Did Some Flock Management Today

[lazy gardener]

Ladies, I bought a pressure canner this fall. Plan to use it when I process meat birds next summer. Do you pre-cook the meat at all, or just go straight from carcass to canning jar? Do you let the meat rest for the rigor to come out of it? Or can it the day of harvest?

 

[Kildare49]

1.) I cook the meat prior to canning. They are canned with the broth from this cooking.
Long slow simmer with just about every imaginable part of the chicken, veggies, and spices.

2.) These are young chickens ( typically 6-9 weeks old ). I rest mine for 24 hours.
I will be honest and say I doubt its necessary. My older DP birds I will rest for 3 days.
Just finished up chicken soup ( bcm cockerel about 25 weeks old ) . Great soup!!

 

[bobbi-j]

Ladies, I bought a pressure canner this fall.  Plan to use it when I process meat birds next summer.  Do you pre-cook the meat at all, or just go straight from carcass to canning jar?  Do you let the meat rest for the rigor to come out of it?  Or can it the day of harvest?

You can raw pack or hot pack it. I raw pack mine, mainly because I want to get the job done. This time the meat went straight from the carcass into the jars. The canning process tenderizes it nicely. Having said that, I do have to say that AFTER I got the first batch in the canner, I decided to double-check and looked up how long to process it (I knew, but always feel better checking for sure). Anyway, in my checking, I read that poultry should be chilled for 6-12 hours before canning, but I could not find anything that says why, or how vitally important it is to do so. I guess when we eat it, we'll find out. I can say I have never done that before and it hasn't had any ill effects. In the future I will probably chill it just to be safe

 

[donrae]

Lazy gardener, you will love the convenience of having canned chicken! I've done my own birds and boneless skinless breasts when they're on sale. Talk about saving dinner on "those" nights....so many ways to use it.

 

[bobbi-j]

Lazy gardener, you will love the convenience of having canned chicken! I've done my own birds and boneless skinless breasts when they're on sale. Talk about saving dinner on "those" nights....so many ways to use it.

x2! We went on a little road trip yesterday, and I spent a goodly portion of the ride thinking about all the different ways I plan on using that chicken!

 

[bobbi-j]

I'm trying to convince my honey it's okay to bone out the breasts and take the legs like you're saying. He says he wants to continue skinning the whole bird. I know there's meat you'll lose that way, but on our cockerels I can't imagine it's that much. Seems like it would save a lot of work.

There really wasn't that much left on the one I did skin. Not even enough for a chicken nugget. We were done getting what meat we wanted off those birds in less than an hour.

 

[ijon]

I dressed out four three month old Delaware roosters. Not like a x breast, but pretty darn good. And overall pretty good amount meat on them.That lady in Florida is doing a good job of bringing the breed back to what it was.

 

[bobbi-j]

I keep seeing on here that Delawares are a good DP bird. Something to look into some day, maybe. I love my mutts, though. Much variety in my flock. It's fun to mix and match and see what I get.