Butchered my first chicken today, and it stinks?

[MinnerBuckwheat]

I knew the process would stink, but after plucking and gutting, the chicken smells like chicken poo still! Is that normal? It is cleaned out completely. Is it because cornish rock x's are so nasty and lazy and they just lay around in their own poo? I feel like I need to skin it to get the smell off, but I wanted to make roasted chicken for dinner tomorrow.

 

[GJ_Kate]

We did ours today and it smelled like poo only while pulling the insides out.

We made real careful not to let any of the poo get inside. Any that we thought might have gotten any dirt/poo, we immediately washed inside and out with a hose. None of ours smelled afterwards though.

Might want to check it again? Good luck, I hope it all OK!!

 

[Sunny Side Up]

It might just be in your head. Like an annoying song that gets stuck in your brain, this smell, since it is part of a new & intense experience, might just be stuck in your mind. Sometimes there's a bit of poop left in the intestines, and it comes out during the gutting. It's worst when you accidently cut through the intestines, but sometimes it's just leaking out. When that happens it can be easily & completely washed away with a hose, and shouldn't be left on the meat.

Ask someone else to smell the chicken and see what they say about it. I hope you can enjoy your home-grown chicken dinner!

 

[Dogfish]

Scalding the bird helps to clean it, then after plucking clean off the "yellow" skin if it didn't come off while plucking. Nitrile gloves work great. Give the bird a good going over under running water, clean out everything inside, and then let it soak for 30-60 minutes in cold water. My birds don't smell.

 

[Buster52]

You are probably just smelling your hands. Put the carcass on a flat surface and smell it without having your hands near it.

That smell seems to linger on my hands for days, no matter what I do. I hate that smell. That is why I do the "hard" part of killing the chickens and my wife does the eviscerating.

 

[Chick Charm]

Butchering does produce some unwanted odors. However smell your bird tomorrow and see if the smell is gone. You may still have some of the "particles" that cause us to smell still in your nose. Make sure your bird is cold and it should be ok.
And yes I agree that Cornish x's are a bit lazy, gross, nasty, piggish, and a whole bunch of other bad things BUT...........THEY TASTE SO GOOD!

 

[FeedYourself]

When that happened to me, I just looked in a mirror and saw it stuck to my lip.

As many have said, the smell lingers. Move them to a place that you don't smell poo, and come back a bit later to see if you still have the same problem. Hopefully, it is just "stuck" on you.

 

[Denninmi]

In my household, we've always soaked out our meat in a solution of salt (roughly 2 tablespoons per gallon of water) and about 1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar per gallon. This not only removes or diminishes any strong odors (for example, fish odor), the vinegar also acts as a tenderizer.

 

[jaimepowell]

Quote:

I noticed it too....but I think it was more in my head than anything....nobody else seemed to smell it once it was all cleaned up!

 

[Rare Feathers Farm]

Did you withhold food for 12+ hours, first? I haven't tried that (this is my first summer with meaties) but I have read that it helps....