First time Butchering

[GrammiChelle]

So I have 3 Cornish Rock xs. I didn't know what I was buying when I got them. I admit, I hadn't done enough research when I got my chicks, and I got 5 Cornish a Rock xs. 2 died in the first few weeks. I think they simply gained too much weight too fast, and ate so much the got impacted crops.
I had a steep learning curve with these chicks.
They're now 9 weeks and it's time to kill then and butcher them
I've watched several YouTube videos on how to do it, and I know it has to be done. There's two Roos and a hen and the can barely walk a few feet across the coop. I'm sure that food consumption will drop by half when they re gone, even though there's only three of them, and 6 RIR Pullets and 6 Langshan chicks.
I find the Cornish Rock xs to be ugly, birds and I'm ready to get them out of my coop.

PLEASE GIVE ME ANY TIPS AND TRICKS YOU HAVE THAT WILL MAKE THIS PROCESS AS HUMANE AS POSSIBLE!!

My other concern is, since I'm taking this animals life,
I WANT TO USE AS MUCH OF THE BIRD AS POSSIBLE.
SO PLEASE SHARE WITH ME YOUR USES FOR THE DIFFERENT PARTS OF THE CHICKEN.

I really appreciate any tips I can get.
I don't have any special equipment like a cone to kill the bird in, but we do plan to hang them and cut their throats. I have a pot to use, and our grill has a burner, so we can heat the water outside to make the feathers release more easily.
Beyond that info right there, I'm not really sure what to do.83GYP8FTOA

 

[jonsccm]

Make sure your knife is VERY sharp. Your cut should be deep but fast. You can eat the heart, gizzard, liver, I use the neck and Caracas to make broth after I cut the meat off.

 

[Judy]

That is all the equipment you really need, and all I have. Sharpen your knife!

It's no doubt the taking of a life that is hardest in the beginning, and for many of us it never got easy, just more tolerable. Really, the processing isn't difficult, although it will no doubt take you longer the first time. Be sure you know what the gall bladder looks like and don't break it, as the green liquid inside will make any meat it touches very bitter.

There are step by step instructions with pictures, and probably a video as well, in the sticky in this forum, too.

 

[Ridgerunner]

The most humane way to kill a chicken? However you can that is fast and sure. You don’t want to flinch or close your eyes, that could lead to injury to yourself or not a clean kill. I use a hatchet and chopping block, but I’ve been doing that all my life. I’m sure with what I am doing. If you are not used to a hatchet or ax, I don’t recommend that method. What you are proposing will work as long as you can follow through. I raise chickens for meat so it is a necessary part of what I do but I’ve never learned to enjoy the killing part.

You will see the bird flop around for several seconds, no matter what method you use. That’s one advantage of the killing cone, that is contained. But once the nerves are severed, the pain is gone. That’s just a nervous reaction, but it can be unsettling.

With chickens that young you have an alternative to plucking the bird, you could skin it unless you want the skin on the bird. There is a learning curve involved with that too but if you have ever hunted and prepared any game meat, you won’t have any real problems with that. I don’t know if there are any videos showing that process.

The first thing I do is cut the feet off, then make a cut at the bottom of the breast. Then I use my fingers to pull/work the skin off. The wings are the hardest. I cut the wing tip off instead of trying to skin that, it’s just not worth the effort.

I agree that the respectful thing is to use as much of the bird as you can. I cut the bird into serving pieces as I process it; thighs, drumsticks, breasts, and wishbone. Those are the parts that go into the freezer. You’ll notice I don’t use the wings for that. The liver goes to the dogs. I save the wings, back, neck, gizzard, heart, and feet for broth. I know how dirty the feet are, but if you scald them without overscalding them the toenails twist off easily and the skin can be peeled off. If you overscald the skin tears instead of peels and that process gets really slow. I can’t remember what temperature and length of time to scald is recommended for meat birds that age, mine are older, but look it up and don’t overscald. That gets the feet clean enough for me.

I make broth with those parts, cooing them overnight (12 hours or more) in a crock pot. You can do that in an over or in top of the stove as long as it is at very low heat. I add rough chopped onion, carrot, and celery, plus a bay leaf, about a dozen peppercorns, and usually basil and oregano. Sometimes I add parsley, thyme, maybe chives, depending on what I have on hand. Cover all that with water and cook real slowly. When you finish, strain out the solid parts with a sieve, take the fat off the top, then strain the liquid through several layers of cheesecloth. With my crock pot I normally get about 5 to 6 pints of broth with each chicken.

Then I pick the meat out of the solids. A lot of it has cooked off the bone, though the neck and part of the back still has meat on it to be picked off. Be careful as you can get a lot of small bones, but you now have cooked meat good for tacos, casseroles, chicken salad, pizza, or anything you would use cooked meat for.

Now for the part that might gross you out. A lot of people can’t handle this. When I am processing them, I keep two buckets handy. One gets the feathers, head, and parts that I’ll bury. If it is fall and my garden is done I bury that stuff in the garden. By spring it has broken down into plant food. Any other time of year it gets buried in my orchard. The trees will eventually recycle it. I cover where I bury it to keep animals from digging it up.

The second bucket gets parts I’ll feed back to my other chickens. I empty the gizzard into it. I empty the crop and cut the crop into two or three pieces and throw that in. Any meat or fat bits that I get go in. I always open the intestines to look for worms to assess the rest of my flock for worms, but I also cut some of the intestines into pieces and throw that in, contents and all. It’s partially digested concentrated nutrition. I limit the amount of this stuff to what I think the remaining chickens can clean up in before dark and dump this in the run. I don’t want this stuff attracting predators overnight.

Your birds are too young for this but I’ve even saved rooster saddle and hackle feathers for some people that make jewelry. I do try to use every part I can.

Good luck. Allow lots of time because there will be a learning curve.

 

[GrammiChelle]

Thanks for all the informative answers!! I'm going to give it a whirl soon. I have to.

 

[CabraVerde]

If you don't mind my asking, how did it the slaughter go?

I'm a first time butcherer as well and wonder if you can give and tips that weren't already covered in your thread. My babe is an older roo, about 17 weeks, and I'm taking the advice of skinning him as best I can. At least then I can pluck the feathers without bloodying them up and use them for art projects.

Any advice welcome!

 

[Hummingbird Hollow]

Agreeing with Ridgerunner above regarding the most humane way to kill a chicken. Read up on several methods and chose the one that sounds best to you and then just do it. You can be gentle with your chickens when you are raising them and gentle with them when you handle them and gentle as you bring it to the killing cone or chopping block, but once in place the kindest thing you can do is be quick and efficient. It is OK to feel bad about it but you can't let that slow you down or make you flinch.

 

[GrammiChelle]

I haven't done it yet, but I'll be sure and post when I do. I think I'm going to get a cone first. I think that will be easier for me, since the chicken will be restrained.
Check out YouTube for videos. I found several, one of a man who bravely videotaped his first time, after learning how to from watching a YouTube video. He shows and tells pretty much the whole thing, even what he would do different next time. There are lots of good chicken raising videos on YouTube. That's a great source. Without that, and this website, I wouldn't even know what breed my chickens are!

 

[czoellner]

We are getting ready this weekend to butcher our Cornish x. We are fine with the killing part. We built a Plucker too, works great! My question is what temp should you scald the bird and for how long before plucking?

The last time we either had it too hot or too long as some of the skin tore during plucking.

Any info is appreciated.

 

[wsmoak]

We are getting ready this weekend to butcher our Cornish x. We are fine with the killing part. We built a Plucker too, works great! My question is what temp should you scald the bird and for how long before plucking?

The last time we either had it too hot or too long as some of the skin tore during plucking.

Any info is appreciated.

This will probably help: http://thedeliberateagrarian.blogspot.com/2009/02/how-to-properly-scald-chicken-my-never.html

I set the temperature to 150F, realizing that because I spray the birds while they are in the killing cones, I will be lowering the temp a bit when I dunk the wet birds.

How long just depends... on how big the birds are, how many feathers they have, how vigorously you agitate them in the scalding water... as soon as you can pull a wing feather out easily, put them in the plucker.

-Wendy