Stinky internals

[Shoshana]

Even in the fridge, once an animal is dead it is decomposing. You MUST gut an animal immediately after it's killed to avoid the growth of harmful bacteria from the guts contaminating the meat, development of gas, etc. Personally, I would throw those chickens away, being VERY concerned about food-borne illness. Just my humble opinion.

 

[PotterWatch]

Quote:
I thought the question was in regards to the cause of the foul smell of the 4 birds when gutted after a 2 day pause in their processing. I hope my own post answered that question, and should add that the practise of purging plus finishing the processing ASAP on day 1 helps to eliminate both oder and chance of contaminated meat IMO.

Their question about whether the meat was ok to keep was on a different thread.

 

[wood&feathers]

In future I would only kill the ones I could process immediately. They keep better alive in the pen.

Everything about Cornish Xs stinks. I had a friend give me 5 with just a few weeks to go, and we were so glad to get rid of them. After processing dual purpose birds it was really strange to take apart a Cornish X. I swear they are put together like a cardboard puzzle and practically come apart "on the dotted line". The entrails didn't seem at all attached inside, and came out VERY cleanly. There may have been a sweeter (in the bad way, like stale beer in a dumpster) tang to the birds' odor, but that was present before slaughter. It just got worse when I opened the abdominal cavity.

It is really spooky to process an animal that has been bred to fatten quickly and process easily. Wish I could remember the quote in Hithchiker's Guide to the Galaxy, where the cow is offering choice bits of herself to diners...

 

[Bossroo]

After raising the DPs for way over half a century, I find that now raising the Cornish X a PLEASURE in every phase of it's lifespan and culinary repast.

I find that keeping chickens in freezer camp allows me to have many leasurely weeks off to spend more time with my family

instead of hauling feed and water on cold 17*-32* winter days or 104* to 117* summer days and year round daily predator patrol.

Management skills is the key in odor control and converting manure to fertilizer is very beneficial to my now more bountiful vegetable and landscape gardens.

Processing a Cornish X at a very young age is much easier just like processing any other type of young animal

vs. an older one

... much less labor intensive to process and much more tender to eat.

Win, win !

 

[phoenix2011]

Oh yes - I agree with other posters - gutting should be done immediately - I will sometimes take a day or two after to cut up & freeze depending on my schedule, or if its a larger animal like a deer I would wrap up the quarters and let them age in the fridge for 3-6 days before finishing, but I wouldnt risk tainting the meat by putting off the gutting! And definitely a 24 hour fast prior to D-Day.... otherwise - ewww... It's a nasty enough job, why add to it?

 

[Cheep a'lil Talk a'lil]

Thank you all for your responses. The reason I waited so long to gut them was that I got very sick the night that we did the birds. I was only able to make it through one before I had to go to bed and was laid up for the next couple of days after. Hubby works 12 hour nights with 3 hours driving time round trip, so he was unable to help. So not getting them processed was not by choice.
The first bird that I processed on the day that we butchered smelled just as foul as the other four I did 2 days later. I think SteveH hit the nail on the head. I took the chickens food away the night before. But my kids were so use to feeding them every morning that they went out and did it the day of. I didn't even think about it until I read SteveH's post. bwmichaud was also correct, since they had eaten they had the lovely poo smell.
I had many hands to help with the culling, boiling, and plucking. But since we did it late in the day and when I finally got to gutting the birds, the kids had to go to bed and hubby off to work.

After they were all gutted, washed everything smelled fine and not a hint of stench. They are all nice and cozy in the freezer, cut up and sealed in their freezer bags.

So what I've learned from this...
1. make sure I'm not the only one butchering
2. do it bright and early in the morning
3. and again, make sure I'm not the only one butchering

Thanks again for everyone's input, it was very helpful and educational.

 

[Dave Bean]

Is the smell specific to CornishX? What other birds have that smell?