Warning: If you don't want to read about aspects of the butchering process turn back now.
I just have to give a big thanks to those that have made videos and posts about the butchering process. I butchered my extra males last night. It was the first time every doing anything like it and I couldn't have done it without this site. I went into the process with a very good idea of what to do thanks to the wonderful folks on here sharing their knowledge.
That being said, there are a few things I wasn't prepared for. These things weren't mentioned in my research. As a first timer and someone who was very hesitant to go through with it, some of them threw me off. Some of these are just things I learned by doing. So I thought I'd share my experience and offer a bit of a heads-up to others.
The beaks will open and close after you cut the head off. I almost quit after the first one because of that.
The skin doesn't come off as easily as some of the videos make it look. I used my shears to cut the skin first. The skin along the spine can be really hard to remove.
The body is very warm. You're thinking "Well duh! It was alive a minute ago." You're right but I didn't think about it before so I wasn't prepared. The only other raw meat I had ever touched was cold so I wasn't mentally prepared for it to be warm.
There are times when the body will make a burping type sound. Squeezed one a little hard and it made a sound. Also happened when I was pulling the tail feathers off.
The muscles twitch during certain steps of the process. I knew I had to hold the wings in after the first cut but the rest of the twitching sort of freaked me out. The muscles might twitch when you cut the legs, cut the wings, cut along the spine, and when it gets hit with cold water. I almost tossed the first bird down the garbage disposal because the muscles twitched when I made the first cut along the spine. I thought it was the heart beating. This was probably the worst of the things I wasn't prepared for but by the end I knew what to expect.
Well there you have it. The things I wish I knew before my first butchering. Please feel free to comment with your own experiences for those that have butchered.
I just have to give a big thanks to those that have made videos and posts about the butchering process. I butchered my extra males last night. It was the first time every doing anything like it and I couldn't have done it without this site. I went into the process with a very good idea of what to do thanks to the wonderful folks on here sharing their knowledge.
That being said, there are a few things I wasn't prepared for. These things weren't mentioned in my research. As a first timer and someone who was very hesitant to go through with it, some of them threw me off. Some of these are just things I learned by doing. So I thought I'd share my experience and offer a bit of a heads-up to others.
The beaks will open and close after you cut the head off. I almost quit after the first one because of that.
The skin doesn't come off as easily as some of the videos make it look. I used my shears to cut the skin first. The skin along the spine can be really hard to remove.
The body is very warm. You're thinking "Well duh! It was alive a minute ago." You're right but I didn't think about it before so I wasn't prepared. The only other raw meat I had ever touched was cold so I wasn't mentally prepared for it to be warm.
There are times when the body will make a burping type sound. Squeezed one a little hard and it made a sound. Also happened when I was pulling the tail feathers off.
The muscles twitch during certain steps of the process. I knew I had to hold the wings in after the first cut but the rest of the twitching sort of freaked me out. The muscles might twitch when you cut the legs, cut the wings, cut along the spine, and when it gets hit with cold water. I almost tossed the first bird down the garbage disposal because the muscles twitched when I made the first cut along the spine. I thought it was the heart beating. This was probably the worst of the things I wasn't prepared for but by the end I knew what to expect.
Well there you have it. The things I wish I knew before my first butchering. Please feel free to comment with your own experiences for those that have butchered.
