Mental Preparation For Processing

[MissPrissy]

We do ours together, my husband and I. I hold he chops. He has to mentally prepare every time he has a head on the block. I hold the bird until the flapping is over. I feel that somehow I owe it to the bird. I have found that without a killing cone (I don't plan to buy one either) a modified hold where I hold a wing tip and a thigh in each hand (almost like hog tying) it is easier to stop the flinging and splaying that can happen as they first bleed out. Once it is over I hang them to rest for about an hour before we move to the next step in processing. I can't say it gets easier every time but you do set your mind to the task, put on your 'game face' and do what has to be done. I try to think of all sorts of things while I work along side my husband. I think about new knives, or recipes, or I try to memorize how things are connected and how the varying organs are positioned. In the right mind set I have to say I have learned more about chickens in the processing of them than any other way I have garnered knowledge.

 

[silkiechicken]

I've never cut off the head with a hatchet, but rather just used a knife, and a quick break of the neck. I hold the head down over the edge of the back porch, and it bleeds out without splatter unless I lose hold of the neck. If you use the hatchet and take the whole head off, don't you have that spray problem? Or does the birds neck just not flail around with that method?

Oh, and they were leghorn crosses, that would make a 3 lb bird come up nicely. Those purebred leghorns are all bones!

 

[tazcat70]

We haven't processed any, but we had one that had a leg deformity and we let him live until it just got too bad. I held and my husband chopped. Never having done it before, and only hearing my mothers horror stories from when she was a kid, he flopped around. Our kids know what happened to him. We did bury him because I didn't want to take a chance with the medicated chick feed, and if we weren't going to eat him, then I wasn't going to feed him to the dogs (Red was a pet, kinda)

These roos that we have now,(mutts that I hatched out) I have told the kids that they are for the stew pot. My daughter knows when I ask her about it but I am not sure that she completely understands. My daughter is 6 and my son is 11. I want them to know where their food comes from, and to appreciate it.

 

[tazcat70]

Quote:
I didn't notice a spray, but the neck stub did keep moving around on ours. I hate to say it but it was interesting to watch in a very morbid way.

 

[PurpleChicken]

Quote:
You understand!

Do you use the feet MP?

Silkiechicken hasn't steered me wrong yet. We have 22 feet in a pot all desocked
and declawed. I'm gonna at least use them for the soup. They really look good
once they are cleaned up. There is more meat than I expected. I'm expecting
them to be like a wing.

I took a pic but I don't wanna friek anyone out.

 

[PurpleChicken]

Quote:
I didn't notice a spray, but the neck stub did keep moving around on ours. I hate to say it but it was interesting to watch in a very morbid way.

The bigger they get the more spray you will get. If you let them flap around it makes
it 10 times worse.

It really is interesting once you get over the initial fear.

 

[silkiechicken]

Quote:
If by wing you mean wing tip, you're right about that. It's pretty much a lot of connective tissue on it. Did you put the livers, gizzards, and hearts in the feet pot too? Or are you going to make missprissy's infamous fried chicken livers?

 

[PurpleChicken]

Quote:
If by wing you mean wing tip, you're right about that. It's pretty much a lot of connective tissue on it. Did you put the livers, gizzards, and hearts in the feet pot too? Or are you going to make missprissy's infamous fried chicken livers?

No we didn't save any internals. I don't know what is what. We do pick through
them and try to figure it out. My wife is the biology student but wasn't involved
today.

The gizards (we think the gizzards) have always been full of food. We seperate
and don't feed them for several hours so their crops were empty.

 

[silkiechicken]

Ah, internals are one of the best parts of soup making!

When you open up the rear, reach in as if your hand was a claw. When you sweep down, you should get a red semi solid mass thing that has lobes on it and a green sac attached. That is the liver. Carefully remove the green sac and if you spill it, throw everything it touches away because it is bitter and will ruin the flavor of anything it touches. (bile)

The big hard round thing between the crop and the small intestines is the gizzard. Cut off the "ends" and slice this hard object in half. Remove the inner layer like backing on bandaids. The hard meaty now sliced open biscuit shaped thing is the gizzard.

Then for the heart, after you pull out the lower intestines, reach up with your claw hand and out will come out the heart from the pericardium.

And then you got the three best inner parts to put in with the feet! Gizzard with a sprinkle of salt is a very tasty treat. (after cooked about 6 hours that is)

Oh, and I with hold feed for 12 hours so the intestines begin to empty and there is almost no poo around to contaminate things.

 

[unionwirewoman]

Last year was the first time I'd ever processed a chicken . I dated a guy once and I helped his family do turkeys . They used a funnel and then chopped the heads off . Helps to not bruise the meat . My SO is banned from holding the chickens after their heads are cut off . He lets them flop around and the end up breaking a wing and get bruised . I think he does it on purpose to get out of it . Just like he says he can't gut em' cause he can't see . It is hard to know the babies you raised are food , but they sure do taste better than the ones at the store . Just remember , They are meat .