What is the halachic source requiring us to ritually slaughter chicken specifically, and was there ever a time in history that Halachic Jews ate chicken without first performing ritual slaughter?
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1do you mean specifically chicken or all fowl? Birds, as korbanot, required a different method steinsaltz.org/Melikah1.php– rosendsFeb 28, 2014 at 0:04
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Atara, thank you for bringing your question to Mi Yodeya, and welcome! I hope you stick around and enjoy the site. Please consider registering your account, which will give you access to more of the site's features.– msh210 ♦Feb 28, 2014 at 0:24
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See here the Rambam with the Gur Aryeh hebrewbooks.org/rambam.aspx?mfid=17036&rid=4977– samFeb 28, 2014 at 6:33
1 Answer
There is a documented opinion among Tannaim that there is no biblical requirement for Shechita on fowl (eg. Chullin 27b - 28a). Accordingly it would seem likely that some time existed before the rabbinic requirement of Shechita on fowl was enacted when Halachic Jews ate fowl without Shechita. I note that we do not rule like this opinion, but rather that Shechita on fowl is a biblical requirement.
As with all the biblical laws of Shechita, the source is oral tradition from God via Moses, as it says regarding Shechita in the Torah (Deut 12:21):
וזבחת... כאשר צויתיך
And you shall slaughter it... as I commanded you
and there is no written record of that command.