Ok, so I don't have THAT many birds to process, just 3 more. But after the last attack I was willing to tolerate today, I bumped up butcher day for one of my bantam cochin boys. It took me AN HOUR to get him from the chopping block to the fridge....holy cow.
Here's what I did:
Tied his feet so he couldn't claw me, and to help me keep his post-mortem movements to a minimum.
Removed head with ax. (I don't have anywhere to put up a cone).
Waited for flapping, etc to cease...held him upside down to aid in bleeding, didn't seem like enough blood though...??
I don't have anywhere to set up a table/scalder right now, so I skinned him. I used a pair of tree branch loppers to cut through joints on legs and wings (removed wings altogether). Once I got most of the skin off, I cut the neck further down...got quite a bit more blood at this time..??
I had a really hard time getting the trachea out - any tips for that? Innards came out piece by piece - is there a way to get them all out together like you can with a mammal?
A little poo dripped out and got onto a small area of thigh - I think I cut away everything that was contaminated, and washed him really well, but is this a problem?
I also had a hard time removing testicles - if you break them, will they contaminate meat like a deers will? The lungs came out nice, and I think everything else went ok. He's in the fridge now, destined to go to the crockpot tomorrow to make a nice pot of soup.
I'm planning on doing his brother on Sunday, I'd love it to not take an hour, so any tips / advice / things you think I could do better would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!!!
Here's what I did:
Tied his feet so he couldn't claw me, and to help me keep his post-mortem movements to a minimum.
Removed head with ax. (I don't have anywhere to put up a cone).
Waited for flapping, etc to cease...held him upside down to aid in bleeding, didn't seem like enough blood though...??
I don't have anywhere to set up a table/scalder right now, so I skinned him. I used a pair of tree branch loppers to cut through joints on legs and wings (removed wings altogether). Once I got most of the skin off, I cut the neck further down...got quite a bit more blood at this time..??
I had a really hard time getting the trachea out - any tips for that? Innards came out piece by piece - is there a way to get them all out together like you can with a mammal?
A little poo dripped out and got onto a small area of thigh - I think I cut away everything that was contaminated, and washed him really well, but is this a problem?
I also had a hard time removing testicles - if you break them, will they contaminate meat like a deers will? The lungs came out nice, and I think everything else went ok. He's in the fridge now, destined to go to the crockpot tomorrow to make a nice pot of soup.
I'm planning on doing his brother on Sunday, I'd love it to not take an hour, so any tips / advice / things you think I could do better would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!!!