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

[jajeanpierre]

The black lesion probably left from mold. As long as it is only in the lungs, it is fine. It could have just been from silica in sand.

Thanks. Everything else looked really healthy. Liver was really good. I couldn't see any evidence of inflammation anywhere in his body and I went through all his organs. I didn't open up his intestines, but there was no inflammation on the outside of them. His trachea was clear with no inflammation anywhere. Even the lungs looked good on cross section except the black areas. Some but not all of the black areas seemed to have some small cavities, but other than black, no sign to my untrained eye of anything really inflammatory going on. Other black areas had very normal looking air-cell structure when sliced. It looked like old problems to my untrained eye.

I did have a young pullet that I culled this summer because of lung problems. (She was not housed with this rooster.) She was not gaining weight and having trouble breathing. I didn't use her meat at all, not even for the dogs. I probably should have at least cooked it up for the dogs. Her lung lesions were quite dramatic--very dark spots with several areas of white waxy pus pockets, almost like grains of rice in the lungs. That's when I learned what bird (and reptile) pus looks like. There was nothing like that in this rooster's lungs and I sliced through them very carefully.

Do you think this is a contagious thing or just the damage from a previous infection?

Regardless, hearing him wheeze was my motivation to get him out of the flock immediately.

 

[jajeanpierre]

I've done it in my kitchen on a vinyl tile floor, and I've done it outside on compacted Alabama clay (think hard dirt floor). I find the broomstick is heavy enough by itself to keep the neck down.

I lay the bird's head on the ground, lay the stick over the neck and then it's place foot left, step right, pull. Not as much of a balancing act.. and still fast enough.

The first times my husband did the stepping and I did the pulling, so he could lean on the dryer and not lose his balance.

I will try to tape it next time I do it.... It'll be a few months though.

You were the person that influenced me to use the broomstick method. You said it was really quick and easy and you were right.

All "the books" say to bleed them out after cervical dislocation, but it wasn't as easy as I thought it would be because their neck fills with blood. How do you handle it--do you bleed them out?

By the way, your new avatar is quite unusual!

 

[ronott1]

Thanks. Everything else looked really healthy. Liver was really good. I couldn't see any evidence of inflammation anywhere in his body and I went through all his organs. I didn't open up his intestines, but there was no inflammation on the outside of them. His trachea was clear with no inflammation anywhere. Even the lungs looked good on cross section except the black areas. Some but not all of the black areas seemed to have some small cavities, but other than black, no sign to my untrained eye of anything really inflammatory going on. Other black areas had very normal looking air-cell structure when sliced. It looked like old problems to my untrained eye.

I did have a young pullet that I culled this summer because of lung problems. (She was not housed with this rooster.) She was not gaining weight and having trouble breathing. I didn't use her meat at all, not even for the dogs. I probably should have at least cooked it up for the dogs. Her lung lesions were quite dramatic--very dark spots with several areas of white waxy pus pockets, almost like grains of rice in the lungs. That's when I learned what bird (and reptile) pus looks like. There was nothing like that in this rooster's lungs and I sliced through them very carefully.

Do you think this is a contagious thing or just the damage from a previous infection?

Regardless, hearing him wheeze was my motivation to get him out of the flock immediately.

Mold can be spread from chicken to chicken but it is usually environmental. Wood or straw is a source if it is moldy. Look for wet black rot on a board.

One person locally had moldy wood near a faucet that was leaking near the coop wall. Aspergillius is also found near ponds so it can be something they get into while foraging. Some breeds and chickens are more susceptible to it. It sounds like your chickens are fighting it off fine though.

 

[Tomtommom]

You were the person that influenced me to use the broomstick method. You said it was really quick and easy and you were right.

All "the books" say to bleed them out after cervical dislocation, but it wasn't as easy as I thought it would be because their neck fills with blood. How do you handle it--do you bleed them out?

By the way, your new avatar is quite unusual!

I just cut the heads off after I pluck. Usually there's not all that much blood to deal with. I assume it ends up in the head and neck portion that I cut off (I cut the necks close to the body).

The picture..




One of those accidental shots. I thought it was the funniest thing, so lady-like

 

[Kassaundra]

Finally, my nasty rooster is in the fridge! I just hate doing it. Every time. It's not the processing, it's the killing.

I have not been happy with bleeding them out. I figured I'd shoot myself in the eye if I tried a pellet gun. An ax is out of the question. My preference would be a captive bolt gun, but the cost is prohibitive.

So, I finally tried the broomstick method. This rooster was such a jerk that if I mucked it up, I wouldn't feel bad. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely would not want him to be afraid or suffer, but he was the perfect test subject since I had no emotional attachment to him other than we hated each other.

IT WAS SO QUICK AND EASY!!!!!! The best!

I did make a bit of a mistake while setting him up. I was putting gentle pressure on his neck, just getting my courage up to do it when I lost my balance and his head slipped out. I don't believe I hurt him--I just quickly put him back, yelled at my husband for not holding me since I already had told him I was not going to be able to keep my balance, and then just pulled hard and quick. Death throes immediately. It was EASY and instant.

I hung him up on a waiting hook and then tried to cut his carotid arteries like the books say but I had a hard time doing it because the blood had filled his neck under the skin and I couldn't pull the skin tight. I'll be more prepared for that next time--maybe I'll get a traffic cone so I will have a more rigid surface rather than having a bird swinging from a branch. The bonus was how easy the head came off.

There were a few challenges I saw with this method.

The biggest problem for me was keeping my balance. I'll be better prepared next time. I think to do it kindly, you need to set the bird up with the broomstick but not put weight on his neck--just enough pressure to hold the bird without hurting him (it would be easy to crush the bones in the neck before you even try to dislocate the neck). I have to have everything set up, take a deep breath and be mentally prepared before I kill them. I don't want to hurt him while I am finding my resolve. Since my head injury two years ago, my balance hasn't been the best. Add the stress of killing another creature--not good.

The next was finding a surface. I didn't want to hurt him, so didn't want a hard surface. I would be interested to find out what other people who do this use.

I should have mentally prepared before I put the bird's head down, but since I hadn't done it before I didn't know how easily his head would slip out.

Cutting the carotid arteries was a challenge. The neck filled with blood. I don't know where that blood came from. There a lot of veins and arteries that run up through the vertebrae. They would be severed by the dislocation. Maybe the carotid arteries/jugular veins were severed. I don't know. The neck was just filled with blood, even the meat of the neck. I did let him hang and bled him out but it wasn't the same as when I killed them by bleeding them out.

Thank you to whoever suggested gloves for my cracked finger tips. It worked!

Question about meat safety/quality:

The reason I slaughtered this bird today was because yesterday when I was pruning a tree in my yard and he was attacking me, he got winded just repeatedly jumping and attacking the shovel I had in my hand. When I cleaned him, I was really careful to get the lungs and trachea out to have a really good look. He has some lesions in the lungs, black areas. No evidence of pus or anything like that, just smudges of black throughout the lungs. I did a lot of thin slices and had a really good look. Everything else looked really healthy. I was really thorough looking at his organs and trachea right up to the back of his mouth. I've never looked this closely at lungs before.

Can I make soup out of him? Is he safe to eat? He was almost two years old.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas.

Several of the darker breeds of chickens (most all w/ fm and some that are black feathered) have black markings in the lungs and is completely normal. Most all my chickens (since most all mine at least carry fm) have some black / grey organs and even if no others are the lungs almost always are, the testes also are the most common organ to be either black or 1/2 black, or one black on "normal" colored.

On first reading I didn't understand it was lesions, what I am talking about black colored markings that look like threads

 

[fisherlady]

DH and I are going to do our first run of canned chicken.... we processed 5 roosters on Sunday evening and I want to can instead of freeze so we can conserve freezer space and also because we eat a lot of meals in which I use cubed chicken anyway. We do a lot of salads with chicken, chicken salad sandwiches and Pasta Accent type meals, and it would be much quicker to have it ready to go in a can instead of having to cook and then chop it for meals.

I have read many versions of the Raw Pack method and plan to do the raw pack for our canning, I have the times and instructions but there is still one variable I am debating on....
The question I have for you experienced chicken canners on here.... do any of you add either salt or bullion to the jar before filling with the chicken?

I think I am going to add a 1/4 teaspoon of bullion to each jar before filling it with chicken, and maybe a couple with plain salt instead for comparison. Anyone have any experience in the choices?

 

[Tomtommom]

DH and I are going to do our first run of canned chicken.... we processed 5 roosters on Sunday evening and I want to can instead of freeze so we can conserve freezer space and also because we eat a lot of meals in which I use cubed chicken anyway. We do a lot of salads with chicken, chicken salad sandwiches and Pasta Accent type meals, and it would be much quicker to have it ready to go in a can instead of having to cook and then chop it for meals.

I have read many versions of the Raw Pack method and plan to do the raw pack for our canning, I have the times and instructions but there is still one variable I am debating on....
The question I have for you experienced chicken canners on here.... do any of you add either salt or bullion to the jar before filling with the chicken?

I think I am going to add a 1/4 teaspoon of bullion to each jar before filling it with chicken, and maybe a couple with plain salt instead for comparison. Anyone have any experience in the choices?

No experience with canning at all, but I would do just salt. You've got lovely natural chicken, wouldn't toss in bullion just because of what it is... MSG and other "natural" deliciousness.

Seasoning salt could be a good option though, like season-all? Or just salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder and perhaps a bit of celery salt or cayenne.

 

[hennible]

Fisherlady did you ask on the canning thread?

 

[fisherlady]

Fisherlady did you ask on the canning thread?

Didn't think to. Have never been on the canning thread. Will head over and do a search to see if it was already discussed. Thanks!

 

[hennible]

Hope someone can help.