What a disaster. Yesterday we slaughtered one of the Buff Orpington roosters. My husband was supposed to hold him while I did the ax, but when I finally got the guts to do it, I hit him and hurt him and didn't manage to make a dent. I freaked out and made my husband do it, but I feel HORRIBLE that the bird suffered, even for a few moments.
Then came the skinning, which was also a disaster. I watched a friend dress out (skin) a few chickens, and thought I knew what I was doing, but goodness gracious did I not. I did manage to gut it without busting the gall bladder or intestines, but I did screw up and pull the intestines from the vent, which resulted in a tiny bit of poop getting on the bird. I cleaned it off, but now I'm worried. I don't think it's as big a deal as with the bile of the gall bladder, but before we cook it, maybe you could advise me?
I also ended up breaking (rather than disjointing) the legs and wings, so I've got bone slivers that I'll have to deal with. Yesterday, I basically cleaned the heck out of it, tried to remove some meat (I got one thigh off the bone pretty successfully) and then I just needed to quit. So it's in the fridge, waiting for my attention today for tonight's dinner. I just hope I can eat it. I know his experience was better than he'd have had at a factory farm, but my goodness, what a trial.
Then, my MIL tells me that she'd become attached to him since he was living in the fish room due to being de-feathered by the dog. She talked to him every day and now she's upset that we killed him. It was my rooster, and my FIL said to do him first since he was stinking up the fish room. So I know she won't eat it, though I'm getting used to her not eating just about anything I make. If it doesn't contain ground beef, it doesn't interest her, and she'll make something else. Ugh.
"Processed" our first chicken
OH You Poor baby! I feel for you ! I havent dressed out a Chicken in ,I guess, 30 years or more! I dont believe I would know how to begin . Dressing it out by plucking not skinning, is what I would do but first I'd have to find someone to do the deed of killing it! Oh My! I remember how great the chickens tasted that were home grown and processed , but I would have a tough time of it trying to get that first bite down after raising it now! .... but as I gaze out my window and look at the 9 free ranging Roos who are doing nothing but eating up the grain and layer feede as my girls go in at night....well , lets just say it might get easier!
As for Your MIL .....all I can say is well Bless Her Heart!
Don't worry about the little bit of poop that got on the bird. You cleaned it off, and it will be fine.
Sorry you had a bad experience. The first time is probably the hardest.
Using a hatchet is not the easiest way, although it's what everyone thinks of when they think of butchering chickens. Using a killing cone and a sharp knife to cut the jugular vein is easier because you don't have to aim and hope you get it right and they bleed out very quickly. You can also use twine to make a loop, put it around both feet, tie off, and hang them from a cross bar of some sort (I use a pole tied low between two trees) if you don't have a cone.
I skin them too, but I find the older they get, the harder they are to skin.
I didn't use a cone, but I cut the throat that way.. it's so much faster and quiet..
Here is a good video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAJh9ehtTmA
We use cones - not the official killing cones but traffic cones with the tops cut off, placed upside down on two sawhorses. And a wheelbarrow with sawdust underneath to catch the blood. We also don't skin. We use a boiling water bath and then stick the birds in a chicken plucker. It gets them clean as a whistle in less than two minutes. We use the water bath/plucker with turkeys and geese that friends shoot, too, but it doesn't do as good a job on them as it does on the chickens.
We also let a bird chill for at least 24 hours and preferably 48 before cooking or freezing it. It allows the meat to relax a bit and to dry out slightly, paradoxically making it tenderer and more juicy. I learned that from someone on DG and found that it works well. At the same time, before freezing or cooking the bird I dry-brine it, and that also helps. If your rooster lived indoors, though, it won't be as tough as a critter that was racing around the chicken yard free-range.
DH does the slaughtering, we both do the scalding and plucking, and I mostly do the cleaning, but since it's just a once-a-year process I don't have it down as smoothly as I'd like. Washing the carcass well makes up for a multitude of missteps, though!
I'm thinking I need to find another forum...I used to butcher my own rabbits, chickens, turkeys. I just can't do it any more. It makes me feel queasy...I'm thinking I'm beyond help. I pay a butcher shop three dollars per bird and I just take the live birds to them and pick them up when they are through. I don't know what happened to me, I have just turned to mush...Haystack. I did watch the video and got through it though...LOL
I butchered 25 Rabbits today, -- They are easier [for me] then Chickens, -- reading your first post reminded me of many years ago, [ as a kid] when I had to butcher a lot for my family. The first time was tramatic for me also, --
I did a brine for the last ones I butchered.. left them in it for 2 days in the fridge? To me, the best part of the whole process this time was the chicken stock I canned.. It made every recipe I used it in turn out perfect! :)
edited to add
I wish we had somewhere to take them to be processed.. would make raising them and actually using them 10 times easier! To butcher is so messy, and sooo much work, I felt it wasn't worth it. What a shame that is.. but really, the yard took days to clean up even with all the precautions we took.
If I could find a place to do it, I'd grow out some meat birds!
This message was edited Jan 9, 2011 9:12 AM
Do you have any amish or minonites near you?sometimes they will do it for a fee
ZZ, why did it take so long to clean up your yard? We do it up at the barn, and then put everything away as we get to it.
I can imagine a massive cleanup if the bird got away mid-process!
The feathers (and yucky stuff) got in the grass, all over the back and side yard.. the ants & flies went wild... I should have done it all in the garden area, but I didn't have water there... The pot of water was in the back yard.. We gutted them in the driveway, and washed them off in the grass. VERY messy.. Rookies.. uggh! I would have just let the bugs take care of it, but it was right where I had to walk.. LOL
no processing for me lol
Poor ZZ, yuk indeed!
My chickens are safe, In fact we even own one rooster because the auctioneer commented what a nice, big chicken dinner he would be :(. Fortunately, he is a lovely, huge, lemon blue Cochin, and could well be an asset. His first eggs are incubating now. The eggs from the hens he lives with, I should say....:)
Haystack, I can relate, I can't even clean fish anymoe, which used to be a complete non-issue. I'm a bit disappointed in myself, if I want to be even a little self-sufficient, I need to be able to do these things. But, I can do other thing and maybe bater for what need done. If a can even bring myself to the point of eating any of mine....
Wussy :(
There's always vegetarianism...
Ugh, I could never eat one of my girl's let alone do the deed. I have a deep respect for those who can.
We lost a Marans to a prolaps. It was AWFUL, out in the garage looking up sites on the laptop trying to care for her. It happened so fast and I suspect one of her sisters wasn't very kind to her bottom when she saw it. It was bad so we thanked her for her eggs and sent her on.
Awww.. I'm sorry Annie, that must have been horrible.
Mevnmart, I'm so proud of you! That took guts.
Light_for_Jesus - thanks. Now if there weren't the chicken's guts to deal with... ;)