Butchering your roosters!

[BYCforlife]

Thanks BYCforlife, that makes sense! We're looking for cheap and not having to buy anything extra at the moment so the feed bag looks like a good way to go!

Thanks Crooked Chicken, we actually never "rest" our wild game (antelope, deer, elk, turkey, grouse, etc) and don't have any issues with it...so I'm wondering if it would be ok with the chicken but I'm new to this so hopefully someone will come up with a good "why" that will help me make a better informed decision Plus, I'm not sure we have the fridge room...so we would probably have to put them on ice in a cooler instead...that should work too right?

Our deer meat gets a rest when it's being cut off the bone..... good enough, it tastes great!

 

[Parront]

I forgot to mention, that since we are going to make soup with the roosters keeping the body intact wasn't necessary. Her husband pulled up on the breast bone and basically stretched the opening so it was super easy to clean out.

Doing it outside, the nozzle of the hose would be handy, too! Spray out all those little bits outside!

 

[rodeorulz]

Lookin4GoodLife - You have got my attention! If you come across where you read that please point me in the correct direction, otherwise I'll begin some more research!

BYCforLIfe - Our deer and other wild game have been both gutted in the field and brought home to finish butchering as well as quartered in the field and brought home to debone and so on and we've never or rarely ever had any issue with cooking ours. Any "rest" our meat gets isn't much and sometimes we hunt on hot days here too so there really isn't any "rest" (as far as temperature goes) with that meat! Butcher and freeze If it ain't broke don't fix it, right?! But, since chickens are different in so many ways I hope you all can help me with this.

So does it make a difference as to whether it is necessary to rest or not it if the meat is being deboned before being froze or if it is being froze whole?

I've had wild turkey frozen whole as well as pieced out, usually breasts and legs, (I'm certain without both have been without any real resting...some has been my own some has been harvested by other family members so I'm not 100% sure) and I don't recall ever having an issue with the meat being tough. BUT...when I cook wild turkey meat I usually cook it in a crockpot before it goes in whatever dish I am using it in, although sometimes I just cook it in the crockpot and we eat it after it is done in there. I'm just thinking the wild turkey is probably the best comparison I have to chickens. Maybe I have just had good luck??

Thanks again everyone!! If I can't make my mind up we may just have to do some each way and see how we like the results

 

[Parront]

So does it make a difference as to whether it is necessary to rest or not it if the meat is being deboned before being froze or if it is being froze whole?

The enzymes in the meat are working weather it is cut or whole. Think of your butcher with sides of beef and pork hanging, then he cuts it for sale. You can cut your meet and then age it or freeze it. I like to defrost it for a few days in the frig, that is aging, too. It depends where you have storage available. Sometimes, right into the pressure canner it goes. Nothing nicer than opening a jar of boneless chicken breast meat and making chicken noodle, or even a sandwich. Costco charges a lot for cans of boneless breast meat chicken. Use it just like tuna.

 

[RUNuts]

From what I've learned from people more experienced than me, the young birds are tender and you don't really notice. Think CX or younger animals. Depending on conditions, it is resting starting with the kill. A couple of hours may be enough. Down here, we don't have an option and get them to the cooler as quick as we can. Gutting immediately because bloating starts quick in the heat.

You are very correct. Try it, you may like it better. If not, go back to the old way.

I brined my first bird and enjoyed the flavor. Will be repeating.

 

[rodeorulz]

Maybe it will help this time around that these ones will all be young (they are 16 weeks +/- right now). I can definitely see how it could be very advantageous to let the meat from older chickens rest. I know my in-laws recently butchered some older hens (maybe 2 years old, not too old) and she had issues cooking them up, they were tough...and I'm certain those girls didn't rest much if at all before going in the freezer.

Thanks again! I'm loving BYC, you all are great!!!!

 

[Parront]

Maybe it will help this time around that these ones will all be young (they are 16 weeks +/- right now). I can definitely see how it could be very advantageous to let the meat from older chickens rest. I know my in-laws recently butchered some older hens (maybe 2 years old, not too old) and she had issues cooking them up, they were tough...and I'm certain those girls didn't rest much if at all before going in the freezer.

Thanks again! I'm loving BYC, you all are great!!!!

2 years old is a lot different from 16 weeks. Crock pot, pressure cooker is what I do with them. 16 weeks is a nice fryer age. Store chicken is only 6 weeks old, broiler age by the old cookbooks.

 

[Crooked Chicken]

Our deer meat gets a rest when it's being cut off the bone..... good enough, it tastes great!

I don't hunt, so the only deer I get has been hit on the highway in front of my house. There have been 3 hit since I moved here 1-1/2 years ago. The first 2 happened on the same night. I called the sheriffs office and they said to bring them over and get the paperwork and then they were mine. I had my friends son come help load them. We got back, threw a big tow strap over a tree branch in my driveway and hung one up. This was my first experience. Had seen may dad and brother do one many years ago and I hid in the house.

We gutted it into a wheelbarrow and hosed it out good. It hung there for a few days (because my friends husband said it's done that way). Then we cut off the majority of the meat and threw it into ice chests w/water. It rested there a couple more days. After that we too it in the house and cut it up and packaged it for the freezer. Best venison I ever had. Mostly I use it in soup or stew, but have thrown some on the BBQ and it's been very tender.

I brought my elderly parents with me from California when I moved here. She won't eat the venison because she saw it hanging in the yard for days.

The 2nd deer ended up going for a ride somewhere -- it's guts had been ruptured. Deer #3 I had somebody come pick it up as my freezer was too full and not something I wanted to tackle alone.

 

[Parront]

I don't hunt, so the only deer I get has been hit on the highway in front of my house. There have been 3 hit since I moved here 1-1/2 years ago. The first 2 happened on the same night. I called the sheriffs office and they said to bring them over and get the paperwork and then they were mine. I had my friends son come help load them. We got back, threw a big tow strap over a tree branch in my driveway and hung one up. This was my first experience. Had seen may dad and brother do one many years ago and I hid in the house.

We gutted it into a wheelbarrow and hosed it out good. It hung there for a few days (because my friends husband said it's done that way). Then we cut off the majority of the meat and threw it into ice chests w/water. It rested there a couple more days. After that we too it in the house and cut it up and packaged it for the freezer. Best venison I ever had. Mostly I use it in soup or stew, but have thrown some on the BBQ and it's been very tender.

I brought my elderly parents with me from California when I moved here. She won't eat the venison because she saw it hanging in the yard for days.

The 2nd deer ended up going for a ride somewhere -- it's guts had been ruptured. Deer #3 I had somebody come pick it up as my freezer was too full and not something I wanted to tackle alone.

Being from CA, the temps where I lived in So. Cal. sure would prevent hanging outside for days!

 

[Crooked Chicken]

Being from CA, the temps where I lived in So. Cal. sure would prevent hanging outside for days!

Where did you live in Cali? I grew up in the South Bay (Torrance/Redondo Beach). Moved to Prescott & then Chino Valley for a couple of years and then back to Cali (Redondo, Hawthorne, Inglewood, Riverside). Yeah -- it got real hot in Riverside too.