Letting my broody raise 20 meaties. Now I have a rooster raising 50 CX chicks~new batch!

[Beekissed]

This next pic is of all the organs strung out. The one on the left, bottom, attached to the gizzard is the crop(different organ than the craw)...the little air bubble we always said was the "bawk"

(on a turkey there is a huge gelatinous blob we always called the gobble), then the gizzard. The large folded part of the bowel right next to the gizzard is the pancreas...I couldn't believe this was so large but it is.

Of course, above the guts are the lungs, gizzard, testicals(I took pics of two sets to show the difference in chickens of the same age), livers and hearts. Above the lungs and testicals is the gallbladder, excised from the liver. Below the liver is the spleen. Below the testicals are the kidneys...these are harder to isolate, as they sit superior to a mass of glandular tissue that I love to leave in the chicken...it is the best part and you will find this also in your store bought chickens.

 

[Wolfwoman]

We are missing kidneys aren't we?

 

[Beekissed]

Nope...under the testicals in this pic. I usually leave these in the bird along with the glandular tissue I spoke about....love that part!

 

[Wolfwoman]

Oh ok! I leave those in/near the backbone I believe... isn't that where they are??

Check this out!!

http://www.ca.uky.edu/smallflocks/Factsheets/Anatomy_and_Physiology/Anatomy_digestive.pdf

 

[Dora'smom]

I have not had home-grown chicken since I was very young, but on store-bought birds, I know the glandular tissue that you're talking about. Most often it is in there, and I love that. I also love those little oysters of sweet muscle on the sides of the back. Yum!

 

[Buster52]

Quote:
Do people with tracheotomies suffocate? Nope, just not breathing through their mouths or noses~this I know because I used to work on a vent unit.

A trach stoma is no different than a severed and open trachea.

These birds can still breathe through their severed tracheas~nothing preventing that at all~ but I doubt it is an issue as they do not breathe for very long at all after this method.

I don't know, as I'm not much of a slitter and never worked on any unit except a weapons unit.

But when I was doing it at Grady's place, the blood flowed extremely heavy. Gush, is more like it. Seems to me it would get sucked down the windpipe.

Maybe not, though. All the same, I don't see an advantage to cutting the trachea, so I'll stick with what I was taught, when I need to slit. Just to make sure. Easy enough to avoid it.

 

[Beekissed]

Here's a pic of cutting the attachments around the rectum and anus. These are well attached to the bones here and must be released to allow for easy detachment of the bowel and allows you to remove all the guts with this attached and, hopefully, without squirting any bowel contents on your meat:

 

[Beekissed]

Quote:
Do people with tracheotomies suffocate? Nope, just not breathing through their mouths or noses~this I know because I used to work on a vent unit.

A trach stoma is no different than a severed and open trachea.

These birds can still breathe through their severed tracheas~nothing preventing that at all~ but I doubt it is an issue as they do not breathe for very long at all after this method.

I don't know, as I'm not much of a slitter and never worked on any unit except a weapons unit.

But when I was doing it at Grady's place, the blood flowed extremely heavy. Gush, is more like it. Seems to me it would get sucked down the windpipe.

Maybe not, though. All the same, I don't see an advantage to cutting the trachea, so I'll stick with what I was taught, when I need to slit. Just to make sure. Easy enough to avoid it.

Actually, when a bird is hanging upside down, the blood can't get "sucked down the trachea"~down the trachea is actually in the other direction then~they would actually have to suck the blood up into the trachea, which is pretty difficult to do if you are hanging upside down...but it can flow down and obstruct the nostrils and mouth, just enough to prevent good airflow.

Hey, do what works for you! I've been killing these things since I was 11 years old, so I only know what I've done and learned. We used to chop them on a block, for heaven's sake! Soooo much room for error there if you don't swing correctly, so much mess, so much nonsense. I've tried wringing, chopping, pithing...you name it. I've found that the simple throat cut is the best by far, so far. Who knows what I will learn tomorrow?

 

[Wolfwoman]

I tried pithing with my first two and DID NOT like it at all. I thought that even tho a skewered the brain that the chicken was still aware somehow (I KNEW better... but...).... and it just took to long. I cut the throat as you do, sometimes I hit the trachea and sometimes not, both ways they are done in about 4-8 breaths.

 

[Beekissed]

I tried pithing also and it was a nightmare! And I really scrambled the brains, so there is no way I didn't hit the right area....I hit them ALL. The birds started having brain matter spilling from their mouths and their heads were held up and they were looking at me. Actually following my movements...as the brain matter poured from their mouths. It was horrifying...and I've killed many, many animals. None of them were as bad as this pithing experience. I finally slit their throats to put them out of their misery.

Never again.