Buthchering Question

[silkiechicken]

Personally I've never used the chopping method. I just hold them and cut their heads off from the throat side. But the chopping method works well for others. Good luck!

 

[rufus]

Do them one by one. If you kill more than one at a time the feathers will set and you will have a terrible time. A killing cone saves a lot of trouble. Once they are in the cone, there is no flopping around and all of the mess is in one place. Hopefully in a wash tub or bucket. Let them bleed out, scald them, pick them and then draw them.

My mother used to set up a sort of assembly line. My dad would kill them and when they were bled out he would bring them into the house. My mom would "baptise them" in boiling water and then pass them off to one of the kids to pick while she drew another one. When they were picked, she would singe them over the fire to take off all of the pin feathers. Then she would draw them.

Skinning chickens is something I never heard of until it was mentioned in the web site.

Soaking them in salt water makes them so much more juicy. Only brine the ones that you are going to cook the next day. The ones that are going into freezer, you can brine them the day you want to cook them.

By the way, butchering is like moving. Everybody says they will help you, but when that day arrives, you will find yourself alone.

 

[pueawjapygrta]

picking feathers really isn't that difficult. I'd imagine that I can pick a chicken clean as fast as I could skin one.

 

[JacobsRewardFarm]

I don't usually eat chicken skin, so what is the benefit of leaving the skin on (plucking vs. skinning)? I'm just learning and want all the info I can get!
Thanks!
CindyT.

 

[Rica]

Hi there,

Just adding my two cents.
I am currently raising 5 Cobb500's for eating. The plan is to eat them somewhere between 6 and 8 weeks. They are 2 weeks old today and they are HUGE!!!
On the salt water issue, this process is known as brining, and is a way of making the meat moist and imparting some extra flavour. You only want to brine a roasting chook, if you are planning on jointing the chook and cooking it by another method (such as frying) brining will put too much moisture in the meat, and you will end up losing it all again in the cooking and stew the meat! Usually you brine a chook 24hrs before you want to cook it. If you do it before freezing, you may find that it will take on a more watery taste, although i haven't tried brining before freezing. I do know, however, that this is the way we get some of our frozen supermarket chooks, often labelled as "extra juicy" or something like that. I'd say extra watery! So I'd be more inclined to brine after defrosting the chook. My very vague recipe is to get a bucket and half fill it with cold water. Dissolve one cup of salt, and half a cup of something sweet (sugar, molasses, honey is nice) some peppercorns, and any spices you want to use (I like cloves and star anise). Add the chook, and top up the bucket to full. Fridge overnight, then make sure you rinse the chook really well, pat it dry and oil before cooking. Works really well on the Christmas turkey!
On the slaughtering issue, I haven't done it before. My plan is to do all the chooks on the same day (so they won't miss each other) and to not do it in front of each other. This is more for my benefit than theirs. I am going for the sharp cleaver method. Anything you read about spinning the chooks around first, or other crazy things, don't believe it! I have been asking around, and using crazy methods to "put the bird to sleep" is just plain distressing to the chook.

 

[Rica]

On the skin issue, I write this from the point of view of a cook, not so much for convenience sake...
If you don't usually eat the skin I would take it off. However, if you were planning on roasting the chook, i would definitely leave the skin on. The chook will dry out a lot if it is roasted skinless. You will find that leaving the skin on does not significantly add to the fat content if you are roasting, as long as you are roasting on a rack so the fat can drain away. If you were planning on jointing the chook and cooking it another way (frying, in a sauce) I can see no reason why you wouldn't skin it.

Slap me if I'm stating the obvious. Again, I speak from the experience of a foodie more than a chicken farmer.

 

[JacobsRewardFarm]

Thanks, Rica, that all makes a bunch of sense and confirms my feelings. Again, this is my first time and its kind of an experiment.

I'm moving my 25 eating Delawares to their pasture pen later today. In honor of my Aussie pals, I'm naming it the "Chook Wagon." I hope to move it around my pasture for about 10 weeks while these birds get a little meat on their bones. Maybe I will get brave and try Cornishxs in the next batch. Joel Salatin seems to make it work... (though not in winter!)