Culling and eating???

[Three Little Bunnies]

Hi!

I am just preparing for the future.

IF for some reason I need to cull a bird, am I still able to eat the bird??? I do not want to waste the animal.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Yes they are edible. Depending on the breed and age, you may have to rethink what cooking chicken is all about. It won't likely to be a 6 week old Cornish/Rock cross. What makes up 100% of fast food chicken and 98% of grocery store chicken. You can't cook it quickly.
After processing, it needs to rest for several days either before or after freezing so rigor mortis will dissipate. Secondly, you'll need to cook it on low heat and very slow if you want to do the entire bird. That means about 225F for 5 hours or till the leg meat starts to fall off the bone.
A better method is to part the bird out since the breast cooks much faster and treat each part differently. A crock pot is always a good option, soup or casserole.
The good thing is that a mature bird is much more flavorful because they have had time to develop real chicken flavor, not like the flavorless grocery store bird.

 

[Three Little Bunnies]

Yes they are edible. Depending on the breed and age, you may have to rethink what cooking chicken is all about. It won't likely to be a 6 week old Cornish/Rock cross. What makes up 100% of fast food chicken and 98% of grocery store chicken. You can't cook it quickly.
After processing, it needs to rest for several days either before or after freezing so rigor mortis will dissipate. Secondly, you'll need to cook it on low heat and very slow if you want to do the entire bird. That means about 225F for 5 hours or till the leg meat starts to fall off the bone.
A better method is to part the bird out since the breast cooks much faster and treat each part differently. A crock pot is always a good option, soup or casserole.
The good thing is that a mature bird is much more flavorful because they have had time to develop real chicken flavor, not like the flavorless grocery store bird.

Thanks!

 

[Severne]

Culling is simply removing a bird from a flock. I cull all my extra cockerels and 3-4 year old hens. Exept the banties.

 

[Sequel]

Hi!

I am just preparing for the future.

IF for some reason I need to cull a bird, am I still able to eat the bird??? I do not want to waste the animal.

It depends on why you need to cull the bird. If it is sick then no you don’t eat the bird. If it had any type of infection you don’t eat it either. If it’s a troublemaker or you have too many then you’re good to go. Food animals must be healthy!

 

[NatJ]

IF for some reason I need to cull a bird, am I still able to eat the bird??? I do not want to waste the animal.

Usually, yes.
If the bird is sick: maybe not.
If the bird was injured: depends on the kind of injury. (If the chicken broke it's leg, I'd eat it. If the chicken got an infection in one foot, I might skip eating that leg. If the chicken had been bitten by a dog, I might not eat the parts the dog bit.)

If the bird was the wrong gender, wrong size, wrong color, mean or aggressive, too old to lay eggs, being bullied by the others, constantly escaping and being a nuisance--all of these birds are fine to eat.

And I agree with ChickenCanoe that a crock pot is often your friend, espcially when the bird is not very young.

 

[Three Little Bunnies]

Thanks for all of your replies!