Meat chicken questions

How do you know there is still a lot of blood in it? How was it dispatched?

You might consider this on freezing chickens...I would let them sit in the fridge for a couple of days after you butcher - this lets the muscles relax and you won't have as tough a chicken to eat when it comes to cooking time. If you put a freshly butchered chicken straight into the freezer and then thaw it out and cook it, it will be tough. I would pat it dry before freezing.

 

Not to worry about the 'extra' blood - if you leave it in fridge for a few days (2-3), in a plastic bag, the blood will likely drain into the bag.

Then, when you're getting ready to package them to freeze, rinse the bird well in cold water, pat dry, place in freezer bag and attempt to get most of the air out. With zip-lock style bags, it's nearly impossible to get ALL the air out. I've not had freezer burn on any of ours we packaged this way - although, truth be told, they don't stay in the freezer very long!

Do remember to allow thaw time - I'm finding our 5# CX's take about 2-3 days to thaw in the fridge. So I have to account for that when meal planning! I have defrosted in microwave to less than stellar results (started to cook on edges).