Chicken Killing Cone Fabrication

A brief “how-to” on how I fabricated the killing cone.  There are certainly more ways, and probably better ways, but I was able to put this together in about an hour utilizing materials I had on-hand.  So, it has that going for it.  Design courtesy of Anne Arthur; thanks again Anne!

In the first step (1) I laid out the design on some aluminum flashing material I had left over from a project for two tree-nesting duck nest boxes that I completed a couple of years ago.  I also used some as heat shielding last year around the maple syrup evaporator.  This material is inexpensive and useful.  It is light-weight, so this cone is not has heavy-duty as it might be, but I suspect that it will last years in my relatively light-duty application.

 

The next step (2) was to cut out using a pair of Wiss right-handed sheet metal shears.  I have had the right and left-handed models of these shears around for years, somehow they have stayed with me through the many moves.  At this point, I also used some Gorilla Tape on what will be the top edge of the cone, because the edge of the flashing is sharp, and that could result in inadvertently cutting a bird or myself.

 

 

 

Next (3) , I created the cone by rolling the flashing material and overlapping the edges by one inch; I used some spring clamps and more Gorilla Tape to hold the cone in shape.  The spring clamps are good for developing grip strength, too!

 

 

 

 

 

As a permanent attachment I then (4) used 1/8th inch by 1/8th inch steel pop-rivets (left over from last years Starcraft boat project as I recall).  Really I should be using aluminum pop-rivets, but again, I had these on-hand.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally, I installed the remainder of the necessary pop-rivets (5) , and removed the Gorilla Tape that was holding the seam in position, together with the spring clamps.

I intend to simply nail this to a tree near where I will have the processing equipment set-up.

This was one of those rare projects where I did not need to run somewhere for something, or put out the request to borrow something.  Perhaps I just this once got lucky, or perhaps I am finally building up a store of those things that serve more than one useful service.  It is probably a combination of a simple project, and having built up something of a small store.

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All for now, and kind regards,

John