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

[ronott1]

Not sure if I would eat that... I suppose there's nothing wrong with the meat.. I don't know, honestly!

I would eat her. The cause of death is not on the list of things that makes the meat bad.

 

[Tomtommom]

It's probably because of the mental images of fishing dead birds out of my pool filter years ago

If you know she hasn't been in there for a long time, I suppose it would be just fine. Hard to pluck I would imagine, since rigor has set in... May wanna just skin her instead.

 

[jajeanpierre]

How old was she? You may need moisture cook her.

She was almost 11 months old. I just need to know what to do with the meat since it wasn't bled out. Right now, I've put the carcass in a pot of water. Should I brine it? I've never brined the very few I've processed. I just didn't like the idea of adding salt.

 

[jajeanpierre]

It's probably because of the mental images of fishing dead birds out of my pool filter years ago

If you know she hasn't been in there for a long time, I suppose it would be just fine. Hard to pluck I would imagine, since rigor has set in... May wanna just skin her instead.

I skinned her as I've skinned all the Silkies I've processed. She hasn't been in the pool long and it is a cold pool. I think in the UK they don't even gut them for a few days which I found really bizarre.

 

[ronott1]

She was almost 11 months old. I just need to know what to do with the meat since it wasn't bled out. Right now, I've put the carcass in a pot of water. Should I brine it? I've never brined the very few I've processed. I just didn't like the idea of adding salt.

Salt will not help. The best thing would be chicken and Dumplings. The Meat needs to be cooked in simmering water for a long time, like a chuck pot roast.

By the way, Growing up we ate 5 year old hens as chicken and dumplings and it was very tasty!

Do not worry about the blood.

 

[fisherlady]

jajeanpierre,

I let mine soak in a weak salt water brine for 24-48 hours after butchering, then rinse and package for freezing. Sally had some teenage roosters she did and she brined them in a salt and sugar mix in a 5 gallon bucket, but I think she did multiple birds in the brine.... she then cooked them in a brown bag (which I have done for turkeys, it works well)

Here is the page where she was talking about it....
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...through-the-emotions-please/600#post_11006377

 

[fisherlady]

Salt will not help. The best thing would be chicken and Dumplings. The Meat needs to be cooked in simmering water for a long time, like a chuck pot roast.

By the way, Growing up we ate 5 year old hens as chicken and dumplings and it was very tasty!

Do not worry about the blood.

I like the idea of doing her as chicken and dumplings... I have had great luck with that for older birds here also.

 

[jajeanpierre]

Salt will not help. The best thing would be chicken and Dumplings. The Meat needs to be cooked in simmering water for a long time, like a chuck pot roast.

By the way, Growing up we ate 5 year old hens as chicken and dumplings and it was very tasty!

Do not worry about the blood.

I'm just wondering if I should put her in a brine because she wasn't bled out. I can't say that the meat looks any different than the meat of the Silkies I've bled out. In the past, I've just overed the carcasses in wet paper towels and left them in the fridge for three days.

Hopefully I can get my son to try a bit of this meat. Her dying versus my killing her may make it easier for him to put it in his mouth. (He's 21, not a kid that I can cajole into something.)

 

[RockerHen]

Killed my first turkeys a few days ago, 3 of my five beautiful 9 month old toms. I love their personalities and color, but I had just too many toms. I've killed many chickens in the past, but these were quite different. First, obviously, was the size. We used a modified 5 gallon bucket as a killing cone instead of the normal jug. It took two people to lift and secure each one into the bucket. Likewise, the amount of blood that drained after the neck was cut was much, much more than a chicken. We skinned the first bird, which took quite a while, but it allowed me to see the amount of fat on the breast of the bird. OMG. We had so much that we cut off the excess and gave it to the eagerly waiting cats. The other two we dry plucked, which was astonishingly easy. I always thought that scalding was necessary, but with a good pull, the feathers came out by the handfuls. They're in the refrigerator now. Any fresh turkey recipe suggestions? I've been researching online, most say that baking is one of the best ways. I do love a good fried turkey as well, but I don't think that these will fit in our fryer.

The two toms in the very back, as well as the royal palm (white/black) on the far right were the ones slaughtered.This picture preserves them at their prime. Thank you, beautiful boys, for providing me with meat. I kept the two foremost toms, as the were the best tempered and had the best coloring.

 

[ronott1]

Killed my first turkeys a few days ago, 3 of my five beautiful 9 month old toms. I love their personalities and color, but I had just too many toms. I've killed many chickens in the past, but these were quite different. First, obviously, was the size. We used a modified 5 gallon bucket as a killing cone instead of the normal jug. It took two people to lift and secure each one into the bucket. Likewise, the amount of blood that drained after the neck was cut was much, much more than a chicken. We skinned the first bird, which took quite a while, but it allowed me to see the amount of fat on the breast of the bird. OMG. We had so much that we cut off the excess and gave it to the eagerly waiting cats. The other two we dry plucked, which was astonishingly easy. I always thought that scalding was necessary, but with a good pull, the feathers came out by the handfuls. They're in the refrigerator now. Any fresh turkey recipe suggestions? I've been researching online, most say that baking is one of the best ways. I do love a good fried turkey as well, but I don't think that these will fit in our fryer.

The two toms in the very back, as well as the royal palm (white/black) on the far right were the ones slaughtered.This picture preserves them at their prime. Thank you, beautiful boys, for providing me with meat. I kept the two foremost toms, as the were the best tempered and had the best coloring.

Nice Job!

Let us know how you cook them. Others have used the Bag method and it looked very tasty.

I dry plucked an EO Marraduna Basque Hen Cockerel so that my Daughter could do something(make jewelry) with the feathers.

It was not that bad.