How to Slaughter a Chicken

Alright folks, here it is...the slaughter video. There are many different methods. Here, we place the chickens upside-down in a cone with enough room for the head and neck to come out the bottom. You wrap an elasticy rope (like those ones for hooking stuff to the roof of your car, maybe smaller..) around the legs at the top of the cone. Underneath you have the blood tray with a bucket to catch the bloooodd. Heh heh. Anyways, why did we do it this way? Well, when the birdies go upside down and are snugly confined, they get really calm as the blood rushes to their head. This way as well, the jugular veins are nice and full so the death is very quick. The eyes roll to the back of the head in 2-3 seconds. Once calm (both you and the chicken), hold the chicken by the head. You use your knife (very sharp and easy to manage!) to raise the feathers from the neck just behind the ear (that disk thing behind the eye). The feathers will hinder slicing, which makes it messy and more traumatic for the bird. Once you have a good grip, find the back of the beak (put chicken in with neck toward you) and raise the feathers. You want to get a good clean slice and quickly. It will take a good amount of pressure and and downward and through cut. If done correctly you will get the carotid artery.
There will be blood.
But no Daniel Day Lewis.

They will die very quickly.
It might sound Avatar-ish, but a prayer done beforehand is nice. To whatever God. Or, if you are athiest, to the chickens. Treat them with respect. Thank them. They are giving you their bodies for sustenance and you will get out of it what you put in. Our meatbirds were Giant Cornish Hen X's, and typically take 6 weeks from egg to slaughter. We gave ours plenty of room to waddle around, lots of greens, and slaughtered them at 8 weeks old..They were happy chickens, and they are delicious.
So, without further ado...the slaughter...

Death throes? What death throes? I thought chickens were supposed to run around with their heads cut off!!? Well...that's why we bound up their feet nice and snug...because some of them did indeed to this. Why do they run around? It's like what would happen if you decapitated or bled someone out like that. You would be dead and your nervous system would make an epic exit. Like this...! (Note: This head is just about completely severed. This chicken is well-dead. This is not a video for the squeamish.)