How to Hold the Chicken Prior to the

Slaughter

The first part of the shechitah, has nothing to do with actually killing the chicken, rather it is an inspection
of the chicken to make sure it is healthy. Most chickens are raised for either meat or eggs. The chickens
which are raised for eggs tend to be more active, while the meat chickens are generally lethargic.

The meat chicken are usually heavy bodied, and as a result of selective breeding many of them are
so heavy that they have trouble moving around. The kosher chicken should be able to walk, without
too much of a problem, but it is rare that a breed of chicken which is raised for meat is able to jump, let
alone fly. If the meat chicken is left alone, it will just stay more or less where it is placed, especially if the
chicken has not been properly watered or fed.

The chicken pictured is healthy, but is lethargic. It is thus necessary for the shochet to inspect the
chicken prior to slaughter to insure that the bird is not a treifah. This inspection is a general glance and
a test to see if encouraged the bird is able to walk. If the chicken is not able to walk, we refrain from
slaughtering it, because we are concerned that the chicken has been mortally wounded
After being inspected and forced to walk, the chicken is often a bit excited. While it is possible to
slaughter chickens while they are agitated it is easier if the chicken is calmed. The method that is often
used to calm the chicken, is to put both hands on the back of the chicken as shown in the picture below.
When the chicken senses the warmth of the human hands it calms down, and then by gently putting
pressure to the back of the chicken it can be induced to sit down.

The meat chickens, especially if they came from the live poultry market, generally to do not have all
that much energy. Hence, if the chicken after being inspected was startled and thus uncooperative it will
generally calm down on its own even without any intervention on the part of the shochet. The advantage
to this method of calming the chicken is that once the chicken has been calmed, the hands will be in the
proper position to take hold of the chicken’s wings and prepare the bird for the shechitah.

As can be seen in the picture, the chicken is now alert and it head is outstretched. However, as the body
of the chicken is gently forced to the sitting position, the chicken calms down.
 Once you have calmed down the chicken, identify the base of the wings.
You are going to have to pick the chicken up by the base of the wings.
If the chicken has been calmed, it will not jump around too much while
the base of the wing is located. As the base of each wing is located, it
should be held. The higher the wing is held, the more comfortable it will
be for the shochet, and the less likely it will be that the wing will snap. In
the event that the wing of the chicken breaks near the base, the ruling
is that the chicken is forbidden, due to the concern that a fragment of
the broken wing may have punctured the lungs. Ashkenazim have no
way to inspect the lung for punctures. If there is reason to be concerned
that the lungs were punctured the Ashkenazi tradition is not to slaughter
the chicken.

In theory birds can fly, and thus their wings are capable of holding their own weight. The chickens which
are slaughtered for meat are often young birds with weak bones. As a result if the wings are not held
properly they can easily break. As mentioned above, if there is a break on the lower part of the wing
there is a concern that perhaps as a piece of bone punctured the lungs of the chicken, thus rendering
the bird a treifah. If the chicken is not calm it will often be harder to manage the chicken, which may
adversely affect the shochet’s ability to grab the wing as close to the base as possible. For this reason,
if one is able, it is prudent to take the time and calm the chicken prior to the shechitah.
I have seen shochtim grab the chicken too high on the wing, resulting in the wing breaking. In one case,
the injured chicken, which was bleeding from the wing was placed in a separate cage while the shochet
continued slaughtering. An hour later the injured chicken was dead. It may not always be that a chicken
with an injured wing is so mortally wounded that it can not live out the hour, but as previously mentioned
the tradition has been accepted that we do not slaughter or consume chickens which have the lower
part of their wings broken.

People who are not proficient in shechitah, sometimes have problems properly identifying the base of
the wing. It is often in these people’s best interest to take a moment and gently pull out the entire wing
of the chicken, and see if they are indeed holding the wing as close to the base as possible.
The wings of the chicken once identified should be firmly grasped, by wrapping the fingers around the
base of the wings as shown in the picture below. The grip should not be a powerful grip, you don’t want
to squeeze the wing. The focus of the grip is to insure that the wings of the chicken are firmly under the
control of the shochet. If the bird struggles at this point, it should not be able to break free of the grip,
nor should it be able to hurt itself since it is being firmly grasped.

The danger at this point is that the chicken will break free one of its wings from the shochet. Should
this happen the likelihood increases that the chicken while struggling to break free from the grip of
the shochet will twist and break the wing which the shochet is still holding. It is my recommendation,
that if one of the wings is not under the shochet’s control and the shochet is not able to immediately
seize that wing, then the shochet should release the chicken, calm the chicken down and start the
process over. Although it is possible for a chicken to get out of the shochet’s grip, this is a very rare
occurrence. Should such a thing happen with any frequency it does call into question the proficiency
of the shochet.
The wings, firmly in the grasp of the shochet, should be brought together right wing over the left wing.
The end result is that the chicken is going to be held (assuming the shochet is a right handed person)
in the left hand, while the knife is going to be wielded in the right hand.
The wings are placed right over left (as shown on the previous page) and then the chicken is flipped
upside down. The wings and neck of the chicken are held in the shochet’s left hand, while the right
hand is free to do the shechitah and then inspect the esophagus and trachea of the chicken after the
shechitah. The chicken begins to become very agitated at this time. Whenever, the chicken struggles
there is always the possibility of the chicken damaging itself. The probability of the chicken damaging
itself, increases the more the chicken struggles. For this reason, many shochtim want to slaughter the
chicken as soon as possible. In the pictures here I did not place the esophagus and trachea in my left
hand, because I wanted to show everything one step at a time, and also illustrate how agitated the
chicken becomes. The experts are able to perform the entire shechitah in just a few seconds. They grab
the chicken, and then immediately use their left hand to put the esophagus and trachea (the simanim)
in place, such that the chicken can be slaughtered the moment it is flipped upside down.
If the shochet didn’t place the trachea and esophagus prior to flipping the bird, he must do so at this
point, in order for there to be a proper shechitah. Sometimes, even if the shochet put the trachea and
the esophagus in the proper place prior to flipping the chicken upside down, they may have moved
from their proper place in the course of the positioning of the chicken. In either case, while the shochet
is holding the chicken in the left hand, the right hand can be used to adjust the general grasp of the
chicken and to bring the trachea and the esophagus to the front of the neck so that they can be easily
severed. The tighter the esophagus and trachea are held in the proper position, the easier it will be to
slaughter the chicken correctly.

It should be noted, that although it is important to grasp the trachea and esophagus firmly, a person
does not want to apply so much pressure that the trachea and esophagus are torn from their place in
the neck of the chicken. If this were to happen the chicken would be forbidden to be eaten.
When the chicken is properly held, the mouth will open slightly as the chicken is unable to breath. If
the chicken were to be held in this position for an extended amount of time it would suffocate. The fact
that the mouth is open, does indicate that the grip on the neck is firm, but it does not indicate that the
esophagus and trachea are correctly placed. While the chicken is breathing, placing a finger on the
neck, one can feel were the trachea and esophagus are. They should thus be moved into place before
the grip around the neck of the chicken is tightened.
A shochet should attempt to severe both the trachea and the esophagus with one in and out motion. In
If the shochet goes back and forth a number of times, there is no problem as long as each time the knife
is in contact with the neck of the chicken and it is cutting new flesh. In the slaughter of birds, although
lechatchillah one should try to sever both the trachea and the esophagus, the shechitah is permitted if
the majority of either the trachea or the esophagus are severed. The Ashkenazi tradition is the that the
majority needed to consider either the trachea or the esophagus severed, should be an overwhelming
majority.

The amount of blood will vary depending on the chicken and the nature of the cut. If the two major blood
vessels in the neck (the veridim) are severed there will be a lot of blood and the bird will die quickly. If
only the trachea is severed, the shechitah is good, but the chicken might take a while to expire.