Australorps on the chopin' block

[Lonewolf5d]

Thinking about culling a fair bit of my flock. I keep finding advice on HOW to cull a bird, but i never see if there are any tips to the setting them aside before the culling. I'm pretty sure that i won't treat them like crawfish before the boil; where they are set in running water to purge, but there has to be SOMETHING to that effect.
thanks for reading, let me know!

 

[haileyeverhart]

Let them live

 

[farmmanjim]

We generally pull 5 years old birds from the flock with no prep or anything. I have jersey Giants and RIR that we just pulled and skinned then froze. Reds are only good for boiling and stews though as they're not meaty but we waste nothing.

 

[sevenfatcows]

Lots of people say to take food away from the bird for 24 hours before slaughter. I usually take them out of the coop and provide only water overnight and then process them the next morning. I just do not like the idea of "starving" them for that long. Sometimes, I give them a handful of scratch just prior to slaughter so that I can find the crop easier, but this is done right before so as not to defeat the purpose of the removal of feed the night before. If I open up the "business end" big enough, I can eviscerate the bird cleanly, even if it is not totally empty. It all takes practice, and a "fecal event" can happen even with a starved bird- so keep some bleach handy, and keep calm. The really important thing, I think, is to let the carcass rest in the refrigerator for 48 hours, minimum, after processing and prior to cooking or freezing. This allows the meat to relax and makes a huge difference in tenderness as opposed to cooking a bird in the state of rigor mortis. Then, of course, do not undercook it! Pressure cooking works best for us...

 

[RUNuts]

When we open the coop, we grab the selected ones to put aside before they eat. Then as soon as the water is hot, we begin with a word of thanks.

 

[cottontail farm]

When I take mine to be processed they request that I withhold feed that day. When I process them at home, I just take the bird off the roost at night, nothing special.
Curious what kind of carcass you ended up with? I've heard these do ok as a meat bird, what did you think?

 

[Lonewolf5d]

We didn't plan for anything special, we skinned 4, cut from the back; just above hips, to separate from the rest. made cleaning a breeze. no poop incidents. The skin comes right off if you make sure they drink plenty of water. Plenty of meat, Australorps did well over 20lbs total. good color. I'm guilty of feeding the flock cracked corn with their feed during winter, so a couple had a ton of fat in spots. All said and done, pretty productive birds. They are supposed to be homesteading breed.