Just had my first batch processed and have questions

[tuskajones]

Hello--I just took 8 of my 20 cornish x to a local guy who has a butcher shop in his backyard. His set up was not professional (stainless steel counters etc) but certainly clean and efficient. This was my first time using this gentleman and for that matter my first time at all of this. He says he has processed all kinds of animals for many many years. He charged me $2.50/bird which I think is reasonable.

Anyway, he did two things that I questioned. My questions come only as a result of reading "How to Raise Chickens" by Gail Damerow and how she explains how to butcher a chicken. I would like others' opinions as to how big a deal some of these things he did are.

1. He did not bleed the birds. He snapped the bird's neck and then dipped it in the scald water. After that he did the gutting.

2. He did not remove the oil gland at the base of the tail.


Once they were bagged, there really was not much blood leaking out meaning I guess that it is still in the meat. Is this bad for the meat in terms of food safety or is it just a taste issue?


Thanks for any opinions!

Kelly

 

[GallowayFarms]

ok I do almost all my own butchering on my birds. Cows are a different story.

I usually cut the whole tail of my birds. And my mom has told me to always cut the gland out.

Now here is what I found on the bleeding. I always let mine drip.

(Please note that, whatever method you choose, it is essential that the bird bleed out completely. The dressed bird will not keep nearly as well, nor taste as good, if the blood remains in the muscle tissue.)

The blood carries toxins from the muscles. If you leave the blood in the bird, the toxins stay in also.

I wouldn't use this guy again. I have never priced to have a bird butchered so I can't comment on the price, but this guy is not doing what about I would say 99.9% of butchers do about letting the blood drain.

 

[Chickafoog]

Mine hangs and drips!

 

[tuskajones]

Oh shoot! Just want I didn't want to hear! This guy is only 20 minutes away from me and I thought it would be too good to be true if he worked out.

He has been doing this for 40 years or so and I am sure I am not going to convince him there might be a different way of doing this--especially since I have never actually done it myself.

I am going to try another person and then maybe have to do this myself.

Thanks!

 

[mmajw]

Letting them hang upside down is a better method at least until a major amount of blood has come out however, it will not effect the meat in anyway taste or otherwise.

We own a meat shop and people like it done both ways.

 

[kees]

I've always understood that it's better to let the bird bleed out and remove the oil gland by the tail, actually the complete tail is easier. What could a person do with the tail?

 

[chickenhawk]

Tell him what you want. If he has been at it for years I am sure he has had plenty of custom requests

 

[BettyR]

My Grandmother always kept a very large number of free-range chickens and only killed what she was going to cook that day.

She would wring the neck and toss it off to the side and let it flop around; when it stopped she would scald it, pick it, burn the pin feathers off over the open flame on the stove and gut it; I never once saw her bleed a chicken out.

My Mom raised her meat birds separate from her egg birds and kill them all at one time and put them in the freezer but here again I never saw her bleed a bird out. I had never heard of doing this until I started reading on this forum.

So I’m quite sure that not bleeding a bird out is not going to make the meat go bad or taste bad in any way. I guess it just depends on your personal preference; if you want him to bleed them out just ask him next time if he would charge any extra to do that.

 

[kstaven]

It is a matter of cultural difference rather than the right way and the wrong way to do it.

 

[justusnak]

I dont bleed out mine! Just lop off the head, and let them flop on the ground untill they stop. I have done mine this way for years!