Chickens Watching Chicken Processing

[Mimi13]

In my younger years, I remember once my granddaddy had the slaughter house come and pick up several steers. (I still don’t know why he didn’t take them, but ... whatever.) One of the old boys let a steer get loose and of course it took off. That poor old fool took off after it with a gun and was gonna shoot it. (First of all, how was he going to load a dead steer on the trailer with a bunch of live ones already on it?) Anyway, I just remember my granddaddy hollering at him not to shoot it. He explained to me later that the meat would have been tainted by the rush of adrenaline from the steer escaping and running. Totally makes sense to me. I wonder why I remember crap like that from 45 years ago and I can’t remember what I was gonna say mid sentence?

But to get back to my original thought (before I forget it), I wonder how chickens react in a processing plant? Do their feathers get all ruffled right before killing, tainting their meat with adrenaline? Obviously not, or we wouldn’t be able to eat store bought chicken. Is there any truth to the adrenaline theory or just an old timer’s way of thinking?

 

[cleoandtheflock]

In my younger years, I remember once my granddaddy had the slaughter house come and pick up several steers. (I still don’t know why he didn’t take them, but ... whatever.) One of the old boys let a steer get loose and of course it took off. That poor old fool took off after it with a gun and was gonna shoot it. (First of all, how was he going to load a dead steer on the trailer with a bunch of live ones already on it?) Anyway, I just remember my granddaddy hollering at him not to shoot it. He explained to me later that the meat would have been tainted by the rush of adrenaline from the steer escaping and running. Totally makes sense to me. I wonder why I remember crap like that from 45 years ago and I can’t remember what I was gonna say mid sentence?

But to get back to my original thought (before I forget it), I wonder how chickens react in a processing plant? Do their feathers get all ruffled right before killing, tainting their meat with adrenaline? Obviously not, or we wouldn’t be able to eat store bought chicken. Is there any truth to the adrenaline theory or just an old timer’s way of thinking?

I have never heard of adrenaline tainting the meat taste and quality but interesting story.

 

[aart]

Do their feathers get all ruffled right before killing, tainting their meat with adrenaline? Obviously not, or we wouldn’t be able to eat store bought chicken. Is there any truth to the adrenaline theory or just an old timer’s way of thinking?

Have heard of this, and try to keep my birds calm but it's pretty hard to do once they are held by the feet and heading into the cone.
I wonder how the adrenaline really 'taints' the meat...
...I doubt it makes it inedible or even changes the taste dramatically.

 

[Mosey2003]

In my younger years, I remember once my granddaddy had the slaughter house come and pick up several steers. (I still don’t know why he didn’t take them, but ... whatever.) One of the old boys let a steer get loose and of course it took off. That poor old fool took off after it with a gun and was gonna shoot it. (First of all, how was he going to load a dead steer on the trailer with a bunch of live ones already on it?) Anyway, I just remember my granddaddy hollering at him not to shoot it. He explained to me later that the meat would have been tainted by the rush of adrenaline from the steer escaping and running. Totally makes sense to me. I wonder why I remember crap like that from 45 years ago and I can’t remember what I was gonna say mid sentence?

But to get back to my original thought (before I forget it), I wonder how chickens react in a processing plant? Do their feathers get all ruffled right before killing, tainting their meat with adrenaline? Obviously not, or we wouldn’t be able to eat store bought chicken. Is there any truth to the adrenaline theory or just an old timer’s way of thinking?

I think there is truth to adrenaline affecting the quality of meat. I know that chickens go through death throes differently if they were seriously upset prior than if it went very smoothly.

In commercial plants, everything is setup to get things done quickly and without undo stress to the animals, so I doubt they're getting all adrenaline'd up. They come in crates and are loaded onto a line upside down and taken through a stunner, and that all happens pretty fast.

 

[Mosey2003]

Have heard of this, and try to keep my birds calm but it's pretty hard to do once they are held by the feet and heading into the cone.
I wonder how the adrenaline really 'taints' the meat...
...I doubt it makes it inedible or even changes the taste dramatically.

I think it's moreso probably making the meat tough rather than changing the literal taste. I had one cockerel get a very, very bad death and he never did loosen up.

 

[Mimi13]

I think it's moreso probably making the meat tough rather than changing the literal taste. I had one cockerel get a very, very bad death and he never did loosen up.

Kind of like instant jerky! Hey, we may have stumbled onto something.

 

[Mosey2003]

Kind of like instant jerky! Hey, we may have stumbled onto something.

One of his legs seized while I was cooking him and he kicked the lid off the crockpot

 

[aart]

One of his legs seized while I was cooking him and he kicked the lid off the crockpot

No way!! Really?

 

[Mimi13]

Aha! When in doubt just Google it! I’m showing my age here, because I’m used to looking things up in the encyclopedia. (You know, the set of big books from A-Z.) And this type of info would not have been found under ‘Adrenaline,’ or ‘Beef,’ or ‘Slaughtering,’ or ...you get the point. But here it is for us today, spelled out perfectly.

https://www.grass-fed-solutions.com/cattle-stress.html

I guess kids of today are smarter than I was, if they have access to the internet that is!

 

[Molpet]

Touching and interesting. What catches my attention with this is that the ones who saw the roo die were quiet, but not looking for him. The ones who didn't were looking for him. So, were the first ones sad because they saw him die, or were they just not calling because they knew he was gone? I agree with the conclusion that the second ones were calling because an important member of their flock wasn't announcing himself.

Not sure if they were sad. Maybe Subdued
The next day I took down the fence and let the hens decide what coop they wanted to live in. The hens that witness the event, went to coops they had been in before that night. They didn't stay together. The hens that hadn't seen it stayed in the rooster-less coop for a couple days, before going back to the coop they originally were from
The coops roo is what I think they went to