Rigor lasting days & days...

[wild chick]

Newbie here at this meat thing... Last summer we processed 9 cockerels from a straight run of wyandottes. They all stayed in rigor longer than we thought they should, we just put them in the freezer like they were, after 3 - 5 days of resting in the refrigerator. We now have a cockerel in the fridge that we processed on Jan 30th and now 4 days later still no softness to the legs. We were going to cut this one in pieces for freezing. Do that now or wait longer? Does it matter? When I read 48 hours on relaxing I don't know what to make of it, I've yet to see it. We only use these cockerels for crockpot/soups, I'm not expecting exceptional meat, just weirded out that the legs will NOT relax! Thanks in advance!

 

[Kiki]

 

[Kiki]

I'd like to learn/see what others say.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

Just how cold is your refrigerator? For them not to relax and be malleable in three days seems like they are partially frozen.

 

[wild chick]

Just how cold is your refrigerator? For them not to relax and be malleable in three days seems like they are partially frozen.

nothing in the refrigerator is frozen, not the food, the milk, the leftovers, nothing. The chicken is not frozen. I can squeeze the thighs and it feels soft (not frozen) like a normal chicken, but the legs are sticking straight out and won't bend down at the joint. Hope this helps in my description. If the fridge is below a certain degree but above freezing, does it delay the relaxation? Also I was going to ask, since I'm new at this it takes me a long time to process from death to refrigerator - does it make a difference? I see some people can process one in 15 minutes. It took me over an hour - I skinned it to save feathers.

 

[orrpeople]

A couple hours in an ice water bath usually does it for us. Then they go straight to the freezer and seem fine. I will say though, that my free range roosters never seem to relax and get tender in the legs. I'm not sure why (although I expect that it is because they may be too "fit"?).

 

[orrpeople]

The processing time might be making the difference for you. Although we have friends that do everything manually with their birds that seem to do okay. This is interesting...

 

[Egghead_Jr]

If the thigh is soft then it's past rigor. Just us a little force to get the joint started. I bet once you loosen the tendon it moves freely.

 

[wild chick]

@orrpeople - yes, mine are free range, acres and acres & they could run like roadrunners and fly pretty well. Very athletic. Hmmm. I'd love to hear more on this theory. At daybreak all the chickens are out and have 7 acres to roam, although they only roam about 1 -2 acres from the coop. @Egghead_Jr - I'll work the legs tomorrow & see if I can loosen the tendon. Thank you!

 

[Smuvers Farm]

@orrpeople - yes, mine are free range, acres and acres & they could run like roadrunners and fly pretty well. Very athletic. Hmmm. I'd love to hear more on this theory. At daybreak all the chickens are out and have 7 acres to roam, although they only roam about 1 -2 acres from the coop. @Egghead_Jr - I'll work the legs tomorrow & see if I can loosen the tendon. Thank you!

Make sure you post beck HERE to let us know how that worked out....