Mountain Home maverick. [volume] (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1906-1911, 1911-01-19

front and the most easily reached
by the knife. AS stated before, these
veins lie just below the skin of the
roof Of the mouth. hence a deep cut
is not needed. neither is any amount
Of strength required for the opera
ton
Il will be observed that just in
front Of the line which indicates the
point at when these veins are to be
cut they divide into two small branch
es. the course of which is not further
shown. This is because they very
soon pass through small holes in the
bone and go into the inside of the
skull, and into the deep tissue. where
they are quite safe from the killers
knife. If, then. these large veins are
to be severed, the cut must be made
far enough back to reach them before
they penetrate the bones Of the skull
On the other hand, if the cut is made
too far hack and over the edge of
the skull much of .he blood will set
tie in the loose tissue CT he neck in
stead of running gu. Of the mouth,
thereby clogging Tho vessels and
preventing complete bleeding as well
as making unsightly discolored areas
on the neck near the head. 1t is bet
ter to make one cut rather than 60
cut the bridge" in the middle or to
cut each side vein separately, since
this sometimes results in the clot-
ting of the blood at the ends of the
veins before the bleeding is COM
pleted
From what has been said concern
ing the necessity of cutting far back
in order to reach the point desired.
it will be seen that it is necessary
to know something of the position
of and shape OF the bones of the
chickens skull and their relation to
the external parts of the head. The
hinge of the jaws will be found on
the head of the live bird below the
ear. Still farther back there is
U-shaped depression in the skull into
which fits the spinal column. The
bridge-vein connecting the two large
veins of the neck lies directly across
the U-shaped depression.
1t can be seen how far back the
knife must go if the veins are to be
cut at the angle, and it will also be
observed that when they are cut in
this position the knife will have
bony backing which will prevent 1t
from going too deep, thereby obviat-
ing the spongy mass of blood in the
neck tissues which was discussed.
Grasp the head of the chicken firmly
and yet do not press against the soft
parts of the neck. Just above the
angle of the jaw, that is, about at
the chickens ear. there is a smooth.
strong area of bone large enough to
support the thumb on one side and
the forefnger on the other and this
is where the head should be held
when killing.
The thumb of the killer is pressed
firmly down on the head just below
and behind the ear in the space to
which attention was called when dis
cussing the bones of the skull. Here
too, is the hinge of the jaw. Pressure
of the thumb on one side of this por-
ton of the skull and on the other side
at the same place with the forefinger.
or with the forefnger and the second
finger, will result in opening the
chickens mouth and holding it op n
whilethe operator makesthe cut to
bleed Held in such fashion, there is
nothing to construct the blood vessels
thereby preventing the blood from es-
Gaping even though these vessels be
cut. The pressure against the jaw
makes accurate cutting of the veins
easier, since the bird can not close it's
mouth until the pressure is removed.
OF course, care must be taken not to
stretch the neck unduly, else the yes-
sels VIII be pulled TO such narrow
diameter that they are more difficult
TO find and also more dijcult to emp
ty.
The position of the knife in the
mouth needs no further explanation
The knife itself. however is veiv
different from that ordinarily used
in the bleeding of chickens. The
knife in common used is much too
large, both too long and too broad for
the most successful work. Generally
II is provided with a heavy handle
large enough to be grasped easily by
a large strong hand AS has already
been observed in this discussion, the
heavy o1aehfnu incfda tho hft1fc