I killed a chicken!

We didn't eat it though.
A friend's chicken has been ill for quite a few days and as it is at least 7 years old she decided it needed putting out of its misery. She couldn't do it herself and for some reason we sprung to mind as cruel heartless people who could! Well to be fair she knows we are planning on eating some of ours and will therefore have to manage to do the deed.
Initially I volunteered Doug for the job. But as I was staying home while they went out for a ride (Daisy is still out of action) I decided that I shouldn't be such a wimp. If I can't kill someone else's chicken I am never going to be able to do one I hatched from an egg and have fed and cared for for ages... Plus this one I didn't then have to pluck and gut as we decided not to eat it given it's great age and unknown illness.
I used our 'culling pliers' for the first time.

You put them round the chickens neck and squeeze, the spikes are to stop the neck sliding out the edge. The 'blades' are not sharp, they are rounded and blunt. The theory is that they push between the vertebra as you squeeze, forcing them apart and snapping the spinal column. If you are going to eat the bird, you wait for it to stop twitching madly and then chop its head off and drain the blood out before plucking and gutting.

There is a lot of debate on the internet about the most humane way to dispatch a chicken. I would say that the consensus is that chopping it's head off with an axe is. However the downsides of this method is
a.) It takes some practice to manage to get the chicken in a suitable position without traumatising it (easier with 2 people)
b.) Blood tends to be sprayed everywhere because of the mad convulsive twitching that happens after death. There are some quite gruesome videos on youtube. I would not advise watching them unless you want a lesson in 'how not to'. There is one with some hillbillies demonstrating chopping the head of and then the headless body bounces and runs around the garden spraying blood is a quite delightful way. Euurgh.

As long as you use a firm squeeze (I doubt you could squeeze too hard and mush it's head clean off unless you have a really strong grip) this method seemed pretty quick and not too traumatic (for killer or chicken).

Still not sure I can do a rabbit though. They are awfully cute.