Finally did the butcher

[FT Chickens]

If there is a next time I think I should give the skinning technique a try. Thanks

 

[ronott1]

I also skin mine but find the older the cockerel (actually the more mature, that is not specific to age) the harder it is to skin as the connective tissue is harder to pull apart and sometimes needs to be cut. Pullets are faster and easier than cockerels. I'd think broilers would be pretty easy since they are so young. But some people like the skin on.

There certainly is a learning curve, whichever way we go about it.

I almost always pluck. I can pluck very fast and it is definitely faster to pluck an old cockerel. The skin and the fat on it adds a lot of flavor too.

I had not processed since I was a teenager living on the prune orchard. It surprised me how well I was able to do it. It must be muscle memory.

 

[ronott1]

If there is a next time I think I should give the skinning technique a try. Thanks

skinning young cockerels is very fast. There are videos that show how to do it

 

[Ridgerunner]

I almost always pluck. I can pluck very fast and it is definitely faster to pluck an old cockerel. The skin and the fat on it adds a lot of flavor too.

I had not processed since I was a teenager living on the prune orchard. It surprised me how well I was able to do it. It must be muscle memory.

I also grew up plucking on the farm, but did not get back into chickens until I retired decades later. I cut mine into serving pieces and my wife wants them skinless so I find it easier to skin as I go. I also did not have a good way to heat the water and keep it hot, plus there was a fire risk the way I was doing it, so I switched to skinning.

We all have our own reasons for what we do. I don't consider mine superior to other ways for other people, just that it's the way I considered best for me.

 

[ronott1]

I also grew up plucking on the farm, but did not get back into chickens until I retired decades later. I cut mine into serving pieces and my wife wants them skinless so I find it easier to skin as I go. I also did not have a good way to heat the water and keep it hot, plus there was a fire risk the way I was doing it, so I switched to skinning.

We all have our own reasons for what we do. I don't consider mine superior to other ways for other people, just that it's the way I considered best for me.

Processing in the way that works best for the person and conditions is Key!

I love seeing people getting back to the roots of life and eating food they raise themselves. If you eat chicken from the store, it had a life and was processed. The life we give them for 20 some odd weeks is much better and we are then connected to our food.

So many have no idea where their food comes from.

 

[Lesjr883]

Thanks to my kids naming all of our chicks, eating them is not an option. I currently have 6 cockerels that I am going to have to re-home, or build them their own coop and run. They are all very friendly and range in age from 18 weeks to 7 weeks. My kids love them and would go hungry before they would eat one.

 

[MissChick@dee]

I am not my neighbors keeper. My concern if I just tossed them out on my own land would be the predators they would attract. Lord knows I don’t want to feed THEM.

 

[wyoDreamer]

I processed 6 roosters from my first chick order. They were 15 week old Sagitta roos from the local hatchery, labeled as "dual purpose" birds. They actually had a decent amount of meat but their legs were too long to fit in the pan, I had to piece them out for roasting. My dad loved the flavor in his chicken and dumplings.

 

[jvls1942]

I have butchered thousands of chickens plus ducks turkeys and geese.
I can pluck two chickens in less that a minute.
I tried skinning a chicken once, just to see how it is done. that once was enough for me.
there are tricks you can learn from each time you butcher. My wife and I can do 10 chickens in an hour.
when our 3 children were still at home, we would do 200 in a weekend. 100 on Sat and
100 on Sun. My brother came out to help on those weekends.
we do not freeze whole chickens any more.
takes up too much space.
here is a quick way to process a chicken.
kill it, pluck it. remove the wings, neck legs and theighs .
now you are left with the breast and back.
and the innards are still in the bird.
Instead of cutting a hole in the rear that you cannot fit your hand into anyhow.
cut along the ribs taking care to not cut into the innards. once you have it cut all the way around the belly , down the edge of the ribs and stopping at the spine. break the chicken open. cut around the poop hole and loosen the intestine from the chicken.
then take a handful of the innards and pull them out. the crop should pull out with everything else. don't break any of the innards
take a second hold and a third if needed.
there is some dark colored substance along either side of the spine. it can be removed by sliding your finger under it. there are cords holding it in place , just push through those or cut them with a knife.
the lungs are imbedded into the ribs. use your finger to push under them to get them out.
it takes less time to actually do all this as it just did for you to read about it..
A good pair of meat scissors is handy to use.
If you think a lack of meat on a chicken is not worth the effort, try cleaning a quail sometime.

 

[wyoDreamer]

I'm going to have to try your method @jvls1942
I have butchered birds in the past, and I am not half bad at it, but I am slow.
One question, after you remove the legs and thighs, is the carcass laying on its back or on its belly? are you cutting the ribs loose from the back-bone or the sternum (breast plate)? I just can't picture the process sitting here at my desk, lol.
I learned to butcher on partridge - bigger than a quail, smaller than a chicken - and watch for the shot, need to get all of that out of the meat.

Even if you just use the roosters for making broth, having homemade chicken broth to cook with ups the level of flavor for anything you use it in.