My husband went to help a friend process some of his chickens to reduce his flock size. I don't know what kind of chickens they are, all I can tell you is at least some of the feathers were black (the friend's plucker isn't as efficient as my hands) and they were of various ages. My husband said when he cut into the birds, oil ran out of the body cavity as if someone had poured a bottle of cooking oil into the bird before they were slaughtered, and the ones he brought home (his friend gave him four as a thank-you for helping) were very greasy -- like slimy greasy. It was really quite gross. Even though I let the carcasses rest in the refrigerator for a few days, the first one I cooked turned to the consistence of a Kong bone (hard rubber for those of you that don't have a dog and know what a Kong bone is). I let the rest of them rest in the frig a couple more days and then I put one in the crockpot. The consistency was better, at least the meat was edible, but it still tasted....off. I have two more of these gross, greasy birds in the freezer now. When doing our own processing, I've never had a bird so greasy and had oil run out of the body cavity like my husband described. Does anyone have any ideas as to why or what his friend might do differently with his flock so the birds are edible?
