Bantams - are they always this hard to gut?

[xC0000005]

I processed a few rooster I got for free (stew-sters, too old for the fry pan) and had no problem with the larger ones. There were two bantams in the group and I'll be darned if they didn't crow more (and louder) than their compatriots. When it came time to gut the bantams, I had one heck of a time getting my hands inside to pull out the lungs & such. I considered cutting them down the middle and splitting them. Is there some way to get the guts out of the tiny birds? The full size ones are pretty easy.

Oh, and whoever published the pictures showing just cutting the tail off to get rid of the oil gland - Thanks! That is so much easier than looking for those oil glands.

I'm still slow at this but it does get easier with each bird. Hopefully I'll have decent processing skills by the time I order my cornish-x.

 

[Overeasyplz]

being smaller is an issue you will learn to deal with if you process many banties. I have three, and two should go but i'll have to wait till the kids aren't watching..lol that will probably never happen. I will be processing quail in March I hope, and I bet that will be hard to do! From what I read on here you use a spoon lol.

 

[Chickie'sMoma]

my dh has done it to about 5 so far and it was tough for him to do them all with how small they are inside. the only problem processing and cooking with bantams is that they don't put on a lot of meat. there is a tool you can buy to help with getting the lungs out if you plan on processing more eventually. i may suggest this to my dh since i prefer to keep bantams instead of LF for breeding.

 

[Miltonchix]

Quote:
Wait til kids aren't watching? Why? (this is NOT a lecture) This is the PERFECT opportunity for them to learn a valuable life lesson. Kids are far more resilient and understanding than we give them credit for. Butchering does not have to be a traumatic event (for the kids that is) , just the opposite. Its the time to teach them respect for life and about sacrifice. My grandkids love to assist in sending chickens off to freezer camp and have 100's of questions each time.

 

[Slywoody]

For the small birds, they make a poultry sisscors (sp.). You just cut the bird's back open from tail to neck. Works good. Easy to get the guts out.

 

[rhoda_bruce]

If I would be a normal sized woman, I guess I wouldn't have had so much trouble processing my araucanas. Some of them are bantams. As it is, I scratched my hand on the pelvis of one and nearly drew blood.....on myself. I took a knife to it at that point and halfed it. It looked nice on the grill like that, when I was done, so I adopted the habbit. I noticed that I could get the entire spinal column like that and use for soups, along with the organ meats, so I have some nice halfed birds in freezer camp.
I seem to remember using a finger to process my quails. But the bantams would need more than a finger.....bigger bird.

 

[uhuh555]

Having seramas that are very prolific we butcher the excess birds (sometimes 150+). When gutting them I use 3 fingers between the breast and gut pushing up to the neck (palm facing away from the breast). Hooking the gut with the fingertips then pulling them out, usually the lungs will be dragged with them this way. Then we use a lung scrapper to remove missed lung parts. We have a featherman game bird plucker to pluck them in--a regular plucker has too much space between the nipples allowing the seramas to drop between them without removing feathers.

 

[Overeasyplz]

Quote:
Wait til kids aren't watching? Why? (this is NOT a lecture) This is the PERFECT opportunity for them to learn a valuable life lesson. Kids are far more resilient and understanding than we give them credit for. Butchering does not have to be a traumatic event (for the kids that is) , just the opposite. Its the time to teach them respect for life and about sacrifice. My grandkids love to assist in sending chickens off to freezer camp and have 100's of questions each time.

Yes wait till they aren't there BECAUSE they don't want me to butcher them.. They help me butcher all the time, rabbits, chickens, you name it. They are even ready to help with the quail, and my daughter wants to learn to be a meat cutter. They know where the food comes from, that's not an issue. I took an oath to not kill the pets because they already named them and gave them family histories..so..yea..it's like that, see? (oh I know it wasn''t a lecture, I just wanted to relay that the kids know what a butcher I am and they help, it's just we have a lot of useless pet chickens lol)