Is a red carcass caused by improper bleeding?

[sovia]

We butchered our second batch of meat chickens yesterday. One of the chickens (after "bleeding", scalding, and the plucking machine) let out a squack. Some thought it was just a delayed reaction, but I swear that bird was still alive. One of the guys (we had a lot of helpers which I am extremely grateful) immediately took the head of the bird. The thing is, this bird was RED all over his neck and body. Could it be that the bird was not properly bled? I'm sure the person doing the bleeding didn't have that chicken in the cone for ten minutes. What else would cause the skin to all be red? He was the only one of the 25 that came out that way.

I had a hard time falling asleep last night because I kept thinking that chicken was alive through all those steps. Makes me ill.

 

[WishboneDawn]

Maybe next time take the heads off completely to give yourself piece of mind? That would haunt me too. I hate to suggest it but maybe the red was bruising meaning it was alive? Hopefully, it may have been unconcious if it wasn't making noise through the other parts of the process.

 

[sovia]

Yeah, I was kind of thinking the same thing. It made sense to me that the blood all rushed to the surface of the skin. Makes me ill. Since all of us are pretty much novices, cutting the heads off would be a sure thing.

 

[PotterWatch]

I've heard a rumor (no idea if it is true), that sometimes in turkey processing facilities that they will sometimes get a red-skinned bird and the cause is that it was still alive when scalded. I really don't know though. I would think that when doing processing by hand that you would be able to tell that the bird wasn't yet dead before scalding.

 

[booker81]

I've had a handful that didn't bleed out well that stayed a little red - looking close I could still see red capillaries. I clalk it up to the heart stopped before all of the blood was out - maybe it was cardiac arrest or something.

As for the "squack" - when processing, sometimes if I push on the breast just right, with a totally, completely dead bird, I'll manage to get enough air through whatever "vocal cords" they have, and it will make a weird honking/cluck sound. I've had this happen personally with the chickens, wild ducks and geese, and even deer (though those don't honk, they grunt).

 

[TinyTotsSeramas]

Quote:
Haha! my dad was gutting a deer in the woods and my mom was standing by the deer's head, he squeezed the lung and it grunted, scared the poo out of us!!

 

[sovia]

Thanks for the replies. I think next time I will take the heads off completely. I don't ever want to experience that again.