Processing cockerels for other purposes

[3KillerBs]

You scald the feet, then peel the scales off, by the time they're clean, they're super-duper clean. Virgin skin under those scales.

And when added to the stock pot they contribute an incredible amount of flavor and gelatin.

 

[aart]

For some reason I always thought we were supposed to use the whole chicken.. I guess you can just slice out the good pieces

The first cockerel I slaughtered I was going to skin and preserve the hackle and saddle feathers. I viewed dozens and dozens of forums, blogs, videos while I got my nerve up.
Went to start skinning and discovered he was covered in lice.
Luckily I had seen how to get breasts, legs, upper wings without gutting.
So that's what I did.
Having butchered many whole grocery chickens into parts for grilling etc. really helped.
Big learning curve day for me.

 

[OhZark Biddies]

The first cockerel I slaughtered I was going to skin and preserve the hackle and saddle feathers. I viewed dozens and dozens of forums, blogs, videos while I got my nerve up.
Went to start skinning and discovered he was covered in lice.
Luckily I had seen how to get breasts, legs, upper wings without gutting.
So that's what I did.
Having butchered many whole grocery chickens into parts for grilling etc. really helped.
Big learning curve day for me.

you’re supposed to just boil the lice and serve with a little balsamic vinaigrette

Practicing with a grocery store bird is a good suggestion

I might suggest too that folks buy a half dozen or so at once... I think the repetition of parting them out will help in remembering where the joints are.

 

[aart]

Practicing with a grocery store bird is a good suggestion

I might suggest too that folks buy a half dozen or so at once... I think the repetition of parting them out will help in remembering where the joints are.

I didn't practice for the purpose of learning to butcher, just a way of life.
It's funny, it can be hard to find a whole chicken in the store anymore.
I asked our local grocery butcher about it and he told me they sell very few whole birds so don't carry them...tho since then they always have a few, last time they did they were marked down and close to expiry. I didn't slaughter at all last year so have been buying a couple a month.

 

[OhZark Biddies]

OK OK I will! For some reason I always thought we were supposed to use the whole chicken.. I guess you can just slice out the good pieces, like eating an apple.

I say do what works best for you... there’s gonna be someone come along and tell you that you did it wrong regardless, lol

once you get the hang of it you might even decide that scalding and plucking is what you want to do again. But in the mean time if pulling part of it and composting the rest provides a solution, then that’s the way to do it, and let the naysayers say nay, lol

 

[Sally PB]

Can a rooster be composted whole, or does it need to be opened up? Also worried about the flies and rotting smell...

I had to cull two cockerels last summer. It was the first time I'd ever had to kill an animal, and I was pretty emotional about it. Not knowing how to clean a carcass, I buried them in the garden, about 2 feet down. No smell, nothing dug them up, and I thanked them for giving back to the soil.

If -- when -- I have to cull again, I will be much better prepared for everything. Last summer was kind of an emergency situation.

Thanks for all the information everyone provided in this thread.

 

[bobbi-j]

You scald the feet, then peel the scales off, by the time they're clean, they're super-duper clean. Virgin skin under those scales.

I’ve read that, and I’m sure it’s great. I just can’t get past the Eww factor.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

I’ve read that, and I’m sure it’s great. I just can’t get past the Eww factor.

The "Ewwww" doesn't both me. I just don't find the time needed to be worth the return. When my wife makes stock from the carcass and and gnawed on bones, plus wing tips, backbone, neck, there's already so much developed gelatin that it jellies on refrigeration. But even trying to clean scales off a 13# CX (Cornish Secundis, he was), was more labor intensive than plucking in many ways.

If I HAD to have that protein, because my diet was poor, then yes, I'd go to the effort. I don't, so I don't.

 

[aart]

You scald the feet, then peel the scales off, by the time they're clean, they're super-duper clean. Virgin skin under those scales.

I love to peel the feet, and especially the POP of the nail sheaths coming off.
Water temps gotta be just right or it's PITA.

I isolate my birds in a wire bottom crates the night before slaughtering.
Keeps their feet clean(er)...also empties the intestines(no feed provided).

Feet make an awesome addition to stock.

 

[roosterhavoc]

The first cockerel I slaughtered I was going to skin and preserve the hackle and saddle feathers. I viewed dozens and dozens of forums, blogs, videos while I got my nerve up.
Went to start skinning and discovered he was covered in lice.
Luckily I had seen how to get breasts, legs, upper wings without gutting.
So that's what I did.
Having butchered many whole grocery chickens into parts for grilling etc. really helped.
Big learning curve day for me.

A lot of people that think permethrin works so good have never skinned a bird and then bagged a cape and saddle. You’ll see bugs in that bag that you weren’t aware of by checking over the bird. This is why I recommend sevin and frontline all the time. Comes from experience.