- Apr 17, 2007
- 108
- 4
- 143
Hello everyone,
I bought 6 baby chicks in the spring. I was hoping for all hens but it looks like 4 out of the 6 are Roos. The seller offered to take any Roosters back. I returned my daughters favorite to the seller because I promised I would not "hurt" him. Of the last three one started to crow this week. I had to make a decision on what to do. Return this one to the seller and act like a "citiot" that "tried" chickens and it did not work and put them up on Craigslist for some one to take off their hands or man up and do what I needed to do.
Well... Last night I got everything out and set up (I have read numerous threads and watched ALL the youtube videos I could find.) Woke up before everyone in the house and woke up my 10 year old son for help. (Not much help but good moral support.)
Got everything set, took a breath, and went to the coop. I tried not to think about it too much and to keep going once I started the process.
Grabbed the Rooster and brought him to the killing cone I made last night. Put him in with little fight. (Everything they say about the chickens going in easy and going into a trance is true).
I had to reach in the cone and grab his beak to bring him down which I did not enjoy. I used a sheet rock knife with a new blade to cut the jugular vein. (I think I ended up cutting the wind pipe too.)
I pulled back the head as the blood drained. It was pretty quick and the bird did not seem to struggle or be in pain. It was not perfect but I thought it was better than some of the videos I have seen on line.
After I dipped the bird in the hot water and began pulling the feathers. Not to bad of a job but it seemed that there was a lot of dark/black pin feathers than were stuck under the skin which were hard to get out. (I ended up skinning the bird because of this.)
The next part was for me the harder part. I was scared of really doing a terrible job of cleaning the bird and ruining the meat. It is hard to explain but it was easier and harder than I thought it would be. I took the crop out with little problem. And I was able to cut around the vent like I have seen in the videos pretty easily. I found it harder to clean the inside out, I thought it would come out easier.
The two problems I had were the feathers under the skin and when I took the skin off it was hard to do on the wings. One of the wings became un-usable for anything but soup after.
So... for the most part it was pretty smooth for the first time. I am glad I was able to do it because I am raising 13 Red Rangers that will be ready at the end of September and it was a good test run that ended successful. I have two more roosters that I need to harvest. I am hoping I will get a little better the second time.
Oh, I was able to harvest 4 lbs. of meat which I thought was pretty good.
I bought 6 baby chicks in the spring. I was hoping for all hens but it looks like 4 out of the 6 are Roos. The seller offered to take any Roosters back. I returned my daughters favorite to the seller because I promised I would not "hurt" him. Of the last three one started to crow this week. I had to make a decision on what to do. Return this one to the seller and act like a "citiot" that "tried" chickens and it did not work and put them up on Craigslist for some one to take off their hands or man up and do what I needed to do.
Well... Last night I got everything out and set up (I have read numerous threads and watched ALL the youtube videos I could find.) Woke up before everyone in the house and woke up my 10 year old son for help. (Not much help but good moral support.)
Got everything set, took a breath, and went to the coop. I tried not to think about it too much and to keep going once I started the process.
Grabbed the Rooster and brought him to the killing cone I made last night. Put him in with little fight. (Everything they say about the chickens going in easy and going into a trance is true).
I had to reach in the cone and grab his beak to bring him down which I did not enjoy. I used a sheet rock knife with a new blade to cut the jugular vein. (I think I ended up cutting the wind pipe too.)
I pulled back the head as the blood drained. It was pretty quick and the bird did not seem to struggle or be in pain. It was not perfect but I thought it was better than some of the videos I have seen on line.
After I dipped the bird in the hot water and began pulling the feathers. Not to bad of a job but it seemed that there was a lot of dark/black pin feathers than were stuck under the skin which were hard to get out. (I ended up skinning the bird because of this.)
The next part was for me the harder part. I was scared of really doing a terrible job of cleaning the bird and ruining the meat. It is hard to explain but it was easier and harder than I thought it would be. I took the crop out with little problem. And I was able to cut around the vent like I have seen in the videos pretty easily. I found it harder to clean the inside out, I thought it would come out easier.
The two problems I had were the feathers under the skin and when I took the skin off it was hard to do on the wings. One of the wings became un-usable for anything but soup after.
So... for the most part it was pretty smooth for the first time. I am glad I was able to do it because I am raising 13 Red Rangers that will be ready at the end of September and it was a good test run that ended successful. I have two more roosters that I need to harvest. I am hoping I will get a little better the second time.
Oh, I was able to harvest 4 lbs. of meat which I thought was pretty good.
