Arizona Chickens

[BlueBaby]

I've watched some YT vids on it, I think I could handle doing it, but I definitely woulnd't be thrilled about it

Well, I have seen a couple of the YT ones, but I am a hand's on type of person that it has to be in front of me when I'm doing it. My desktop computer cannot reach the spot that I would be doing it in outdoors, and I refuse to butcher in my living room!

 

[BlueBaby]

bresse are good eating supposedly, don't waste them. gotta be someone nearby who would prep them for you

If not, then the coyotes just might be having the supposed world's best tasting chicken for dinner.

 

[MagicChicken]

@Bobby Basham and @BlueBaby There are a lot of instructional threads on butchering chickens in the Meat Birds ETC forum. Click on the Forums tab at the top of the BYC page and scroll down. You will find the most helpful threads under the "Meat Section Sticky Topic Index."

You don't really want your computer near the butchering process anyway, due to potential blood and goo splatter. I did print out some of the most helpful info before I tried it, and brought those printouts outside with me. Plus I watched several videos multiple times before I tried it myself. The first few birds will be tricky. But it gets easier over time.

This thread was really helpful:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...ating-cutting-up-your-chicken-graphic.109583/

 

[BlueBaby]

@MagicChicken I have already had that link bookmarked for months!

 

[meetthebubus]

My hubby and daughter had to butcher 4 of my originals they were like 8 months old. This was over a year ago. They tried to kill Roo when he was a baby and he hid in the hole of a cement block until I came out to rescue him. All 4 turned bad after they had hormones I had to be careful around them and lock China in a jail every morning so she'd be safe yet still in the shade bc it was summer.

Anyhow I never watched bc I couldn't but I've heard of the process by them seems easy enough
Seems sad like you said for the bird to be wasted

 

[cactusrota]

If you can't get it done yourself Bresse cockerels shouldn't be hard to get rid of at all. Most serious breeders sell older ones for breeding for as much as $50 each!!! If it comes down to it I'm sure I could find someone that would take them off your hands. Just let me know.

 

[BlueBaby]

If you can't get it done yourself Bresse cockerels shouldn't be hard to get rid of at all. Most serious breeders sell older ones for breeding for as much as $50 each!!! If it comes down to it I'm sure I could find someone that would take them off your hands. Just let me know.

I'll keep in touch with you about this. I do however still want to learn how to butcher to eat some of them for myself.

 

[DesertChic]

The hardest thing about butchering is the mental aspect. I've now butchered dozens of my birds, and it's still the pre-butchering that messes with my head. I use a non-ratcheting pipe cutter on most of them because it requires minimal strength and kills quickly. Once the bird's dead it gets so much easier from that point on, though more laborious.

 

[BlueBaby]

The hardest thing about butchering is the mental aspect. I've now butchered dozens of my birds, and it's still the pre-butchering that messes with my head. I use a non-ratcheting pipe cutter on most of them because it requires minimal strength and kills quickly. Once the bird's dead it gets so much easier from that point on, though more laborious.

I am not bothered with the fact that I would have to remove the heads. It's what parts of the innards that I would have to be remove because they shouldn't be eaten, and not to accidentally pierce something that could contaminate the meat to make it taste funny?

 

[DesertChic]

I am not bothered with the fact that I would have to remove the heads. It's what parts of the innards that I would have to be remove because they shouldn't be eaten, and not to accidentally pierce something that could contaminate the meat to make it taste funny?

The younger the bird, the easier it is to remove the innards. And if you isolate the bird and stop feeding it the afternoon before, but give it plenty of water, there's a dramatically reduced chance of mistakenly contaminating anything because the intestinal system essentially cleans itself out. And if you do accidentally pierce the gallbladder or something else, you just have to wash the meat/carcass really, really well. You won't ruin the meat unless you soak that carcass in "filth".