Forgot to remove food- can I still process?

[Fluster Cluck Acres]

It’s only my second time processing my birds, so I’m very much a newbie. We’re doing 2, a 5 month old cockerel and a 1 old hen who causes too much flock drama.

I forgot to remove food. Should I still process or do I have to wait until tomorrow? We’ve been putting this off and it really needs to happen, so I really want to go through with it today.

If I do go through with processing today, do I just need to be cautious about the crop being full? Or am I going to run into issues with food throughout the entire digestive track? We both work full time so weekends are the only days we can really take the time to do this. So it’s today, or Sunday, or we wait another week, which really isn’t ideal for particularly for this cockerel who is becoming stressed and causing stress.

What would you do? And if anyone knows of a You tube video that shows what it looks like to process a bird that wasn’t fasting, I’d like to see what it looks like. Thanks!

 

[Mountain Roost]

So when you are dressing the top/neck end; after you peel the crop (and esophagus/glands stuff) away from the skin you can cut off all of it as close to the body as possible.

As you stated it is preferable to not have feed in the crop. But as long as we are talking about clean feed inside the crop its not too gross. If the animals had been on unsavory grounds and eating what they could find I might hesitate on processing until they have empty crops.

They other consideration in not having withheld food is that the intestines will be more full of 'food-on-its-way to-being-poop'. So while processing you should pay attention to any leakage from the vert and ensure that it doesn't get on your meat.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

I never restrict feed before culling. Its a little messier (potentially - though really not), that's all.

If you process in a way that let's you romve substantially the whole of the digestive tract at once, there will be no issues at all. (I cut carefully around the vent, and remove everything south of the crop in a single piece with only finger pressure on the mass - essentially no leakage). Sometimes I need to spray the bird off when it does a biit of a mess after having its head removed, that's it.

 

[Morrigan]

I like to separate out chickens slated for butchering the night before so we don't have to chase them around. Then we process first thing in the morning, so the crops are empty, but there is still "food" in progress through the digestive system. We haven't had any issues with that.

One other thing we've found is that it is actually helpful if there is a little something in the crop -- it's easier to grasp and pull out. So I usually give them a handful of scratch as we prep things for butchering.

 

[Molpet]

I used to withdraw food but had an injured bird I processed on the spot. Wasn't too bad and I haven't starved since. Crop spillage isn't a big deal. Intestine leakage could be contamination. I have had a couple. Just rinsed out well and chilled separately. Cooking kills germs. The store chickens have warnings to cook well

 

[Fluster Cluck Acres]

Thank you all for your responses! We’ve decided to wait until tomorrow. We are withhold ling food only for an hour before they go to roost, and then grabbing them first thing off the roost tomorrow morning.

I appreciate hearing from people who don’t always make the birds fast. Personally that’s been an hard idea to grasp on an emotional level- for me.

 

[Kiki]

Thank you all for your responses! We’ve decided to wait until tomorrow. We are withhold ling food only for an hour before they go to roost, and then grabbing them first thing off the roost tomorrow morning.

I appreciate hearing from people who don’t always make the birds fast. Personally that’s been an hard idea to grasp on an emotional level- for me.

I see you've already made your decision but I just wanted to say I don't withhold feed either.

 

[cmobley]

I’ve processed with feed removed and not removed and I found that when that crop is empty it’s a hassle to get it and break it free. With feed in the crop it was easier to me to grab it and pull and get it out. Plus I start before dawn on processing so it’s usuallly not jamb packed.

 

[Fluster Cluck Acres]

I’ve processed with feed removed and not removed and I found that when that crop is empty it’s a hassle to get it and break it free. With feed in the crop it was easier to me to grab it and pull and get it out. Plus I start before dawn on processing so it’s usuallly not jamb packed.

So we ended up taking the food away about an hour before they went in for the night. Her crop was empty but his was not. His was actually a lot easier to get a hold of.