Slaughtering meat chickens ???

[patandchickens]

I age mine for 3-4 days in the fridge. The one time I aged turkeys in coolers, for freezer rather than to cook right away, I checked the cooler temp *frequently* and only aged 2 days.

I have been so happy with the "suck the air out of the ziploc bag with your lips" and (for larger ones) "immerse in water to force air out before ziplocking" methods that I have never had any urge to lay out a coupla hundred dollars for vacuum sealing supplies. If you already have them for other purposes then sure use them for your poultry, but IMHO it is worth at least TRYING these methods. You really can achieve about as good air evacuation, and of course it is free.

Pat

 

[lorihadams]

We also have a food saver and I would recommend either cutting the birds into pieces and then package them or at the very least cutting a whole bird in half and then freezing them in halves.

I also like the big rolls and make my own bags but for freezing ground meat I use the quart size bags, perfect for 1-2 lbs of meat.

I also suggest cooking some up and shredding it and then freezing it in 1 cup increments for quick meals. It's much easier to throw that in the crock pot or soup pot to do stuff like tacos, enchiladas, chili, soups, etc. I also precook some so that I can pull it out the night before and thaw in the fridge to make homemade chicken salad.

I tend to freeze my stuff according to parts. I freeze 2-4 drumsticks, thighs, wings together and 2-4 breasts together. And don't forget to package some chicken stock too!

 

[Shiloh Acres]

I use ziploc bags most of the time too. I can get most ofthe air out and I try to keep an eye on what's in the freezer and rotate it. Never tried sucking the air of oneby mouth but used various pressure methods.

I paid between $40 and $60 for my vacuum sealers. Bags do add up tho. I never got the jars you can seal with them. I think they pay for themselves best with salad-type greens and cheese in the fridge, since I like to buy cheese in big blocks and keep various kinds. Keeps it from molding so I don't have to cut any off. And if I buy bagged salad greens (wanna grow my own this season!) I just leave them in the store bag and put that in a vac bag. The air comes out, it stays fresh for days, I can reuse the bags many times without even having to wash them. But, I do use it a lot if I really stock up on meat, so it would be a good thing for that many chickens. Ziplocs work too tho.

I really second the idea of cooking someup before freezing. I do that with ground meats and chicken, spiced and cut various ways for various dishes. Makes pulling out a precooked bag an easy way to make dinner.

I like to take a bunch of chickens, roast them, pull off the meat and package in small packages and freeze, then boil down the bones and bits for broth and freeze that too. If it were me, I'd probably do that several times, spacing out the slaughtering that way. You can always do a half-dozen more than you want to cook and freeze those ones raw.

I'm wishing I had MORE chickens to process. I'm down to my last few extra roosters, probably until I'm ready to hatch eggs.

 

[me&thegals]

I age mine for 3-4 days in the fridge. The one time I aged turkeys in coolers, for freezer rather than to cook right away, I checked the cooler temp *frequently* and only aged 2 days.

I have been so happy with the "suck the air out of the ziploc bag with your lips" and (for larger ones) "immerse in water to force air out before ziplocking" methods that I have never had any urge to lay out a coupla hundred dollars for vacuum sealing supplies. If you already have them for other purposes then sure use them for your poultry, but IMHO it is worth at least TRYING these methods. You really can achieve about as good air evacuation, and of course it is free.

Pat

I hadn't even gotten around to pricing them out, so this stopped me in my tracks Not sure about the lip method , but I like the sink of water idea. Very simple, very easy.

 

[Rebecka]

Once again, you guys managed to answer my questions before I asked !

I have a seal a meal thingy.. we get the rolls but they are still pricey , so I tend to use it for good meat sales in bulk to separate. While most will likely end up in canning jars eventually.. thats just way more canning then I want to plan for all at once. I think we will go with the 'sucking the air out of the zippie bag" method.


We slaughtered and cleaned one rooster today. Just to see if we had our ducks in a row. We woke to find 3 hens with new injuries and this guy seemed to be the ring leader... so, this seemed like the perfect opportunity to see how things went. I think they went well. He is currently aging in the fridge. I had planned on 4 days. The guys wanted to eat him today. So, we have settled on Sunday as a compromise. One question did come up.. how long to drain? We just kind of let him hang until the dripping stopped, but I am not sure if thats correct.

 

[Farmfresh]

I am a plucker. I usually cut up my chickens and other poultry, because I have an easier time packaging them without extra air and they take up less freezer space. I pack them like I use them. Maybe all wings together for BBQ hot wings and backs and necks separated out for stocks and casseroles etc...

Finally I use Ziplock bags to freeze in and then I spend that extra money and DOUBLE bag them. I have had the seals get damaged after living several months in the freezer and getting banged around. That extra bag layer is a lot cheaper than freezer burnt meat. Also the extra bag can be easily reused when you finally use the meat, since it has not been too gunked up with just a simple wash.

For a "How To" with pics just look up the thread I did about my turkeys and make everything littler. http://www.sufficientself.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=6387&p=1

 

[Farmfresh]

We slaughtered and cleaned one rooster today. Just to see if we had our ducks in a row. We woke to find 3 hens with new injuries and this guy seemed to be the ring leader... so, this seemed like the perfect opportunity to see how things went. I think they went well. He is currently aging in the fridge. I had planned on 4 days. The guys wanted to eat him today. So, we have settled on Sunday as a compromise. One question did come up.. how long to drain? We just kind of let him hang until the dripping stopped, but I am not sure if thats correct.

If you want to eat them immediately that is OK too. It is just when freezing or canning them that you really need to do the aging thing. Even canning is OK without aging as long as it is done right away. The problem is rigor mortis. If the bird goes into freezer or jar while rigor mortis is present they are like eating a piece of shoe leather no matter how young and tender they started out to be.

When we used to process chickens for my aunt the rule was the first three (or four ...) went onto the rotisserie and began a slow cook. When the day was done so was our dinner.

As for the draining - you got that part just right.