roosters for asian customers' chinese new year

[nwfl]

my asian customers are afraid to do the killing at home now. they are all afeared because of southern laws and illegal aliens crackdowns, etc. for years i had customers come out to the house and box their own rooster, take it home, and do their fancy centerpiece. $10 easy money. holy moley - now im goggling for pictures and recipes of dressed birds. i know i clean it and leave the feathers on. dont they cook this bird? sheesh. crazy stuff!

 

[galanie]

Can they do the killing at your place?

 

[silkiechicken]

If they eat it or not depends on the purpose. Sometimes the bid can be just a display piece as an offering. But our chickens for new year just get bled out and cooked whole with head/feet attached; no fancy display.

 

[nwfl]

right. thats what i had thought the whole centerpiece and offering of the animal as good luck. all of my customers have been women and were impressed at the size and gentleness of my birds. they brought the bird home a week before and it was a part of 3 days of ceremony and enjoyment by children and adults. those women that are military wives and who live in town are terrified of bringing a bird with any feathers or parts attached onto the base or in town for fear of neighbors thoughts. those i will have to prepare to look like a store bought bird in every way. only one woman wants her birds completely feathered. i think i will be able to bleed out the bird, but i have seen some people just grab the bird, feel for the artery and stick the tip of a knife in to collect blood for soup and sauces, a nice steady stream, and bird gently passes on. this will be hard for me. im not as stron or steady in my hands as i was 20 years ago. i want to give honor to the whole ceremony you know? and no they dont even want to come out here anymore. kind of a night time delivery quick money swap thing. such a business. and my neighbors think nothing of hanging a deer or hog into a tree to process it.

 

[Smiles-N-Sunshine]

Just curious, have you thought of raising Silkies as meat birds? I understand they're popular in Asian communities, but for curative properties not feasting. I found this article interesting: http://www.thekitchn.com/redirected-080171

 

[silkiechicken]

Quote:
Yeah, that does make it a ton more work on your end. For a while I dressed birds for those who wanted it, but it really does add up in time/energy/mess... so had to say, live only. Finding the artery to pierce and save blood is much easier if you have a killing cone. If you want to save the blood, bleed them into a bowl with maybe 1/4 cup of water with a half tsp of dissolved salt. It'll congeal like tofu and can be sliced into cubes.

Good luck. That's nice of you to have birds for offer still. I'm pretty far removed from most things traditional as my fathers side of the family came to America in the late 1800's. When I was still selling birds, most of my customers were newcomers and had a healthy fear of anything that might cause someone to raise an eye.

Silkies as a side business may be profitable as mentioned, if you can get a market for it. I was selling young cockerels for $15 each alive for medicinal soups... more than I could sell them as for pets!

 

[nwfl]

i began raising silkies last year at the request of 3 of my customers. there was a quick turnaround because they bought chicks and cockerals. now they want me to process those too and might not be able to take chicks. afraid neighbors will complain about bird noise. but i will see how that goes after the 23rd. its nice that all this information came before spring so that i can prepare to slow down and thin out my flocks. i havent had profit in selling for pets. much easier to sell good healthy birds for meat. i will try to collect the blood for the ladies too. they said dont worry about it but i know they enjoy it.