Beekissed
Mountain Sage
Thought we should have a thread on butchering poultry so we can discuss different methods, how and when we do it, and how we process the meat for eating thereafter.
Today I'm deboning the first batch of stewing hens that I butchered on Monday. The meat will be cut into bite sized pieces and cold packed into qt. jars with a T. of salt and a little water. The bones will be cooked down for stock...lately I've been concentrating the stock so as to save on shelf space and jars. That's the reason I'm also deboning on this end, so that I have more product per jar and it's ready to use as is.
I'm pretty pleased with how the meat smells from these retired layers I bought for $30 for 16 hens...usually I can get them much cheaper, but times are changing. Usually a commercial layer that has been kept penned and fed formulated feeds, in the typical housing, will have a barnyard smell to the carcass and the cooking meat...it smells like their feed and their feces.
I've learned I can collect such birds and feed them on fermented feed and housing them on composting deep litter for a bit and clean up that bad smell. Even better if I can free range them too. It makes their meat and eggs taste so fine to have consumed the FF and be in cleaner habitat.
Not much meat on this bunch and I'm praying to find some free roosters people don't want in the local ads. That would help fill out our meat needs this year.
I have 10 more of the production layers to butcher and then, later, some roosters from my own hatch...only a couple...and maybe a few hens. Will take 15 or 16 hens through the winter, along with one cockerel.
The house smells lovely!!!
One thing to note...when food comes this hard, none is wasted. I think more folks in this country need to regularly butcher and process their own meats to get an idea of the true cost of eating.
Today I'm deboning the first batch of stewing hens that I butchered on Monday. The meat will be cut into bite sized pieces and cold packed into qt. jars with a T. of salt and a little water. The bones will be cooked down for stock...lately I've been concentrating the stock so as to save on shelf space and jars. That's the reason I'm also deboning on this end, so that I have more product per jar and it's ready to use as is.
I'm pretty pleased with how the meat smells from these retired layers I bought for $30 for 16 hens...usually I can get them much cheaper, but times are changing. Usually a commercial layer that has been kept penned and fed formulated feeds, in the typical housing, will have a barnyard smell to the carcass and the cooking meat...it smells like their feed and their feces.
I've learned I can collect such birds and feed them on fermented feed and housing them on composting deep litter for a bit and clean up that bad smell. Even better if I can free range them too. It makes their meat and eggs taste so fine to have consumed the FF and be in cleaner habitat.
Not much meat on this bunch and I'm praying to find some free roosters people don't want in the local ads. That would help fill out our meat needs this year.
I have 10 more of the production layers to butcher and then, later, some roosters from my own hatch...only a couple...and maybe a few hens. Will take 15 or 16 hens through the winter, along with one cockerel.
The house smells lovely!!!
One thing to note...when food comes this hard, none is wasted. I think more folks in this country need to regularly butcher and process their own meats to get an idea of the true cost of eating.
