Meat chicken how-to?

[Lesa]

I have nothing against culling a bird you don't want- but just want to add, those feathers will grow back and she will lay again...She won't need a sweater. For reasons I don't understand, my chickens always molt in the coldest weather. I have 4 and 5 year old birds still laying. Not to say, a few of them don't find there way to the stew pot. I would recommend making a kill cone out of a bleach bottle, or traffic cone. It just makes the process a lot easier...Good luck!

 

[Beekissed]

I'd advise just skinning this bird...not worth heating water to pluck one lonely bird, trust me! Plus...that skin has been exposed, is tough and won't do much for your bird's taste at this point.

Let me see if I have any pics I can dig up for you about processing......

One option you might try is to just let this bird be....you can place some bag balm or other heavy ointment like A&D on her and she will do fine this winter. I've seen some pretty badly moulting birds make it through the cold just fine.

A killing cone is very easily constructed out of a bleach jug...they are surprisingly sturdy and you can just tack them to a tree so you have hands free to do the throat slitting. Just cut the top out enough to accommodate a head and neck, cut the bottom out, invert so the bottom hole is topside and tack it up....killing cone that lasts a long time!

When you go to cut the throat, place tension on the skin by pulling gently downward on the beak, like so:

When starting to gut, cut gently and slowly around the vent area...don't puncture the bowels, but if you do, don't panic...it will wash right off the meat and won't cause any permanent taste problems:

After you have cut those ligaments and other attachments loose, just gently pull out the bowel/vent area to keep it away from the bird while you open the cavity and pull out the other organs:

When skinning, you can remove the skin much like you would remove a jacket...first one wing and leg, work the skin loose from the back and then off the other set of extremities. Cutting off the wings at the first joint will make this easier....there isn't any meat there on a layer anyway.

Good luck! Keep us posted?

 

[Gypsi]

Will do. I discovered my kitchen needed cleaned first, While it would be much easier to CATCH a sleeping chicken, I'm not sure if I'm up to this. So I'm off to byc. Research. May look for a youtube video too. My uncle in michigan told me to just grab the bird by the head and swing/ twist. But he is on a lot of meds, he's got liver cancer. It was good to hear his voice, but I don't think he can walk me through this.

 

[Gypsi]

I have nothing against culling a bird you don't want- but just want to add, those feathers will grow back and she will lay again...She won't need a sweater. For reasons I don't understand, my chickens always molt in the coldest weather. I have 4 and 5 year old birds still laying. Not to say, a few of them don't find there way to the stew pot. I would recommend making a kill cone out of a bleach bottle, or traffic cone. It just makes the process a lot easier...Good luck!

Mine are production reds. I'm hearing they were genetically bred to lay heavily, egg a day, for the first year, but they drop off to one egg a week afterward. And what do you do to keep them from freezing in the winter if they have no feathers? Sweater?

 

[Beekissed]

Nah...they survive just fine. You'll see.... I've always been surprised at how birds stay warm when they are still not feathered when it gets really cold but they do just fine. I'd just provide some deep litter in the coop so she has plenty of places to snuggle out of the wind and let her be.

As for the neck wringing thingy.....don't swing or twist...just grab the head and let the body swing away from you, give a short and hard jerk upwards, then down. You should feel the bones separate...if not, do it again.

 

[Gypsi]

Beekissed - thank you for the pictures! If my freezer had more meat in it than one lonely hamburger, if my insurance company were paying me for my wrecked truck (the trucking company says their driver did not report an accident, therefore they must conduct their own investigation) if I didn't have a stack of 2 day late utilities, if the production red eggs were not so softshelled that they can barely be touched or they crack, (I get about 7 eggs a week, 2 are actually solid enough to carry into the house. One of the reds and the barred rock are laying solid eggs).

If I cull the worst looking red, and find that she has soft bones as well, I will have learned something. I need to pick up my youngest granddaughter tomorrow at 4, she loves homemade soup, and I don't have any meat to make it with. I think daylight would be better though. I have a bleach bottle that is mostly empty. Thank you.

Gypsi

 

[Beekissed]

Here's something to consider...during molting, particularly a heavy molt, the calcium normally used in shell production is diverted to feather regrowth. If my birds are in a heavy molt and I find a few eggs that are thin shelled or find remnants of yolk where the broken eggs have been eaten, I'll usually add oyster shell right into their feed instead of offering it free choice. I'll also up the protein for these birds.

Thin eggs at this time of year is pretty standard for good, solid laying breeds...they are more consistent with their laying than other breeds, so they naturally use more calcium on a daily basis.

Don't give up on your production reds just yet...though they aren't my favorite laying breed and I'd eliminate them from my flock if not laying consistently, this time of year is no time to judge laying efficacy for any bird.

 

[Beekissed]

I'm going to submit part of a PM to this thread because it is a recurring debate on BYC that generally perpetuates a myth about needing to find the arteries in a chicken's neck in order to bleed him out and kill humanely. This may explain the procedure to others with the same questions:

I'll tell you a little secret...folks trying to miss the trachea are doing it to make themselves feel better but it has absolutely no benefit whatsoever to the bird. Opening the whole throat actually makes those last seconds easier for the bird to breath...imagine you are hanging upside down and someone opens the arteries/veins on your neck and the blood is cascading downward into your nostrils and mouth...how would you breath past that? By opening the whole throat, the trachea is opened and the bird actually has a clear airway for those last few seconds...not that he particularly cares, but for the humans who think he can't breath, you have only to visit a vent unit in the hospital to know about tracheal stomas, or secondary airways.

One gentleman pointed out that the bird would aspirate the blood into his lungs but I can guarantee you that the suction power of a dying roo will not defy gravity enough to actually suck any amount of blood into the bronchial tree and from there into the lungs. I've butchered literally hundreds of chickens killed in this manner and have yet to see any blood deeper into the trachea past the initial cutting site.

I hope that helps with your concerns about finding the vessels...it simply isn't necessary and causes some considerable stress to newbies during processing. Slicing the whole throat deeply until you feel the knife grazing the vertebrae is the most concise and rapid way to insure a quick death for the bird.

 

[Gypsi]

Well, I bought hamburger instead of culling my chicken. She'd best grow some feathers though. While I've had months of soft shell eggs, I suspect the first molting hen started around mid-summer and it's a rotation of who is in molt. At least 2 still are though. Oh well, such is life. It's cold and rainy and maybe they will eat more of that nice high protein high calcium feed in their dish, and use the oystershell calcium in their other dish. But I can't force-feed them, I can buy eggs.

 

[Wannabefree]

Good for you for leaving her for now. Naked chickens generally make it through winter just fine IME.