Skinning a chicken...WARNING! Graphic Pics!

[Half-a-dozen]

Buster-
How long did that take you? You make it look so easy and I am procratinating doing the job because I have read it takes 2 hours???? You made it look like 10 min.

 

[ninjapoodles]

It only took my husband a few minutes to skin this wild bird--it took him longer to fillet all the meat off the bones (except for the legs, which I froze and saved to make stock later).

I can "breast out" a duck in just a couple of minutes, but that seems so wasteful that I keep trying (poorly) to pluck them.

 

[ninjapoodles]

Quote:
Really? Thanks for the info--what do you do differently to make stock and/or broth from chickens? I've made it from grocery store chickens, and pretty much do the same thing, but I love to learn new methods.

Oh, and the Great Turkey Hunt...he was SO full of himself!

He had to take me back to the spot where he was, and show me where the bird was, and measure it off (57 yards). The whole story is kind of funny. It was his first time out with a crossbow (he had actually borrowed the bow to see if he liked it), and he was hunting deer. He was up in his deer stand. My daughter and I were having a late lunch at the Dixie Cafe, when I got this text-message on my cellphone:

"Go home & get on the AGFC website and see if it's bow season for turkeys--NOW!"

And then on the way home, another text: "HURRY, THEY'RE EVERYWHERE!"

So I did, and it was OK, and I texted back, "You can take ONE bird of either sex." 5 minutes later he called, bragging about his bird.

Cut to spring turkey season. He's all hyped up by his great experience from February, and takes several of his vacation days from work to turkey hunt. Hunts for DAYS. Sees not one single bird. I told him, "It's OK, Honey--we have some coming in the MAIL."

 

[Jolyn]

ninjapoodles~ That bird is incredible!!!


Ok can i ask a stupid question....oh wait there is no such thing as a stupid question right? Well remember that after you see what i have to ask.....haha

Why is there not much blood? I thought there would be more blood.

Oh and i have to say thanks Buster for posting this. I was terrified of even the thought of doing this and now i do think dh and i could.

 

[ninjapoodles]

Me, too--I'm really nervous about it. Thankfully I have the hunting hubby to do the killing (I told him that I would help, but that if the deed were actually up to me, we'd just wind up with a yard full of ticked-off chickens with flesh-wounds), but I'm nervous about the butchering process. With chicken I buy, I only get boneless/skinless, but when we're going to this much trouble to raise them, I hate to waste ANYTHING.

Oh, and that wild turkey was only about 22 pounds after bleeding out...the commercial ones get a lot bigger! But he was a beaut, with a *perfect* fan--not a nick out of a single feather.

 

[PurpleChicken]

Buster, IMO they take about the same time if you know what you are doing.
I don't know what I'm doing so I just get by. It takes me 3 to 5 minutes to
skin or skald then a few more to clean. Setup and cleanup is what takes a
while for us.


Ninja, that bird is huge. If I was hubby I'd be like a little excited kid.

As for soup I thought I knew how to make soup until I started reading
some of the soup posts here on BYC. Using MissPrissy's and other's
advice I slow cook for 18 hours in my crock pot on low. The temp simmers
at around 180 to 200 degrees. I throw in a 2 to 3 pound rooster (processed
weight) or a picked over turkey carcus (already cooked and store bought),
garlic, onion, carrots, celery, salt & lots of black pepper. I'll add various spices
when I'm straining and cleaning. The meat falls off the bones and some of
the bones are so soft I chew on them or give the dogs a treat. Sometimes
I'll add some spinach, romaine, escarole, or any greens I have hanging
out in the fridge. Then some noodles or rice(my preference) and it's quite
a meal.

The only difference between turkey and chicken is the taste, even though
they are both prepared the same. Both are wonderful but very different.

The skin is important for flavor but I believe a slow cooked soup get's most
of it's flavor from the bones so a skinned chicken works fine. We only
used a skinned bird once for soup.


Sorry to go off topic Buster but you opened a can of worms, or soup, with
this thread.

 

[ninjapoodles]

I made my turkey stock/broth (what IS the difference?) in the slow-cooker, too! About 12 hours, all told, but I only used the raw frame plus veggies. I didn't season since I only intended to use it in other recipes. I will definitely be looking to this forum for great chicken recipes from now on!

 

[PurpleChicken]

Quote:
I think stock is usually stronger and can be watered down. Broth is just any liquid
something is cooked in, I guess.

I suppose we could google it but guessing here is more fun. Start a new soup thread
in recipes. Repeat the stuff we talked about here. There are a LOT of GREAT cooks
here. I'll look forward to joining in.

 

[MissPrissy]

Here is the chicken stock thread we started - the one you are referring to, PC

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=19119

And here is the one with the carcass and extras

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=28534

We could continue on these and keep things easy to find.

 

[Buster]

Quote:
Thanks MissPrissy- that is great info. I didn't even know that those posts were around.