I am planning on freezer camping a young rooster, and I have a newbie question. I know that when cows/pigs/etc are processed, they need to "be fasted" i.e. no food for "x" amount of time, and I was wondering if, and if so, how much time do they need to be fasted for?
Awesome, thank you! I wanted to be sure I wasn't going to be making a mistake which might ruin the meat.
Most folks hold feed overnight. It has nothing to do with the meat. It's about having to deal with a full crop and intestines, and wasting feed. It's easier and cleaner to gut a bird that's been fasted. A full crop is messy if you cut it, and it has a smell to it. Same for the rest of the intestines, if they're full they can be if you cut into one by accident. And the wasting feed--if a bird eats soon before you butcher, all that feed is simply setting in the crop. Now, that said, I've butchered plenty of cockerels that aren't fasted at all. My butchering is more spur of the moment, "Look the weather is nice and I feel good enough and that cockerel is really getting on my nerves and I've got 2 hours before I have to go pick up a kid, so here we go" kind of thing. If I planned things out in advance, I'd try to fast them. But I'm not that organized I did have a thread with pics of butchering a bird with a full crop, just to give you an idea of what it looks like. Most of the videos I watched had birds with empty crops. https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1037276/chicken-math-subtraction-or-my-first-solo-processing
Thank You! I need to freezer camp an obnoxious cockerel, the brat bit me for a second time and broke skin this go round, so he's done! I would prefer to do this without a full crop/intestines, so I will pull his food the night before
I actually find that a full crop makes it easier to eviscerate them because I can get hold of it and detach it from the connective tissue more easily. That said, I am talking about 6-month - 2 year old male birds, so the connective tissue is pretty tough compared to an 8-10 week old cornish cross and being able to get hold of a handful in my fist rather than fiddling with my fingertips which have poor sensitivity anyway, makes it a lot less difficult for me. I feed the contents of crop and gizzard back to my hens along with the lungs and spleen so there is no wastage of the feed.
That is good to know! I guess I can try it both ways and see what works better for me. I have never done this...yet, lol.
Good luck. I find the killing part the hardest emotionally, even when they are irritating little oiks! After that it's just a question of doing the homework (You Tube is your friend for video tutorials on how to pluck and eviscerate, and there is also a great thread on here to support you through the process which I will link when I find it.) Best wishes Barbara https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...roup-help-us-through-the-emotions-please/5780
Not looking forward to this, but it has to be done and there is no one else to do it for me. I know it will bother me, but he is not good with anyone. He attacked the cats every chance he got and chased them around to the point I had to step in to stop him, bit me on the leg one day, beat up on anyone including hens/pullets, and when he bit me on the hand that literally feeds him yesterday, he drew blood. It has to be done
Well... I always say, that kind tastes better. Yes, sounds like he needs to go and the sooner the better. Here's a link to an article on BYC, I just looked it up for someone else so it's your lucky day: https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/how-to-process-a-chicken-at-home
