complaint about it would be valid. But it was just a second or two. I also agree with the other comment that there is a video showing how to bleed it with neck incisions that certainly looks a lot better. Death isn’t pretty, I’m not too crazy about the video where they hold the chicken by the head and swing it around to twist their neck. I assume those who protest the loudest here would never have a baby after watching a birth.
I am a vegan and was all into people killing their own food, but you “sawing” that damn things head off! So horrid, learn to SLAUGHTER before you post a movie of you torturing a chicken!