Is this a good way to process?

[Quail_Cottage]

That looks pretty straight forward my question is how do you actually kill them first. I thought cutting their head off was while they are still alive?

 

[chickenwhisperer]

I used a handheld pair of pruning shears to kill and remove the head.
Get the neck in the shears, and kinda strtch it tight.
I got the artey, and they bled out, then I just lopped the head right off . . .

You wanna cut really close to the head to make sure you get the vein sliced and not just chopped all to heck.

 

[_Randall_]

Quote:
Reach in, grab a bird with a complete grip around body and wings, immediately pull the head off (yeah, I know ... sounds cruel), keep a good grip on the body at this point because "the body" is still very active...........trying to fly away. This is just nerve reaction. The bird is actually brain dead immediately when you de-head it....................there's no suffering. Look at the bird's head.........there's no doubt that there's no life there. The average person will still be holding a "lively" bird (body) in their hands, thinking the bird is suffering a tortureous death.....WRONG. Again, it's nerve reaction, and this will stop by at least 10 seconds........most of the time. Again, I know.......sounds cruel and horrible to some folks. Everybody's different. It doesn't bother me in the least. I'm looking at a very fine piece of meat within a couple of minutes that either myself or somebody else is gonna enjoy eating. It's what I raise them for..........to eat. It's not like I have them all named, and have gotten to be real close to each personally such as one would with a dog, cat, parrot, etc...... Good luck with your processing. It (should) become easier to do as you go through a bunch of them.

 

[chickenwhisperer]

Quote:
Dont be too impressed, without anything in my pic for size reference . . .
The birds are smaller than my fist.

I bought 2 cornish game hens to cook with these 2 quail tonight, just in case anybody is left wanting more.
I guess I couldve processed 2 more quails, but as this is a trial run I didnt want to waste any in case my girl dont like it.

Imma cook them all up tonight for a nice romantic dinner for 2, stuffed with a wild rice recipe from Holachicka, along with red potatoes and carrots, and big beautiful artichokes.

I gotta give my GF credit, she is being very adventurous for me, as I know she really doesnt want to eat these quails that she has helped me raise . . .

I know Im gonna like it, I like anything but mushrooms . . .

 

[TennesseeTruly]

My husband doesn't want to eat anything we raise, which I think is ridiculous, btw! We have ducks, geese (not that I want to eat my Sebastopols!) chickens, guineas, and now quail. He just can't bring himself to eat anything that he's had a hand in raising.

That's fine. I'll eat them and if he hasn't already poisoned our grandson's mind, he'll eat them as well.

I'm excited!

Laurie

 

[Whitehouse Quail]

Question: Do you just shove scissors into the body to cut up the backbone?

 

[RainesRanch]

Quote:
LOL. I figured they would be like the chickens when it comes to the flopping part . My DH says when he shoots a dove dove hunting and its not dead he just grabs it by the neck digging his thumb into its throat and crushes its neck to kill it. I showed him the video that started this thread and he really liked the idea with cutting its back bone out and pulling everything else out with it. He's tempted to try it on a pheasant now! LOL

 

[_Randall_]

Quote:
I pluck the head, snip he legs off where the meat starts, snip the wings where they join the body, rip the skin at the breast and unwrap it off the body.................that leaves some tail feathers. I take the scissors and snip the anus end off (which will include the tail feathers). This leaves a good opening to go in with the scissors. Go up one side of the backbone from butt to neck, then go up the other. Grab the backbone, and (most) of the guts will come with it. Then, it's down to fine cleaning.

 

[Quail_Cottage]

Well its over. 5 birds in the fridge, one escaped the box and flew over the trees into the neighbors yard. I don't think he'll last long as they have 2 big dogs. It wasn't my favorite thing to do at all, we got quite attached to these guys over the past months. DH stunned them on a tree stump and used an axe to chop heads off. I did the snipping and skinning. I decided to keep them whole so I can stuff, but that made it a bit for fiddly to get guts out. our 13 year old refuses to eat them, but the 11 year old is up for it. Hope they taste good, it will make it easier to deal with.

 

[chickenwhisperer]

Quote:
Yes, make sure you dont cut into the vent or oil gland tho . . .
I used an old pair of used/dull scissors, and the backbone cut out like paper . . .