Any Reason Not to Cut Up at Butcher Time?

[aart]

but my initial question was how to make it easier to eviscerate, as that is the hardest thing for me to do when keeping the chicken whole.

I find that loosening the trachea and esophagus as far inside as possible from the neck end makes dragging all the guts out the back end much easier...still ain't easy, the older the bird the harder it is to do. I rarely get the lungs out until final rinse and butcher, I chill the whole carcass in salted ice water and cut up later to portion in freezer bags. I still rest before freezing, even if I'm going to stew, it makes a difference to me.
I would be paranoid about cutting back out before removing intestines, have never broken a bile sac.

 

[wild chick]

@aart it's amazing to see those zillions of videos where the just DO it and it ALL comes out in one fell swoop. Not for me, it's a mess, I ruin perfectly beautiful livers, lungs are mush... while my bird gets older and older on the table before I can put it on chill. Now you tell me the older birds are even harder! Ack! This is why I thought I'd see if I could somehow cut away the ribs and just reach in and lift out the innards without having to pull them through a hole.

 

[aart]

@aart it's amazing to see those zillions of videos where the just DO it and it ALL comes out in one fell swoop.

IKR?!
Many of those are the young CX, much easier to gut.
First one I did took fore.ev.er.
First one of each batch still takes longer, and I only do 3-4 at a time.
Best tip I remember is to reach way in and grab heart, works pretty good, mostly.

 

[oldrooster]

here is a video on Polyface farms on how to cut up a chicken when you process it. now mind you he makes it look easy by doing it so often for selling processed chickens to the public (practice makes perfect).

an excavation video from Polyface farms WARNING THIS MAY BE TOO GRAPHIC FOR CHILDREN OR WEAK STOMACHS!!!!!!

 

[oldrooster]

the first video shows how to cut them up for sale, but it can be done for home butchering just as easy the back portion could be boiled for stock, and what meat there is could be added to noodles or dumplings or a sandwich? but the way it's cut up as some mentioned earlier about having issues with ziplock bags or vacuum sealed bags the way the breast meat is cut should eliminate nearly all problems....

 

[trudyg]

Wild Chick, I think you could cut it up before gutting if you are very careful. Here's what I would do: try to separate the trachea and anything else at the top end as far in as you can (even using knife or scissors to snip tendons if needed), then cut around the vent. Take your knife/scissors and snip from the vent cut outward to make an opening big enough to get your hand in there, then reach in and loosen what you can. Maybe concentrate on one side so you can cleanly cut that side without cutting any of the guts. Clear with your hand, then snip a little further until you make a complete cut from bottom to top.

If you keep one hand on the inside and snip between your hand (so it shields the guts) and the outer edge, I think you could manage. Just cut anything that's attached too hard for you to pull away and slowly work your way along. The point is to be sure you don't cut any guts.

 

[wild chick]

Thank you all for your replies. We did two about 2 weeks ago, one cut down the back, made it pretty easy to eviscerate, the other kind of traditional, but cut out more to make more room to pull out innards, making it faster. Bottom line, making it faster made for better birds - there was not the 4 day rigor that I've experienced with the ones I spent too long with on the table trying to make a pretty carcass. I'm done with that! Fast & efficient, from now on. Plus once in the kitchen sink for final cleaning, cut up in pieces for the ziplock for the fridge rest took up so much less room in the fridge! Why leave a bird whole when it's going in the pressure cooker anyway? Thanks again - I love to come here with questions!

 

[aart]

here is a video on Polyface farms on how to cut up a chicken when you process it. now mind you he makes it look easy by doing it so often for selling processed chickens to the public (practice makes perfect).

an excavation video from Polyface farms WARNING THIS MAY BE TOO GRAPHIC FOR CHILDREN OR WEAK STOMACHS!!!!!!

Have to thank you for posting this when you did @oldrooster .
Tho I've seen it before, I slaughtered that day and I think it prompted me to be much more assertive and thus faster at gutting.

 

[Mosey2003]

Plus once in the kitchen sink for final cleaning, cut up in pieces for the ziplock for the fridge rest took up so much less room in the fridge! Why leave a bird whole when it's going in the pressure cooker anyway? Thanks again - I love to come here with questions!

Yep! Unless I simply don't have time and I'm gonna chuck them in the barn fridge, I always piece them out. My family just doesn't care for roast chicken, so there's no point in me leaving them whole, especially since I usually skin them anyway. This way I can just grab a bag and chuck it in a dish or the pressure cooker and then make soup or whatever.

 

[Mosey2003]

I did finally do those last four hens last night. I was in a big hurry, so didn't manage to try pithing like I was going to (from another thread) but I DID slice them up each side of the breast and it did really help with getting them cleaned out faster. And it was quite simple to run the knife alongside the inner gut pouch without slicing it. Will do it that way from now on.