First time slaughtering bird, many questions...

[AmaDucky]

Hi, guys! :3

I'm obviously very new. Me and my boyfriend had our first experience slaughtering one of our birds today. This was the first little flock we've had, raised 'em from chicks, and one of them turned into an extremely loud rooster that we knew we couldn't have with neighbors so close (we can have chickens where we live, but we were very concerned about him being a noise problem). So we, er, took care of him today... We did a lot of research and talked to a lot of people, and worked up our nerve to kill and butcher him, but I'm left with some questions that I'm hoping some seasoned veterans could help me with.

If anyone would care to glimpse over these and give me a couple pointers for next time, I would be eternally grateful!!

1.) Question about how clean/safe the carcass is: as you can imagine, this was quite a mess for us (we've never killed or gutted anything before). So, we kind of botched removing the crop, and it exploded all over our carcass... Is it still safe to eat after that?? We washed it off pretty good, but I'm still pretty squeamish about this stuff and wanted to make sure before we tried to cook it, heh. Carcass was immediately wrapped up and thrown in the freezer afterwards.

2.) Our rooster was SCRAWNY!!! The chicks that we got were all Buckeyes, which I've read are supposed to be pretty good dual purpose birds, so I was really troubled when I felt how light he was when I picked him up beforehand--and just flat-out shocked when I saw how small his body was after we got all the feathers off. I'm wondering if we didn't feed him the proper diet? Can anyone give me some really good newbie tips for getting bigger, meatier birds (aside from just getting an entirely different breed)?

3.) Scrawny as he is, we still want to try to eat him, and I'm concerned about the meat being tough. The chickens had a decent amount of space to wander, and I'm wondering if this is a contributing factor to why he is to lean--and I also read that makes for not so good meat. Does anyone have any good pointers for making a tougher bird more tender?? Whenever I cook the carcass, I had planned on brining it for at least 24 hrs. I guess I'm interested in any other methods, and especially cooking techniques, anyone may have.

Thank you so much for your help and I'm happy to have found this community!!! These forums have already been extremely helpful in our new chicken hobby!

~ Amanda

 

[chooks4life]

Hi, guys! :3

Greetings and

I'm obviously very new. Me and my boyfriend had our first experience slaughtering one of our birds today. This was the first little flock we've had, raised 'em from chicks, and one of them turned into an extremely loud rooster that we knew we couldn't have with neighbors so close (we can have chickens where we live, but we were very concerned about him being a noise problem). So we, er, took care of him today... We did a lot of research and talked to a lot of people, and worked up our nerve to kill and butcher him, but I'm left with some questions that I'm hoping some seasoned veterans could help me with.

If anyone would care to glimpse over these and give me a couple pointers for next time, I would be eternally grateful!!

1.) Question about how clean/safe the carcass is: as you can imagine, this was quite a mess for us (we've never killed or gutted anything before). So, we kind of botched removing the crop, and it exploded all over our carcass... Is it still safe to eat after that?? We washed it off pretty good, but I'm still pretty squeamish about this stuff and wanted to make sure before we tried to cook it, heh. Carcass was immediately wrapped up and thrown in the freezer afterwards.

It happens quite often, and it should be fine, after all you washed him off and that's about all anyone does whenever guts end up anywhere they shouldn't be. Happens to storebought chooks too, it's pretty much a guarantee that if you're not a lifelong vegan you've eaten many chooks that have had that happen to them under processing, not to mention pigs, cattle, sheep, etc. The crop's not really a serious digestive organ, more of a storage one that breaks stuff down a little. The slower their digestive system, poorer the health, and worse the diet, the more the contents will stink, generally. Your biggest risk there was probably in handling the raw chook, you can become exposed to some bacteria etc which can make you sick or even kill you under some circumstances. e.g. salmonella, campylobacter etc.

2.) Our rooster was SCRAWNY!!! The chicks that we got were all Buckeyes, which I've read are supposed to be pretty good dual purpose birds, so I was really troubled when I felt how light he was when I picked him up beforehand--and just flat-out shocked when I saw how small his body was after we got all the feathers off. I'm wondering if we didn't feed him the proper diet? Can anyone give me some really good newbie tips for getting bigger, meatier birds (aside from just getting an entirely different breed)?

Few points to address to sort out what's at fault.

Where'd you get him? (If from a breeder, there's at least traceability of parent line performance, but many breeders neglect actual dual purpose traits in breeds known for that in the pursuit of show type traits. Looks over performance are the main breeding criteria for many. Breed reviews paint an idealized picture generally, unfortunately there's a heck of a lot of animals that don't live up to breed standards).

How old was he? (Under a year is a cockerel, over that a rooster, but really most chooks in my experience are not done growing until they're two or three years old at least. But a good dual purpose type, on a good diet, in good health, should be able to be eaten from a young age onwards with good meat on it... Depends on the breed, I don't know much about Buckeyes but some meat breeds are for early consumption, others for late consumption, bred for different types of cooking, and some are slow growers and likely to be scrawny young whereas others flesh out from hatching onwards. If Buckeyes are slow growers with large frames, generally that type lays down skeleton length and depth first, then months later lays down meat).

What diet did you give him?

Did you ever worm him?

Did he have normal/healthy poops? (Fairly solid in terms of ability to hold a rounded shape, black and white)

3.) Scrawny as he is, we still want to try to eat him, and I'm concerned about the meat being tough. The chickens had a decent amount of space to wander, and I'm wondering if this is a contributing factor to why he is to lean--and I also read that makes for not so good meat.

I find that's an urban myth basically. (Or is that a rural myth?) Just like that old nugget..."As soon as it crows/mates, that's it, the meat instantly becomes as tough as a boot!" It amazes me that some people actually believe this. I expect it's due to them either not knowing meat quality is largely genetic, or having a breed with extreme muscle stringiness and coarse grain, which would be exacerbated around and after the onset of puberty in males, but also in females that don't brood. Layer breeds can be, and often are, as tough as any old rooster.

Throughout history, all around the world, there have been breeds of livestock known for tender meat. The grain of the flesh, the fat percentage and distribution, the flavor, the texture, the juiciness, are all genetic in basis more than due to any other cause. Our ancestors knew this and selected for it very early on. Some breeds have become extinct or close to it due to being such good eating. (Like the 'Kaiser Chicken'). Even now, some of the most ancient, pure genepools and breeds are still the best eating. There's a breed of cattle in Africa, the Nguni, which is so tender even intact older bull flesh can be cut with your fork.

Some people took the shortcut and confined the animals to cause muscle atrophy to make it softer, but I think quality of life can be tasted in the meat so I would rather have tougher meat with a clean, healthy taste, than flaccid meat which is softer but tastes poorer. Once you've had homegrown a few times, it makes it hard or impossible to go back to storebought, you really can taste their suffering and the often less than humane pre-death treatment in the meat. Sounds weird but it's true. Can take a while to get used to the flavor of home grown though, it's often very different. Stringently humane culls do a world of good for flavor.

I raise all mine free range because exercise makes them healthier and therefore makes their products healthier for us to consume. I raise mutts, and found bantam genetics introduced rapid and easy-fleshing, good flavored, juicier and tender qualities, so even a 6-week old would be a good meal, but I also culled roosters both young and old of many different genetics, and found even an old fellow with good meat genes is easy eating. We used pressure cookers and ovens too, but also stir fried them and most of all, spit roasted them. We always found mongrels the best eating and purebreds terrible on all counts. With some genetic lines, it almost doesn't matter how young the males are, you have to slow cook and then stew and maybe then broil them as well, for a long time, to get them to being vaguely softer than leather.

Many dual purpose breeds are only that in name, they're terrible eating. If the breeder you buy from doesn't check meat quality regularly, as show breeders and many hatcheries don't, you can pretty much expect terrible eating qualities.

Does anyone have any good pointers for making a tougher bird more tender??

This forum has lots of threads on cooking old birds, roosters, and so forth. Slow cooking, with applied moisture, pressure cooking, long term stewing, are all pretty popular.

Whenever I cook the carcass, I had planned on brining it for at least 24 hrs. I guess I'm interested in any other methods, and especially cooking techniques, anyone may have.

That's what many people do to make it softer, I think you're on the right track.

Thank you so much for your help and I'm happy to have found this community!!! These forums have already been extremely helpful in our new chicken hobby!

~ Amanda

Good luck and best wishes. Welcome to the flock.

 

[AmaDucky]

Wow, very good information, thank you very much for the prompt and informative reply! I see we have a lot of learning ahead of us, but clearly hands on is the best method...

To answer your questions about the specific bird, my bf just picked him and a few other chicks up from a guy nearby who made a craigslist post about available Buckeye chicks. I am certain now that whenever we have another go at raising meat birds (or even good layers), we will seek out better breeders for our specific wants in the chickens. The rooster we killed was probably about 5 months old. We didn't do any research on when is a good age to slaughter a Buckeye, because we had not originally planned on doing that. Now you have me wondering about other people who have processed Buckeyes and how long they waited, what their experience was like as far as size goes, etc. All of the birds had good poop, we never wormed them, and at the time we killed him we were feeding them just the regular scratch grains from the store, plus they grazed in our yard. I do want to put much more effort into their diet with our next round of birds.

Thank you very much again for your reply. This has steered me in a good direct for more research. And now the learning process continues!!

 

[chooks4life]

Wow, very good information, thank you very much for the prompt and informative reply!

Just coincidence, happened to be on around the time your post was published. I try to help with unanswered topics because lots of them get buried under the masses and go unanswered.

I see we have a lot of learning ahead of us, but clearly hands on is the best method...

To answer your questions about the specific bird, my bf just picked him and a few other chicks up from a guy nearby who made a craigslist post about available Buckeye chicks. I am certain now that whenever we have another go at raising meat birds (or even good layers), we will seek out better breeders for our specific wants in the chickens. The rooster we killed was probably about 5 months old. We didn't do any research on when is a good age to slaughter a Buckeye, because we had not originally planned on doing that. Now you have me wondering about other people who have processed Buckeyes and how long they waited, what their experience was like as far as size goes, etc. All of the birds had good poop, we never wormed them, and at the time we killed him we were feeding them just the regular scratch grains from the store, plus they grazed in our yard. I do want to put much more effort into their diet with our next round of birds.

Well, craigslist can be sometimes an unadvisable place to get chooks... Same as any classifieds really, except those run by experienced chook keepers. But, sometimes you do get quality birds from such places. Ideally, you should be able to view the parents of the birds you're getting, and the conditions they're kept under, for a good estimate of how much benefit or trouble you're in for.

I think the problem with lack of meatiness is due to lack of protein; from what you've said, you were feeding scratch grains and letting them graze. They need a good source of protein as well, a couple of ounces each per day. The few insects they can find daily isn't enough, and the grains alone won't do it. Very few chicken breeds, even on good pastures and of good foraging ability, are able to maintain decent growth and weight as juveniles without a decent daily source of good protein which almost always has to be supplemented.

It's common enough for people to try to raise them on scratch grains alone, since plenty of people advise newbies to do so, but it's not a workable idea in the majority of cases. They end up with deficiency diseases. If you have a woody area brimming with natural protein sources that's different, but most people don't have such resources so have to supplement.

Here's one BYC user's review on Buckeyes:
Quote:

Based on that I'd think they mature soon, despite this person calling it a long time (they're probably used to commercial heavy duty meat breeds ready to slaughter by 6 weeks rather than 6 months, lol).

Thank you very much again for your reply. This has steered me in a good direct for more research. And now the learning process continues!!

They seem like a decent breed for your intentions, good luck with getting hold of some good ones and ironing out any kinks in the husbandry. I'm still working on some kinks of my own, years after starting, lol.

Best wishes.

 

[rainbowrooster]

I think the scratch grains were most likely the cause of the small carcass. Since you mentioned that you have other birds for eggs you should get them on a feed with more nutritional value than scratch grains. If they are lying now get them on a layer feed, if not get some type of grower.