Choosing which roo to keep--advice?

[Davaroo]

Peace it is {{{shaking hands}}}.

 

[eggzettera]

elderoo xplain plz

For the table, processing should be done according to what is nowadays called the "Kosher method." They used to call it "sticking."

TIA
N​

 

[Davaroo]

Are you sure you want to know?

WARNING: this is graphic. STOP now if you are sensitive.



































First, bind the bird so it cant wiggle around and turn it upside down. This is often done with special wing binders, or a killing cone into which the bird will only fit head down. In the cone, it's wings are tightly held against its body, the feet protruding from the top and the head/neck hang out the bottom. A cut-down traffic cone hung on the wall works, or you can buy specially made metal cones.
[[[ My grandmother, a good Norwegian farm matron, taught me how it was done. Normally she just whacked them unceremoniously on a stump with a broad-faced hatchet she had just for the purpose. But on occasion, she did it this way by holding the bird head down on her lap, between her legs. She was good at this and could do it all in a few seconds. I never got good at it.]]]

Next with a sharp, slightly hooked knife about three inches long, cut a deep incision from INSIDE the mouth, just at the back of the throat. This is where the jugular is nearest the joint between head and neck. You can do the same thing from outside on the neck, too, and that is how the Kosher shochet does it. The chicken will jerk at the cut and thrash around if unbound as it bleeds out from the mouth. The blood is collected in a pan or cup. If you just let them hang there, their thrashing would have blood going everywhere.

When the bleeding slows, quickly turn the knife and force it back and down into the brain cavity of the bird. This will kill it instantly. Allow the final blood draining to occur. Proceed with normal processing. In the kosher fashion, the rabbi then packs the carcass in cold salt for an hour or so to remove body heat and allow a short brining period.

What this method does is remove the blood, prevent meat or bone damaged as can happen with decapitation and loosens the feather muscles instantly, so the bird can be dry picked - none of that scalding mess. It does all this in one quick, almost surgical, operation.
The Jews go one step further and pluck them in cold water, as far as I understand it, probably to facilitate the cooling and make things neater all around.

If you've made it this far, let me say I am NOT good at this and barely manage it. I prefer to give away birds rather than do this. Also, it is something you want to do in a special area outside or in a shed, not at the kitchen sink.
Im told the birds sort of just fall asleep when they hang upside down and of course just "drift off" as they bleed out. I wont comment on that here.

But, sooner or later, it befalls the chicken keeper to do his or her duty and dispatch a bird..

 

[DrakeMaiden]

That's what I thought. Why the wait period between the jugular cut and the brain injury? I'd want to get it over and done with.

 

[eggzettera]

Thanks I appreciate the detailed response. If I understand you right, you do the first cut basically the same in the two methods just one is done on the inside and the other one the out. Both cuts being ACROSS the length of the throat (similar to the finger gesture some people employ to tell you, your end is near), but with the first method you go immediately to the debraining (after blood flow has slowed). Is this correct?

I have already reconciled myself that when it comes time I will have to do what is best for my chickens (not myself) and the least amount of stress on the bird is the optimal goal. With that being said, I will have to work my way up to this method and start with the hatchet. I know I will not be able to eat the first one but maybe by the 3rd or 4th time I will be there.

My very first encounter with chickens was back (way, way bck) when I was 11 and my family and another (the ones with the chickens) processed 100 chickens in a day. My mother canned (in actual cans not bottles) the meat. No one really had the stomach for it and we gave most of it away. So I know I will have a "learning curve".


When I first started fishing I could not bring myself to kill, gut and clean, now I do not know why I was so lame. But at least I did not have to raise them & do the deed, that's the hard part - disassociation.

Did not mean to hijack the thread, would I have been using better etiquette to have emailed you the question. If so I apologize I know this question should be in the "Meat" forum.

 

[DrakeMaiden]

Don't appologize, Mean Queen. I was curious too.

 

[Windy Ridge]

Personally I rather LIKE it when my threads are "hijacked." It means they're interesting.

Seriously, though, this was a give-and-take conversation, not a hijack.

 

[Davaroo]

Why the wait period between the jugular cut and the brain injury?

So the heart pumps most of the blood out. Otherwise, you can expect some blood to remain in the flesh and taint the flavor. This doesnt take long, just some seconds... and before anyone asks - I have never timed it!

Heres how M.G. Kains describes it:

Method of Killing
"Sticking in the mouth is the usual method of killing. The large arteries at the sides of the neck, just below the ears, are cut by a couple of quick motions inside. The blade is then forced through the roof of the mouth into the brain. This makes plucking easier, since it relaxes the muscles. The bird must hang head down till plucked."

Note the arteries are severed in his account, then the brain is pierced. Dont be in a hurry and all (supposedly) goes well. Remember, I am no expert at this stuff! I've mucked up the cutting part when I've done it and made a mess of it. Dead is dead, regardless.

Allow me a disclaimer, on this one:
Remember, dear friends, I'm only sharing what little I know on this, not years of experience as a chicken executioner.

 

[Dipsy Doodle Doo]

"Remember, dear friends, I'm only sharing what little I know on this, not years of experience as a chicken executioner.

"

It's one thing to share what you've read about butchering chickens and quite another to actually 'do the deed', right?

Lisa

 

[Davaroo]

Quite another. I never managed to be good at it and to be honest, I may never. But, if youre gonna off the little dears, its best to know something about what you're doing going in.