Wanting to slaughter a chicken, any help on how?

[ThePendragon]

Unfornately I have three roosters for my fourteen chickens and finally I have decided to kill a 10 month old rooster. Has any one

tried skinning a chicken as apposed to plucking it? I don't know what the best way

to kill a chicken, nor how to cook it. If anyone has a suggestion about those things I would appreciate it.


Thanks - Me

 

[gg706]

There are some good videos on youtube of butchering and skinning chickens. I have not butchered anything yet. But I will be in your situation in about 7 month as my chicks are 7 weeks old and I know for a fact I have at least 3 roos. I have been researching ALOT! There are seeral great threads on butchering! I have learned ALOT from "Beekissed" and "Galanie". They have some VERY good informational thread on butchering! I will try to find some of their thread and post them here for you to read.

 

[gg706]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/newestpost/652413

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/newestpost/325493

 

[gickelvolk]

A real good reference is located here also....


http://butcherachicken.blogspot.com/

 

[gg706]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/624592/okay-i-did-it-well-we-did-it

 

[gg706]

@ gickelvolk That is a VERY good article! thanks I really enjoyed it!

 

[TheGoodEgg]

I have butchered meat birds for the last two years and had to do away with five cockerals last year that I do not need/could not sell. The youtube video is good demonstration -
1. Make sure that your knife is very sharp. It helps to make a clean kill - you will feel less miserable about the process. I cut the jugular on their left side and let them bleed out - the meat is cleaner. You can use a feed back with a corner cut out of it or a traffic cone as your killing cone - just cut the cone down a bit to enable the head to pass through easily.
2. I skinned my cockerals - they weren't meaty enough to want to pluck - shackle the feet and hang them up to work with. After the kill, cut off the head and start at the back end working towards the neck. The wings are a pain in the a-- so you may just discard them. Wait until they are skinned to eviscerate as you do not want to get dirt in the body cavity.

Do watch the video on how to properly eviscerate them.

As an aside - I always say a prayer before I butcher. I ask the Almighty to guide my hand for a quick and as painless as possible kill, I ask their forgiveness for having to take a life and thank the bird for their sacrifice. Then make sure you use it.

Best of luck. it's not easy, but is necessary.

 

[TheGoodEgg]

Oh, and if you are going to roast or cook the meat for anything other than soup - clean the carcass, bag it up and it sit in the refridgerator for a few days before using or freezing it. This lets the meat "age" a bit and relax. I find them less firm then.

 

[gickelvolk]

 

[4-H chicken mom]

Here is another link.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...-eviscerating-cutting-up-your-chicken-graphic