Is it supposed to look like this?? Chicken and dumplings

[donrae]

Yep. We've punctured intestines while butchering out a deer. No WAY were we going to dump all that meat! You just keep a hose handy and rinse it off. Bacteria have to have a way or vector to travel through. I guess maybe if you let the intestine's contents just sit on the meat for hours and hours you wouldn't eat it, but while butchering? Wash and cook, you're good to go.

 

[Oregon Blues]

Puncturing the intestines makes the job of butchering even less pleasant, but you just clean it up. Surface of meat should be cooked high enough to kill any bacteria that might be on the meat. There will be NO bacteria inside the meat that has not had it's surface exposed to the air. (that is standard meat handling, any meat, any source)

There should not be much if anything inside the intestines of chickens you butcher at home, because if you are doing a proper job, you have withheld food and water to give the intestines an opportunity to empty out. If it is an emergency butcher, you will be happier if you are careful to not puncture the intestines, but you have not poisoned the meat if you do.

Also important: when you are butchering chickens, wash your hands before you put your hands into your mouth. The chances of getting any salmonella are pretty small and if you do, it will probably just be some intestinal inconvenience. But always go overboard with food safety.

 

[hecatesmoon]

There should not be much if anything inside the intestines of chickens you butcher at home, because if you are doing a proper job, you have withheld food and water to give the intestines an opportunity to empty out.

I know I'm supposed to withhold food...but I don't. I feel bad for them as it is. I hate for them to leave the world hungry too.
Wimpy, I know.

 

[hecatesmoon]

Oh! And we had our rooster slaughter. It went really well!
We took up two of our birds, our friends had two of their birds ready, and we all did them together. There were other people there too that were curious and actually wanted to be involved so we had extra hands to pluck feathers and such.
We got to show everyone "how it's done". ha
We had bar-b-q chicken that night, all of us.
And I made chicken noodle soup yesterday which was EXCELLENT!

 

[donrae]

Makes for a nice sense of community, doesn't it?

 

[hecatesmoon]

Donrae, it really did.

 

[off-grid hen]

Congratulations on your Learning experience. I am processing my first mean roo soon. The cone is on order, told him he had better enjoy his last 2-5 business days. I'm going to skin, not pluck. Wish me luck!

 

[hecatesmoon]

lol off grid! Good luck to you! May it be quick and painless for you both!!

 

[caspernc]

A free cone is an empty bleach jug! cut the bottom and the top to fit and plop them in no fuss no muss and free.

 

[off-grid hen]

I can also just wrap in a towel, but I wanted the cone in case we do many more meat birds some day. Plus, the recycling was just sent off, so empty bin and no jug. Strange. It seems the big jugs of thing I buy aren't the right shape? I don't buy bleach.