Chullin 4: Ritual Slaughter, Five Disqualifications from Slaughter of Fowl

The rabbis continue to discuss shechita, ritual slaughter.  We learned that the Kutim were permitted to slaughter animals with a number of restrictions.  Today's Gemara turns to the ritual slaughter of fowl.  Kutim believed that it was not required by Torah law to slaughter birds according to shechita.  To counter that claim, the rabbis suggest that the five basic disqualifications of shechita are not found in the Torah, either, but the Kutim accept them.  Thus, we read, the Kutim should accept these laws as well.

These are the disqualifications:

• She'chiya, interrupting: hesitation during the act of slaughter
• Derasa, pressuring: cutting the esophagus and windpipe of the animal using pressure and not a back and forth motion
• Chaladah, concealing: placing the knife between the esophagus and windpipe before the actual slaughter
• Hagrama, diverting: slaughtering on a different part of the neck
• Ikkur, ripping: pulling the esophagus and windpipe out of their proper place before slaughter or tearing the esophagus and windpipe because the knife has nicks in it