A first timer's guide to killing a chicken

Adaobi Onyeakagbu 11:25 - 01 January 2019

Chicken at a production farm [IEG vu informa]

Just as rams are synonymous to Eid celebrations, chickens are synonymous to Christmas and New Year celebrations.

Some families still purchase live chickens to prepare at home.

For them, it has become a holiday tradition for the chickens to be kept, chased, killed and cooked right there at home.

For others, it is a rite of passage to kill the chicken and has brought forward some funny stories. If you find yourself in this situation, we've got you.

For me, this is what I've learned from all the years of watching chickens die.

Child holding chicken at a farm [Love a child]

Choose and chase your victim.
It's okay to be scared. It's a life you're taking after all. Say a short prayer for yourself and the chicken — ask for bravery for yourself, and for eternal rest for your victim.
Hold the chicken by the wing, feel the life of the chicken coursing through its arteries and stare into its eyes. You might be able to feel its fear too.
As you get ready to kill it, prepare the ground. Use somewhere that won't get messed up by blood. e.g. sandy ground.
Use one of your legs to hold the feet of your victim and another to hold in place the wings.
Depending on the hand you intend to use to do the slicing, use the other to pull back the head of the chicken, exposing the neck.
Pull out some feathers around where you want to slice to expose the neck even more.
The jugular is where you need to slice. That is what completely kills the chicken and leads to a lot of blood.
The chicken should have resigned its fate by now, by closing its eyes, but if it's a fighter, it will probably still be struggling.
After staring into the eyes of the chicken for the last time, put the very sharp knife to the throat and take your position as a cold hearted killer by slicing the throat. If you can't seem to do it, it's not too late to take it to the abattoir — to kill a chicken is about N50-N100.
If you went through with it, fold the neck and use a wing to cover it, to reduce the amount of blood spilling everywhere.
Make sure the chicken is completely dead before putting it into the hot water and proceeding to prepare.

It's not that hard, is it? I wouldn't know because i haven't killed one.