Processing question

[Susiemag73]

Hi!
I just processed my 6th meat bird and had an issue when eviscerating. A little (really small amount) of what I am guessing is poop came out into the body cavity during evisceration. Can we still eat the bird? I washed it very well after. I am not sure if it came from the crop (which I know wouldn't be poop) or the intestines. I am pretty sure it was the intestines though. Thanks!

 

[jvls1942]

it happens. you did the right thing.
washed the chicken right away..

in the future, when you are planning on butchering a chicken. do not feed it for 24 hours prior to the day.

If you are going to cut up the chicken for frying,
cut the breast away from the back first,
then clean out the cavity. makes the job much
easier and quicker than digging through the small hole in the rear.
I use a scissors to cut the bones (ribs) being careful to not cut into the innards.
you will notice some grayish matter along both sides of the spine towards the back of the chicken. it is held in with some strong string like threads. those are the kidneys.
I like to remove them.
loosen the crop before pulling the innards out. then when you pull them, the crop will come out tha back with the innards.
nothing will leak out as if you cut the crop and take it out the front.

I hope this helps..

even if you are not going to cut the chicken up for frying.
I still cut the back from the breasts. but I leave a "hinge" on the front.
raise the breast up and clean out the innards.
then put the breast back down into place.
sort of like raising the hood of a car.
you can still treat the bird as a whole one.
the cuts up the sides won't matter..

 

[Susiemag73]

Thanks- I had them off feed since yesterday afternoon and I thought that would be enough. I will do what you said- makes perfect sense. It sounds like it will make the process much easier. Thanks again!

 

[jvls1942]

that should be long enough.

to make our butchering easier, I build chicken pluckers. they are of the Whiz Bang models.
I made several modifications to the original plans.
I have built 5 of them. I build one and when I sell it, I build another.

they are for larger amounts of chickens at a time. I can pluck two or three at a time in less than a minute..

we don't do more than 10 a day anymore.
our bodies are not built for that kind of torture.
we used to do 100 per day on a weekend making it 200 total for the weekend.
that was back when the 3 kids were still living here..we don't need that much meat anymore