Processing Day Support Group ~ HELP us through the Emotions PLEASE!

[rebrascora]

Thanks for the suggestions. I particularly like the idea of popping them in a casserole with veg and mushroom soup, so will try that first. I had considered cutting them into thin strips and marinading them. Does bashing them really work?. Might try that with the next lot.
Unfortunately, I have 5 more young cockerels that are about 5 months that have started chasing the hens since I disposed of the 3 older ones, so sadly my hens are not getting the benefit of some peace as I had hoped. They will have to go the journey soon too
I've also promised my neighbour I will dispatch 4 of his 3 yr old hens for him this week. He was just going to bin them which I think is a shocking waste, so I'm going to have those to process too. Must confess I'm dreading it (the killing) already but it surely must get easier with practice and at least this time I have no attachment to the hens in question. They have been useless things from the start... Terrified of people, even though he has other hens that are friendly, He got them at 15 weeks old and since they started laying at about 40 weeks they have barely laid more than.2 eggs a week each and go broody through the summer all the time but are too clumsy to incubate eggs and raise chicks. He's as soft as me but there is nothing endearing about these birds, They have earned no loyalty and his wife is giving him grief because they are feeding 6 hens and having to buy eggs. His last black star, Molly, died a couple of months ago and he loved her to bits.... she was 8 years old and was still laying up until a couple of months before she died and looked in fabulous condition even at that ripe age. He is keen to get some more black stars as soon as I have removed these useless Croad Langshans from his hen house.

Those of you who process older birds, do you skin them? The first cockerel I did was 6 months old and I went to the trouble of plucking him because I love chicken skin, but it was soo rubbery tough, I couldn't eat it. These recent ones I ended up half plucking and then skinning and jointing them rather than going to the trouble of eviscerating, I would have liked the livers to make pate with but it's a lot messier job than just stripping breast and limbs off, just to get the livers and I don't have a work station area with running water other than the kitchen and I don't want to eviscerate them in there. Anyone got any suggestions re skin on older birds? Is cockerel skin always thicker and tougher than hens? I haven't processed any hens yet.

 

[fouroaks]

Today we had to cull 4 buff opingtons males I feel like a heel. I started with 8 found homes for 4 but still had 4 had to do the deed and not feeling to good about

They were sweet.

 

[OneMountainAcres]

Today we had to cull 4 buff opingtons males I feel like a heel. I started with 8 found homes for 4 but still had 4 had to do the deed and not feeling to good about

They were sweet.

Oh dear. If prettiness was a saving grace, I just committed a cardinal sin. I butchered 3 of the handsomest mixed breed 6 month old cockerels you could ever hope to see last weekend.

I find the killing part incredibly difficult too.There is someone that would do it for me but I feel that it is my responsibility, as I decided to rear them and I like to eat chicken and it's not right to expect someone else to do a job that I'm too cowardly to do. I also hope that the birds will be calmer in their last moments in my hands than a strangers. It takes me weeks to pluck up the courage to do it but it helps to motivate me when I see them harassing my hens.
Anyway, we had my version of coq au vin last night, made with some home made mead from my home produced honey.... Sadly the mead was my first attempt and hasn't turned out great but it cooks ok. Still trying to figure out what to do with the breast meat. At 6 months old, it's too tough to fry. Anyone got any suggestions?

I know how you guys feel :/ one of the boys I did the other day was a gorgeous and sweet olive egger boy but I couldn't for the life of me find him a home. It's tough.

 

[the poppster]

Dear Rebascora...a killing cone makes the process Soooo much easier...I made one from a piece of tin and having not rivets I "sewed" it together with wire and attached it to a board...then to a tree...I plucked the birds after semi-scalding them for about 30 seconds in 140 degree water, heated in a propane turkey cooker...we hung them by the legs from a rope to make it easier to pluck them...placed a tarp under the plucking station to ease the clean-up.... used the garden hose to rinse them....the work surface was a piece of plywood set up on a couple of barrels...had a bucket for guts, heads, feet...and a good sized cooler with water and ice to chill the birds once cleaned....they will be more tender if you don't freeze or cook them for 12 to 24 hrs after processing....keep them in the fridge over night and then package them for the freezer...or package them right after processing...and let them rest in the fridge over night...then into the freezer.

 

[Beekissed]

Thanks for the suggestions. I particularly like the idea of popping them in a casserole with veg and mushroom soup, so will try that first. I had considered cutting them into thin strips and marinading them. Does bashing them really work?. Might try that with the next lot.
Unfortunately, I have 5 more young cockerels that are about 5 months that have started chasing the hens since I disposed of the 3 older ones, so sadly my hens are not getting the benefit of some peace as I had hoped. They will have to go the journey soon too
I've also promised my neighbour I will dispatch 4 of his 3 yr old hens for him this week. He was just going to bin them which I think is a shocking waste, so I'm going to have those to process too. Must confess I'm dreading it (the killing) already but it surely must get easier with practice and at least this time I have no attachment to the hens in question. They have been useless things from the start... Terrified of people, even though he has other hens that are friendly, He got them at 15 weeks old and since they started laying at about 40 weeks they have barely laid more than.2 eggs a week each and go broody through the summer all the time but are too clumsy to incubate eggs and raise chicks. He's as soft as me but there is nothing endearing about these birds, They have earned no loyalty and his wife is giving him grief because they are feeding 6 hens and having to buy eggs. His last black star, Molly, died a couple of months ago and he loved her to bits.... she was 8 years old and was still laying up until a couple of months before she died and looked in fabulous condition even at that ripe age. He is keen to get some more black stars as soon as I have removed these useless Croad Langshans from his hen house.

Those of you who process older birds, do you skin them? The first cockerel I did was 6 months old and I went to the trouble of plucking him because I love chicken skin, but it was soo rubbery tough, I couldn't eat it. These recent ones I ended up half plucking and then skinning and jointing them rather than going to the trouble of eviscerating, I would have liked the livers to make pate with but it's a lot messier job than just stripping breast and limbs off, just to get the livers and I don't have a work station area with running water other than the kitchen and I don't want to eviscerate them in there. Anyone got any suggestions re skin on older birds? Is cockerel skin always thicker and tougher than hens? I haven't processed any hens yet.

Skinning is easier than plucking unless you are dealing with CX broiler birds, which are pretty easy to pluck. You'll want to get real familiar with canning chickens...a pressure canner is the great equalizer and renders all birds as tender as canned tuna. Then you can use that meat in any recipe you wish, no matter how old the bird...and the juices are kept inside that meat and jar, instead of escaping into the steam of a cook pot, leaving behind a dry piece of meat.

You don't need running water at a work station for evisceration, just keep a couple of buckets of clean water handy...one with a little bleach and a clean rag in it for sluicing off/wiping down your work station. The other for an initial rinsing of the carcass after evisceration. Then, when you are done, you can take them all in and clean them more thoroughly under running water.

It does get easier with practice. It helps if you have all your stuff setup the night before, knives sharpened and ready, work station at ready, killing cone(easily made from a 2 gal. bleach jug or similar large, sturdy jug like a detergent jug or some such) nailed to a tree, fence post, wall, etc. I've seen some of the knives people try to butcher with and I can see why they find it all so difficult....a good knife or two can make all the world of difference.

Take the birds off the roost the night before and contain them somewhere or somehow so that they are easily scooped up come morning....better for the bird and for you if they and you are not frustrated and tired from a chase. I always process in the early morning before flies and heat ruin the processing. That's one reason homesteaders liked to butcher in the late fall...cool weather makes for better working with blood and guts.

When you process your old hens, try to save the omentum...that fat flap that is in front of the guts when you open the abdomen. I used to throw that to the chickens that like to hang around for tidbits, but then I found out just how luscious that fat renders and what it can add to any recipe....pure gold, that fat. Now I add it to my jars of canned chicken so that each one has a goodly share of that golden, delicious, silky stuff. Or you can render it and freeze it in a zip lock so you can break off pieces to add to your non chicken recipes....makes the best potato soup ever.

 

[Kassaundra]

Skinning is easier than plucking unless you are dealing with CX broiler birds, which are pretty easy to pluck. You'll want to get real familiar with canning chickens...a pressure canner is the great equalizer and renders all birds as tender as canned tuna. Then you can use that meat in any recipe you wish, no matter how old the bird...and the juices are kept inside that meat and jar, instead of escaping into the steam of a cook pot, leaving behind a dry piece of meat.

You don't need running water at a work station for evisceration, just keep a couple of buckets of clean water handy...one with a little bleach and a clean rag in it for sluicing off/wiping down your work station. The other for an initial rinsing of the carcass after evisceration. Then, when you are done, you can take them all in and clean them more thoroughly under running water.

It does get easier with practice. It helps if you have all your stuff setup the night before, knives sharpened and ready, work station at ready, killing cone(easily made from a 2 gal. bleach jug or similar large, sturdy jug like a detergent jug or some such) nailed to a tree, fence post, wall, etc. I've seen some of the knives people try to butcher with and I can see why they find it all so difficult....a good knife or two can make all the world of difference.

Take the birds off the roost the night before and contain them somewhere or somehow so that they are easily scooped up come morning....better for the bird and for you if they and you are not frustrated and tired from a chase. I always process in the early morning before flies and heat ruin the processing. That's one reason homesteaders liked to butcher in the late fall...cool weather makes for better working with blood and guts.

When you process your old hens, try to save the omentum...that fat flap that is in front of the guts when you open the abdomen. I used to throw that to the chickens that like to hang around for tidbits, but then I found out just how luscious that fat renders and what it can add to any recipe....pure gold, that fat. Now I add it to my jars of canned chicken so that each one has a goodly share of that golden, delicious, silky stuff. Or you can render it and freeze it in a zip lock so you can break off pieces to add to your non chicken recipes....makes the best potato soup ever.

Or naked necks, I can pluck one by myself by hand in about 2 minutes

 

[Beekissed]

No fair, K...you have a head start! Especially with the NNs that you've bred that are just PNs(Plain Naked).

 

[Kassaundra]

No fair, K...you have a head start! Especially with the NNs that you've bred that are just PNs(Plain Naked).

 

[OneMountainAcres]

It's the same method with turkeys right? We have 2 to do on Saturday. This time, we have a guest coming to see how it's done and help out at his own request.... my dad! He'll be helping to eat them too so hopefully he isn't bothered too much by it.

ETA: the quote didn't work out right but it was your neck slicing link/picture/description

 

[fisherlady]

Skinning is easier than plucking unless you are dealing with CX broiler birds, which are pretty easy to pluck. You'll want to get real familiar with canning chickens...a pressure canner is the great equalizer and renders all birds as tender as canned tuna. Then you can use that meat in any recipe you wish, no matter how old the bird...and the juices are kept inside that meat and jar, instead of escaping into the steam of a cook pot, leaving behind a dry piece of meat.

I totally agree!

We butchered 4 roosters yesterday, with two people it took us an hour from cone to fridge, with the birds being cut apart some to make them fit in the resting pot easier. These will be pressure canned, which we have found works perfectly for our purposes.
I will strip the meat from bone later today and depending on amount of meat we get at any particular butcher run we either can it immediately or vacuum seal it and freeze it till we butcher a couple more birds to have enough for a full canning run. Since we broody hatch year round we often do 4-6 birds at a time but usually butcher at least once a month, sometimes more often, especially in the fall since most of our hens brood through late spring.

To make skinning easier I recommend taking the wing off at the first joint feel for joint where wing meets body, then move out along wing to next joint and cut wing off at that one. Cut the feet/lower leg off at the end of the drumstick.
Then lay bird on it's back with head towards you, remove head but leave neck. Slice skin from neck to tail along the midline. A sharp knife and practice makes it easier, a second person can assist in holding edges of skin taut, without a second person you can secure the bird to a board on a wall or tree or table top to hold it if needed. I like to have the bird loose so I can move it around as needed for better angles since arthritis has given me fits with my left hand.
Once the center cut is done you can easily separate the skin from the breast meat and neck. Once the skin is loose of the neck turn the bird over and hold the neck with one hand and use your other hand to pull the skin down the birds back. If the wings were removed at the first joint the skin from the 'drummette' that is left will just peel off of it inside out. When you get about halfway down the back roll the bird onto it's back again and work on skinning legs one at a time. You will find that the joint of the leg and body leaves a large open pocket where the skin is very loose and you can easily work the skin loose of the thigh. I then poke a finger through the skin attachment membrane where the thigh joins the drumstick, hold the skin with one hand then and the thigh with the other and pull apart, this will peel the skin off of the drumstick, repeat on other side.
Once legs are skinned pull the skin the rest of way towards the tail, I then cut off tailbone to remove oil gland but I am careful to not cut through the intestine. Basically you want to open the body cavity as part of the same process as finishing the skinning. With the tailbone detached you can open the abdominal flap and pull out the intestines and remove the skin and intestines to the garbage can (or whatever you dispose stuff into) all at once.
I have more roosters to do soon and will (hopefully) get pictures of our process if any one wants, I think it is much easier to show the process than to try to explain it. Everyone eventually gets a process which works for them, adjusting things they have learned from others, so maybe this can help someone else...