Well, WE DID IT!!

[ssledoux]

This morning, in just under 3 hours, we butchered, skinned, rinsed and cut up 21 meat birds. We did the rangers and the cornish. I have to say, for the time invested, I am much more pleased with the cornish overall. The rangers were several weeks older and still nowhere near the size of the cornish. My cornish were probably 8-9 weeks, still actively foraging when I let them out each day, fluttering around, etc., but they were so much meatier (I know, I know - they are bred for this). I just think for the time and money, I would do cornish next time, although they are so docile, it made them a little harder for me to watch them kill.

I was REALLY scared and worried about this, and the first chicken was super hard to watch, but it did get better. I stayed right there the entire time. Ds held them, dh cut the heads off, ds tied the legs and hung them, dh skinned them, and I rinsed and cut them up then put them in the ice water. I was pleased with our system, and it was quite humane.

We now have a HUGE ice chest chock full of chicken, and I feel LOTS better!

 

[chirpchirp]

Congrats! Good job, I hope I can accomplish the same thing - but I have my doubts

 

[jaku]

Yup, I just did the first half of mine, and I can't imagine doing all that work for something other than the Cornish X's. SO much meat!

 

[mxpres]

I butchered my last 4 last saturday,the cornish actually look bigger after plucking,I had some doubts about raising the cornish ,so I started with 8.lost two ,no problem whatsoever,I was well pleased with the finished product ,I butchered at 7 weeks,4 plus pounds per bird,,

 

[ssledoux]

We just ate one of our fresh cornish cross for dinner. Man it was good!! I stuffed it and roasted it and served it with some fresh green beans and homemade rolls - YUM!!

Yeah, I think I'm gonna be sorry when I eat the rangers as far as volume, but it will be nice to compare the taste of the two. I know that next time I will go for Cornish though.

 

[Big C]

The first one is always the hardest, but when you see all your hard work in the freezer, then on the grille...

 

[Sunny Side Up]

Hooray for you, I'm really impressed! That's 7 an hour, that's less than 10 minutes per bird! That's great that you had all those family members to help, I'm usually all on my own.

I'm still undecided as to which type of meat bird I prefer. I had some Cornish Xs last year, and I found them easier to dispatch because they were so pathetic, almost reptilian in their behavior. It seemed I was doing them a favor putting them out of their misery. I wanted to get some Rangers this year, but Mister lost his job & I didn't have the $$$ to order the chicks. I'm having my hens hatch eggs and also got some free packing peanuts from other folks that I'm butchering this year. None of them will be as bulgy as a Cornish X, but certainly better than store-bought.