RIR Fat Content (Warning Graphic Photos)

[Cyberous]

I decided to butcher my big old RIR hen today. She has not produced an egg since I've had her. She constantly bullys everyone around, and squawks constantly.

Today she decided to pull a big patch of feathers out of one of the smaller pullets when they were free ranging and then ate them... that was it she had to go.

I got these birds from a lady who had to move (foreclosure) so I have no idea how old they really are. She said the Redstar was 2.5 and the RIR was "Older" not sure what that meant.

Anyway, this was my very first attempt at processing. Bleading out, scalding and plucking all went well. I will have to watch the gutting videos a few more times (now that I have done it they will make more sense).

Finally, the question if you take a look at the pictures there are HUGE amounts of fat in this bird. There was also some thing similar to fat but a bit lighter and denser that I don't know what it was. It went down the garbage disposal before I could take a picture.

Is this amount of fat normal or is it just because its an old bird, also what was the light yellow clump of stuff?

I did the right thing because she had only two tiny egg seeds, so it would have been a while if ever she were to lay again (I think)

Thank you,

Don

 

[MandyH]

Cool pictures. I have never processed a bird but that almost looks like some sort of tissue instead of fat.

 

[texasbartrambaby]

Very interesting - i have several roos that need to go to freezer camp but have no idea. Here's a bump -

 

[Homesteading_Bound]

Well....looking at your first picture...To me that looks normal. I process a few Cornish hens every few days and that's what I see after making the first opening...FAT...yellow fat...I notice some are more fatty then others. I just discard it.

If your not sure how old she was I would put her in the crock pot and make a delicious soup.

The third pic looks like dinner!!!

 

[Huny]

All depends on feed. Those who are fed a lot of scratch or corn will have big amounts of fat. Those with higher protein will have leaner meat. We noticed that when we did our broilers the same time as someone elses. We had them on grower, they fed corn and wheat. They had two inches almost of fat under the skin!Ours were very lean.

 

[Peaguy]

Curious question, could the amount of fat have had anything to do with her lack of egg production perhaps?
That is a large amount of fat (or whatever) I would have been taking that one back to the local supermarket demanding a refund! If I had bought it there that is.

 

[jamieneenah]

Quote:
We have fed a very high protein diet to our birds. I saw no fat anything like what is in the photos. Our birds seem to be very lean. I wonder if they are almost too lean, we were thinking that we might get more flavor if we got them a little fatter with a few more carbs.

Jamie

 

[RuffTuffCreampuff]

Looks like she had a good middle age spread going on there...lol. I'd let her age an extra day and cook her reaaallll slow in the crock pot. The older birds make great jumbo...if you are into gumbos.

Btw, should your siggy now read 5 lady rirs...lol.

Pam

 

[LilPeeps]

Using feeds high in corn will produce fatty birds. It's likely that she wasn't getting enough protein and was eating feathers to get as much protein as possible.

 

[Matt A NC]

Corn in her feed mix? I bet she was one of those that picked through all the feed just to get the corn.

I had a couple that did that. They were too fat to lay and were 4 and 5 years old. When processed there was LOTS of yellow fat. I just call it corn fat. I normally only feed corn in the winter months. Some of the organs were completely surrounded by the fat.

The old gals were surprisingly tender. We did let them sit in the fridge for 6 days to cure a bit, but that was all.

Matt