Butchering day draws near-decision 2008

i just killed and butchered for my first time a couple of days ago. don't be afraid. its not all that hard and not all that bad. there is some work to it though. i needed to kill 5 abnoxious young roosters. i have fished all my life and i shoot arrows through deep, but when it came to killing these birds i really kept putting it off. it just seemed so hands on.

i waited until dusk when they all went into their coop. i prayed to god to give me the strength to do a good job. i breathed deeply to slow myself down then i took out each bird thanked him for his life and put his neck under a broomstick, stood on either side of his head and pulled his feet upwards hard. i am very small so this method worked well for me because i don't have long arms. don't look them in the eyes while you do it, don't think too much do it quick for him and for you. then i hung them up in the downstairs fridge for 24 hours. you dont need to chop off the head it makes a big mess and the blood will all drain into the head and neck in the fridge. the next evening i scalded and plucked all the birds and then took their guts out and chopped off the head and feet. the smell is not too bad, just don't cut through the guts. once they are dead it is just dealing with meat. the killing was the tough part but i have to say i felt really proud and strong afterward. it gave me a lot of respect for all the people who do this for every chicken dinner, and it gave me a good experience with mother nature, that she gave me the strength when i needed it. i felt very connected and thats what growing and killing your own food can do. i would advise you to do this at least once. i am really glad i did. (and i have 5 chickens in the freezer.)

good luck. you can do it.

My husband did away with 3 of our young roosters recently. He just chopped the head and plucked, then you slit from the vent up to the bone and dig out all the stuff. The main thing is to be very careful not to break any of the insides when you are getting them out, especially the gall bladder which is a small black bean looking thing. My father-n-law used to be a butcher and he said "don't break the gall bladder" He also used to skin them and defeather at the same time. My husband doesn't have that part down yet, he just defeatherd. Be sure to clean them good on the inside and out and then dunk him in cold water to cool him down. You can even put vinegar in the water to kill any bacteria. After he is clean and cool, cook, freeze, soup, whatever.
I can't watch the head chopping and my kids hide so they don't see it. They love chickens but if you too many roosters you get crowing in stereo and they maul the poor hens.

"He also used to skin them and defeather at the same time."

Okay, doesn't skinning effectively remove the need for de-feathering?? What am I missing?

I just had the funniest image of someone going into bigbuffy's fridge for a midnight snack. I thought things like that could only happenat my house.

When I was a teenager, my father took a nice big buck with a bow just before Halloween. He wanted to make sure no loose dogs got at it or no one stole if from the tree in the front yard, so he hung it on the tree very close to the house. Well, that night a bunch of kids from school decided to TP our house. Dad heard a noise outside and thoguht something was after his buck. He grabbed his favorite varmit shotgun and racked it as he yelled into the darkness, "who's out there?". Now, my father scared US, I can only imagine what the sound of his voice did to thoes kids.

We heard sounds of panic as the kids ran in diffrent directions trailing toilet paper behind them. Then we heard a thump and hysterical screaming. "He's got me! Oh God, he's got me!" We all ran around the corner of the house and there was one terrified teemage boy wrestling with the dead deer he had knocked from the tree.

Dad was laughing so hard he couldn't help him get out from under the carcas. I'm not sure what was worse for the kid. My dad calling his parents or the teasing he got at school the next day for being tackled by a dead deer.

I know that was off the thread, but heck, it's snowing and I'm bored.

OMG, i am dying here, & it isn't snowing & i'm not bored..... thanks for the big smile...

I don't care who you are - that's some funny stuff right there. I'm dyin' over here...

9i came back and read it agin, just the las tpart. nnow i am tearing up! so gald that never happened to me. my kids gbetter watch out though LOL

That was one funny story. I am not snowed in either and I am not bored, but I sure enjoyed the laugh. I laughed so hard DH had to come see what was so funny.

Then he laughed too!

i gotta stop coming back to this thread!

TF, why?

ROTFLMAO on that story
" he got me oh god he got me " LOLOLLLLLLL
tears in my eyes.
were is a camera when you need one right ? lol

not again! i need to unwatch this thread. i can't stand to laugh this much, GG!

I spoke too soon about the snow. I woke up this morning to a white blanket covering everywhere and lots of snow coming down.

Now this may be normal for some of you, but not so much here. In the last ten years it has snowed here twice. Once last year on Easter and now.

It is finally stopping and hopefully will be melting soon. People around here do not know how to drive in the snow. So in that respect, I too am snowed in, cuz I am not about to get out with any snow left on the roads.

Catmad.....Skin and defeather at the same time. In other words he pulled the skin off with the feathers so he didn't pluck feathers first.

You can do that? Skinning sounds so much easier! why don't more people do it?

Because then there's no skin on the bird, and when you cook it it has more of a tendency to dry out....Better for you, they say:)

When I butchered roosters, it was hard for me to eat them later. That smell of the fresh meat and intrals during the process repulsed me. They and their blood do smell when their body is still warm. I did manage to get thru the whole process of butchering and plucking 5 roos though.

I grew up fishing and dressing out fish etc., and that dosen't bother me.
But then, fish are cold blooded....... chickens are warm blooded. There is a difference when cleaning them because of that.
I definately think BigBuffy had a good idea about chilling them before actually cleaning them. I haven't done any more butchering of chickens since the first couple of experiences. The fact that fresh farm raised chicken does taste different from store-bought, only served to remind me of the "different" experience. So even if they didn't taste funny, my imagination made me think they did.

I do want to try again sometime, using younger, more tender chickens rather than roosters. Also, I will try chilling them first, and maybe skinning instead of plucking.

I wonder if a person could filet the breast meat, detach legs & thighs and wings etc....... leaving only the intrals and the back ? Kind of like how you filet a fish ? Anyone ever do it that way ?

PeggieK wrote;"Anyone ever do it that way ?"

I do it with "store-bought" chickens, so don't see any reason why you couldn't.

I used to clean fish all the time. It's gotten more difficult for me, I've become whimpier with age. Which probably explains 8 head of cattle who stare at me when they want food....knowing they are safe for the rest of their lives. Sigh.

I know someone else who butchers her old stewing hens kind of like that. She kills them and then cuts the skin and breast off and tosses the rest on the compost. I don't like the idea of the compost or wasting the rest of the meat (I owe it to that bird to use all of her possible), but it's the same princapal as the other way.

I skin out my stewers and then cut them up inot a huge pot and make chicken stock. Some of the meat we use, other we shred into pieces and then freeze them in patties for dog treats. I can gallons of chicken stock!

Catmad, I relate completely. I can remember being a lot more spunky about these things too. Nowdays, I just don't seem to have the same determination.

jylg, I agree. I would feel guilty if I wasted all the bird but the breast meat. I would have to use the thighs, legs and wings at least.
I'm not sure I would feel bad about the neck, back and organ meats, since I never use those even on store bought.

Thank4,
If you can catch or lure them, why not keep one at a time
penned? I have read that roosters have their favorite hens, and wouldn't be necessarily interested in the same ones. Or not?
Since you have so few.
You wouldn't have to retire either, and the girls would get a break.
If one must go,I am a fan of the concept of a killing cone.
I haven't used one yet, but I will have one or two by the time
I will be butchering. When you dispatch your bird, it is held
firmly in place, so no unsettling flopping. It is usually attached
to a barn wall or such, at a level that can drain the bird into
a bucket. I will be trying to cut the jugular first, as a head chop
stops the heart, and the bird doesn't drain all the way.
My preference about cleaning the bird would be to remove
the entrails as soon as possible after killing. There shouldn't
be much smell, if you are careful not to cut into the gut.
As for 'skin on' versus none, I skin my chicken that is to be
broiled or BBQed, but leave the skin on if to be baked. I am
not really looking forward to plucking, but it doesn't take much
time at all, and skin on is probably preferred for flavor and
moisture by most. I am very much in agreement for thanking
the bird for it's contribution to my table. :oP
(may princess kathy have moist chicken)

Thanks truest, I think I will cut, chill, and skin. You know what's weird? I'm the only person in my family who doesn't like fried or baked chicken. So if I'm going to clean it, I'm going to skin it so it's not good for baking! Ha ha. And I'll barbeque it. I don't like breast meat anyway, I like drumsticks and thighs. And gizzards, if I can locate the darn things.

And now they're both crowing. And the increased daylight has made the hens lay more. Hmm, may be a close race to the white ice house (eww, bad joke) : )

Thank you truest, Peggie K, jylgaskin, catmad, smedgkles, granny goody, taynors, Catscan, charlenesplants, mainiac, bigbuffy and Tamera Faye for all your input and advice. I'll re check this in a couple weeks when I do the butchering, along with the resources you mentioned.

Thanks!

See you then, Thank4. My DH loves fried gizzards, as do I.:oP
I have Gail Damerow's book "Storey's Guide to Raising
Chickens", and just read a couple paragraphs last night
on how to locate, and clean the gizzard. It is a valuable
book for me.


may princess kathy find the gizzard.

I vote for buying more hens and let that sucker live.

I remember when I was young my Mom wouldn't kill a chicken and neither would my Dad. Mom would call the neighbor to come over and kill it. I always felt sorry for that poor chicken dangling from the clothes line with its head wacked off.

Sucess! It wasn't near as bad as I thought it would be. I tried to finish him myself, but lacking the stomach, I asked my husband's grandpa to kill him, which he did. I chose to butcher the Aruracona.

After he was killed, I tried to skin him, but it was to hard!. Then, realizing how easy the feathers were coming out, I just plucked him. Once I had him all plucked, I saw how funny he looked, compared to grocery store chickens. Those chickens are top heavy, large breasted with little bitty legs. My rooster had a skinny chest and a big butt!

Then my husband's grandmother helped me gut it. I was able to save the gizzard for frying later, and I fed the heard to my dog. I had done a fairly good job plucking, so we didn't have to singe much. So it didn't smell that bad. I put everything but the legs into chickennoodle soup-delicious! I roasted the legs in the oven with some vegetables-that was really good too! Next time I think the whole chicken should go into soup. I think the dark meat would give it a more 'chickeny' flavour. But now I have to throw a rock at store bought chicken, there's no comparison.

With the Aruacona rooster gone, the Rhode Island Red rooster started to crow more. He's also started to get a little more cocky, but not nearly as much as rooster number 1, thank goodness.

So my butchering experience was positive, next time will be faster, and I'll probably be able to do it myself. I think I will try killing it with a shotgun, that seems the best way for me.

Thanks!

ThankGod4plants I'll be in your shoes this fall. We know that we won't keep all the roosters from the chicks arriving this week (was never in our plans) so there will be butchering to do.
What age yields the tenderest meat with the best weight?

MollyD

You got me, this was my first one. One year old rooster arn't as nasty as people say they are. My mother in law likes to butcher at about 4 months, but they're not very big by then. I think it's all what you want. Probably they younger they are, the more tender they are.

ThankGod4plants

Mine hatched May 5th so we'll aim for butchering between October and November (5 to 6 months). That should give us some size and tender meat.

MollyD

So tasty, nothing like store bought, even when older.

Congratulations, ThankGod4Plants! You did it!
I haven't butchered any chickens, yet. I lost a
lot to the AE sickness, so I'm keeping most of my
20 left. There are 3 roo's that were home hatched
that will go, but right now at 4 mos, they are still
pretty small. I have butchered 2 batches of quail,
with 6 in each time, and it was pretty easy. Look at
us- we can bring home the chicken AND fry it up in
a pan!

Is it normal for standard breeds to look small and be almost fully feathered out at almost 1 month of age? That's how my flock looks. The last time I had chickens was nearly 30 years ago and I think they were all Plymouth Barred. Seemed like they got big before they put weight on. This flock is putting weight on but staying small in stature.

MollyD

My 14 week old chickens keep growing and growing...right now my month olds are almost fully feathered and look about the size of robins--if that helps:0)