Wow. That was fun. Actually, I had my Dad come help me. I made him kill the birds, since I was chickening out. We did 9 Buff Orp Cockerels this afternoon between 6-7pm. I'm actually very surprised that it didn't take me very long at all. I've had to help pluck birds before, but I've never processed them myself. They actually look really good, besides a few skin tears. We scalded them in a turkey fryer pot. They were 12 weeks old, a bit on the small side, but I wasn't looking for huge birds, just some fryers for the freezer. My question would be... my Dad's done this before, he said it was okay to not hang them to bleed out. So, they weren't hung. They were sat on a chair with their heads dangling and dripped out that way. Was that okay? They look fine to me, but like I've said I've never processed my own birds. Here's a picture of them resting in the fridge. They aren't leaking blood, that was just some of the water they were soaking in, I didn't pat them dry. Suggestions are welcome. I plan to freeze them tomorrow.
I am not sure I have processed birds we did not hang them very long only for killing them in the killing cones about 2 minuets so I don't know that you need to worry about that. We were processing 120 broilers on the farm I was working on it was fun ! then again I am crazy evisicration was my favorite part I can't wait to do it again. Henry
I hang mine and cut the necks to bleed them out. I think bleeding is the majority opinion, but there are plenty of people who don't and I haven't heard of any problems from not doing it.
They should be fine. If you have any doubt, you can soak them in salt water to remove more blood. They might be more tender if you let them age 2-3 days before you freeze them. Greyfields said recently that you should dry them off before freezing. He said some about freezing them wet not ending well. I've done both, and didn't really notice any difference, but I wasn't looking for any, either. I thought I'd try both ways next time, mark the packages, and see how they turn out.
They look fine to me. My question is this.....can you ring the neck and then hang them upside down for a couple minutes and then cut the whole head off or do you just cut a slit and let them bleed and then cut the head off? This is the only area that has me stumped.
I always just cut the head off then clean them once they stop fluttering. I always soak mine at least over night in salt water and usually 2 days just depending on time. BTW the last BO roo's I ate were absolutely delicious!
