First time gutting - so many questions!!

[RosedaleDrope8]

Hello,
We have a small hobby farm with 5 Amerucanas and were given (for free!) 7 Lowmans. Introducing the new birds to our existing flock didn't go that well and we lost an Amerucana in the process... She died last night. Today I attempted to gut her and unfortunately did not read up on the process first - whoops! However I did learn some very hands tips:
1) Never use a ceramic blade while gutting. Bone will win over ceramic.
2) Make certain to do outside or in a room that's well ventilated, and preferably NOT after eating a large meal!
3) Attempting to pluck a rooster without boiling it will result in the skin coming off with the feathers.
.....
Only after all of that did I sit down on Google and decide my next course of action! And now I'm not certain what to do cause I have a headless and footless, plucked, skinless, non gutted chicken sitting in my fridge and I've read that it should stay there for a bit to tenderize? Or should I place in a pot with brine? Should I gut before or after??
LOL
Please help!

 

[sylviethecochin]

Welcome to BYC. Don't worry. I think almost everyone ends up skinning the bird the first time around.

I would get on youtube, find a good butchering video, and type nsfw in the web address[edt below] so that it'll let you watch it. (Because everyone eats meat, but heaven forbid that we actually be allowed to watch a video of it being prepared.)

is a fairly decent one. Not spectacular, but it's midnight, and I'm not searching through videos all night. Gutting begins around 4:30.

Some general advice:

Guts are a great source of bacteria. It's best to remove them as soon as possible. If I'm skinning a bird, I begin by removing the big feathers. Second, I cut around the cloaca to start removing guts and work out from there. If I'm plucking, I remove all feathers, then gut immediately. Get the guts out.

Gutting also opens up the chicken for better soaking in brine, which I like to do if possible. Think of it as marinading the meat, rather than just allowing it to sit in the fridge. Also, I'm of the opinion that salt water is more sanitary.

You almost certainly will not get out all the lung material first time gutting. Cut up the chicken when you're done, investigate the back, and find out what bits you've missed. It'll be an invaluable help next time.

[EDT: www.nsfwyoutube/v=watch????????.{EDT2: example of nsfw address format. Not an actual link. BYC's being evil} And ignore the ads. They're nasty, but if you blow it up to full screen, You can ignore them]

 

[sylviethecochin]

You did remove the crop, right? If not, I believe that's outlined earlier in the video as well.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

If you are really really obsessive you can melt a block of paraffin in the vessel that you are using to scald in then after a few seconds in the scalding water hang the scalded bird up to cool and you can peal off the feathers sort of like peeling an orange. Drawing or gutting is the easiests part of processing or dressing a chicken. Don't forget to keep the gizzard, heart, liver, lights, giblets, or immature egg yolks to go in your gravy boat. Yum....

 

[Mosey2003]

Personally, I would not eat that chicken. It's best to gut them fairly quickly after death. She's been sitting for hours with guts in, that's a pass for me. Plus, if she died from fighting, she's gonna be full of adrenaline anyway.

 

[trudyg]

Agree with Mosey--if the guts have been in that long, even if cool, you've been breeding bacteria.

 

[trudyg]

Hey Mosey, since you're on here, can you look under the injuries forum and look at the scaly leg that Gert555 posted? My rooster Roscoe's legs look a lot like that--looks dirty between the scales and his legs are very red, too. I've been watching to see if anyone posts but no one has. Funny, too, to see someone with a similar name to me and in my area of AL! I wonder if we're neighbors and don't know it.

 

[RosedaleDrope8]

Thanks everyone for your help!!!
I gutted her yesterday and found the video above super helpful! I did have to warm her up a bit as I had her in the fridge and had a hard time getting in to the cavity cause it was cold. Also I could see that the day before I had cut the intestine accidentally which was why I had such a horrible smell! I quickly got in and got out all that I could, slowly easing in and rinsing with water as I went. The liver I couldn't salvage, what a nightmare to get out, but the heart and gizzard were really easy. I have her, the heart and the gizzard soaking in brine in the fridge and was thinking of making soup stock from it.
Do you think I should just toss this one because of the intestine mishap and guts inside for 24hrs? Would be a pity to waste her but I don't want to contaminate my family!

 

[Mosey2003]

"Do you think I should just toss this one because of the intestine mishap and guts inside for 24hrs? Would be a pity to waste her but I don't want to contaminate my family!"

Honestly, I would. You could cook and feed to the dog if you have one, or maybe even back to the chickens, but I would not eat a bird that sat dead that long PLUS had a breached intestine.

 

[Mosey2003]

I mean, maybe it's just me, but when you can buy a whole chicken for less than $6 in the store, I won't risk eating one that might make me sick.