Processing one chicken- is it worth it . . . in winter?

[bobbi-j]

It's one chicken. You could kill it outside, then clean it in your kitchen. If it has some meat on it, you could just skin it, take legs, thighs, wings and breast meat without even gutting it. If it's not very meaty, skin it, gut it, use it to make chicken stock.

 

[SwampFlock]

Or would you just kill and give back to Mother Nature?

One great route to go with this is making a soldier fly bin. Turns dead chickens into free soldier fly larvae (if you don't know how much they cost at the store be prepared to be shocked) and free compost. It's how I dispose of my surprise dead birds. Tons of videos on YouTube depending on what style you like.

 

[Ridgerunner]

The problem is he is making enough noise that the neighbor is noticing where I have him.

This implies urban or suburban, which limits some disposal options.

it's still below freezing here

Kind of uncomfortable outside, though hopefully you will have some warmer days, but I don't know where you are. If you can get out of the wind it's not that bad but can still be really uncomfortable. If your ground is frozen it may be a challenge to bury anything. If you process him inside then the processing isn't that bad but you can make a mess in the kitchen or wherever.

But that is just processing issues you'll have to deal with. Your question is:

Is it worth it to process a cock that's only 2-3 months in winter?

It's hard to improve on the answers already given. You will not get a lot of meat though anything you get will probably taste really good. He is accidental, you did not plan on having a cockerel. I think it comes down to you and your opinions. How important is it to you to use every bit of him and what do you consider use? How would you return him to nature? I raise them to eat so I won't be in your dilemma but to me it is purely your choice. I don't consider either choice wrong.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

As others have said it would give you some experience in processing a bird.
For that age and only one bird if I were going to process them, I would skin them too.
I've done a couple at a time that age and just skinned them. Aged both, put one in the freezer for later, the other got the crockpot.
I do have a book with photos on processing poultry which makes it little less intimidating, but I ran across this tutorial here on BYC a while back that I thought was well done. Even though it's Quail, for a young cockerel, the process would be very similar - or it's what I would do. Personally I would dispatch outside over a garbage can and probably skin outside if possible but inside with one bird it shouldn't be too big of a mess. Just have your prep area and "tools" ready. Having a nice pair of shears are wonderful but not that necessary, I've done without, but last time I knew I was going to process some birds so "invested" in shears and a couple of sharp knives just for this. Makes work easier.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/how-to-process-your-quail-including-gory-pictures.75834/

Just a note. If processing is not something you can or want to do, there is nothing wrong with discarding the bird into the trash. Then take the time to do a little research and determine what you may be able to do next time you are in the same situation.

Good luck!

 

[humblehillsfarm]

I’ve never processed in the summer, but at least for me the stress of processing made the fact that it was 32 deg outside almost unnoticeable. I personally feel this time of year as a great time to process one bird. Minimal smell and no flies! As for his age, you’ve got to work with the limitations you have. If there’s a noise or rooster ordinance, it’s time for him to go. Good luck with whatever route you choose. Bummer you couldn’t relocate him.

 

[Winter Creek Coop]

You could skin it like is often done with wild killed pheasants. If he’s pretty small you can just split the breast skin and fillet the two breast halves off. You could also dry pluck the breast only to have skin on breast halves. I wouldnt heat water and completely dress one small cull.

 

[Mellowmalt]

I just watched a youtube video on how to prepare chickens and he made it look so easy. Feathers came off in like 20 seconds, degutted the bird in less than a minute and then clean it. He did have all the right equipment though, defeatherng machine, butchering station, outdoor sink and work table

 

[Egghead_Jr]

Butcher it in a month. Will be 12 weeks old and warmer outside.

 

[Stephanie8806]

I’ll echo others here by saying an 8 week old chicken won’t give you much meat... but if you really can’t house him, it’s better than him living unhappily or cramped.

For an immature chicken, soup/stock/broth would be the best use for him and make him easy to clean. Unless you’re roasting a whole bird to eat, you don’t need to keep the skin on... so you save a considerable amount of time.

Just cut off the head, skin him(once cut, the skin will just peel/tear off by hand), and scoop all the guts. May be worth finding the liver, kidneys, heart, and gizzard, if you eat those. They are very mild in chickens. If you don’t want to process the feet, just cut them off at the joint. The whole thing shouldn’t take more than 10 minutes once he’s dead, even if you’ve never done it before.