- Jul 26, 2009
- 1,866
- 41
- 171
Easy Peasy! I used the "snap" method my BIL and sister told me about -- they do it with wounded live game birds in the field after the dogs retrieve them. I thanked each one for its sacrifice, held it for a moment to calm it, then took hold of the head and let go of the body and gave a really quick, fast shake. INSTANT -- I could feel the skull separate from the vertebrae. It was totally instantaneous. I feel very comfortable with this method, it was sudden.
I then took large extremely sharp scissors and removed the head, and hung them upside down to bleed out for a couple of minutes.
To clean them, I did skin them, and I did waste the wing tips and tail because it was too hard to skin.
It took less than 45 minutes in total from live chicken to soaking out in the sink in salt water.
All or my initial angst is gone, nothing to this.
Total dressed weight for the four four and a half week old Cornish Cross without skin and with necks, livers, hearts, and gizzards was 9.4 lbs after I tared the scale to compensate for the weight of the container.
I don't know if 9.4 lbs is good or bad at this age, but I'm pretty happy with them -- a good Cornish hen size, IMHO.
Last edited:
