THE BOOK OF POULTRY. 



" The methods of killing vary considerably, 

 and some of them are very objectionable. The 

 plan usually followed in this country is disloca- 

 tion of the neck. When swiftly and properly 

 carried out, there can be no more humane 



method. The operator holds the 

 Killing. bird by the two legs and gathers 



the ends of the wings in the same 

 hand ; thus the bird is unable to struggle. When 

 so held the back should be upwards. He now 

 takes the head between the first and second 

 fingers of the right hand, the comb lying in 

 the palm and the fingers closing upon the neck 

 immediately behind the head. The neck is 

 drawn by the right hand to its full length, the 

 head thrown slightly back, and by a sharp but 

 not too vigorous pull the vertebral column is 

 broken, the neck thrown fully out immediately 

 behind the head, the veins and nerves torn right 

 across. Such a system ensures but momentary 

 pain in killing, because, as the brain is the centre 

 of all feeling, separation from the rest of the 

 body means immediate cessation of feeling. 

 When properly done it will be found that there 

 is a break in the column of the neck of about an 

 inch to an inch and a half, the head being con- 

 nected with the neck only by the outer skin, 

 which should not, of course, be torn in any way. 

 In some parts of this country it is customary 

 to cut the throat, and this is a very effective 

 method, but, for reasons afterwards explained, 

 there are objections to this system, which, how- 

 ever, is adopted almost entirely in Belgium. 

 Certainly the appearance of birds in Belgian 

 shops and markets compares very unfavourably 

 with specimens in our own country, as they lie 

 upon the slabs with an open gash in, and the blood 

 marks conspicuous upon the throat. In France 

 there are two methods chiefly in vogue. One is 

 known as the system of paletting. In this case 

 a special knife is used for the purpose, with a 

 long narrow blade sharpened on both sides. 

 The bird is tied by the legs and wings, laid 

 down upon a table or block, back downwards, 

 the mouth is opened, and the point of the knife 

 is inserted into the slit which is found in the 

 roof of a bird's mouth ; it is then forced right 

 through the brain to the back of the skull. 

 When properly and firmly carried out this system 

 is a very excellent one, as the piercing of the 

 brain causes paralysis, and practically destroys 

 the sense of feeling. I fear, however, that a 

 good deal of cruelty arises from this method. 

 In many cases, instead of forcing the knife right 

 through the brain, it simply penetrates the 

 frontal part of the skull, and does not effect the 

 purpose ; in fact, the bird simply bleeds to 

 death. In the La Bresse country I saw a system 



carried out which appeared to me to be very cruel 

 indeed. The birds were hung up by the legs to 

 wires stretched across the killing room, and the 

 operator — who, by the way, was a woman — 

 opened the mouth, inserted a pair of scissors, 

 and simply cut the veins of the roof of the 

 mouth in a transverse direction. The birds 

 flapped their wings, and it was certainly a con- 

 siderable time before they were dead. When I 

 objected to the method, it was stated as a reason 

 for its adoption that the flesh came so much 

 whiter w-hen the blood was drained in this 

 manner from the body, and that the flapping of 

 wings had the effect of causing the blood to flow 

 more freely. There can be no question whatever 

 that a bled bird looks better than one in which 

 the blood remains in the veins, but where a 

 large number of birds are to be killed and 

 plucked, the flying about of the blood is not 

 only objectionable so far as appearance is con- 

 cerned, but at the same time, if plucking takes 

 place immediately it has the effect of spoiling 

 the feathers, and this is an important point, as in 

 Sussex it is generally considered that the feathers 

 obtained from a fowl should pay the cost of 

 killing and plucking. Up to the present time I 

 have not yet met with any plan which would 

 get rid of the blood speedily from the body 

 without running a danger of loss in this way ; 

 and the system of dislocating the neck appears, 

 taking it all round, to be the least objectionable, 

 and to drain the body of blood to a very large 

 extent. If in plucking the operator holds the 

 bird in a proper manner, the head is hanging 

 downwards, and thus the blood is draining into 

 the space between the head and the neck. It 

 is important that fowls which are to be kept 

 in cold storage should always be bled. One 

 of the most objectionable methods of killing 

 which I have ever seen is by hanging, by reason 

 of the fact that this causes suffusion of blood 

 all over the body, and when the bird is 

 plucked the flesh is perfectly red. I should be 

 very sorry indeed to eat a bird killed in this 

 manner. 



" Plucking the fowls is more easily carried 

 cut if the operation takes place immediately the 

 bird is dead, and whilst the body is still warm. 

 It is frequently objected, by reason of the mus- 

 cular action which is observed in a bird imme- 

 diately after death, that it must be 

 Plucking. suffering pain ; but upon this point 

 the best veterinary authorities in the 

 country, including the late Sir George Brown, 

 of the Board of Agriculture, have assured me 

 that it is impossible for the bird to have any 

 sense of feeling after the brain is severed from 

 the rest of the body. Hence we need have no 



