What age do I butcher?

[HorseFeatherz NV]

This is a fantastic article to read, it is about home grown chicken (not cornish crosses) and age/weight to butcher plus some cooking tips: www.albc-usa.org/documents/cookingwheritagechicken.pdf



I like to do my dual purpose males at about 20 weeks roughly - generally gives me an approx. 4 to 5 pound bird once fully processed. I am also a chopper (use to use an axe but now I use a very nice knife). Off with the head, let bled out until done, then into the scald water (mine is usually 145 to 150), swish in water for a rough count of 30 - a good test is to pull a wing feather, if it pulls easy the bird is done scalding. Then I sometimes rinse in cold water but often not, just pluck away. Then I loosen the crop/throat area, then cut just above the vent to around the vent, carefully to not nick any internal junk, reach my hand inside the body to loosen the guts and then pull them out, lungs are attached to the bird's back/ribs so often need to be worked out. Then trim up the legs/neck and into the fridge to rest (I let them rest 3 to 4 days before freezing, usually in lightly salted water).


Good luck and great eating.

 

[D'Angelo N Va.]

funny you should ask how old...I just, and I mean literally just came in the house from killing some roosters. 3 were about 10 mos. old and 3 were 15 wks. old...2 of the 15 week olds were ok, but the third one should have stayed in the hen house about another month...so I guess you can just tell by the look or weight when you pick one up (before killing it..LOL )..
however here is a link I saw on BYC awhile back. it is very graphic, but very good.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=109583

 

[Tiss]

It's so nice to have cyber-cheerleaders here. Hubby said he'd help out, but since the birds were my idea, it's going to be mostly up to me. It's a skill I think I should know and this way I can get more chicks and a couple good meals! Win-win.

Any tips on what kind of knife to use?

~Tiss

 

[Sunny Side Up]

Let Mister know that the rule is "The more you help process the more you get to eat!"

You shouldn't need really fancy or special knives, just nice sharp ones. For slicing the throats I use a thin filet knife I bought in the fishing-gear dept of WalMart. For cutting off the legs & heads I use poultry shears. For cutting into the body around the crop & the vent I use a sharp short-bladed paring knife.

 

[PunkinPeep]

My favorite knife is a very sharp fish filet knife. It made today's slaughter a serious breeze.

I'm also in the chopping-off-the-head camp. I've watched too many chickens look around while bleeding out with the jugular method, so now it's off with the head for sureness and quickness.

The ones we did today were cockerels about 17 weeks old. They dressed out at an average of 2 pounds each. Kind of light, but should be very tender and nice. Another month would have added quite a bit of weight, i'm sure. They were mostly white rocks, 2 easter eggers, and one black sexlink, who was the heaviest at 2 1/2 pounds, dressed out of course.

I have a regular pair of kitchen shears (nothing fancy) that i sharpen and use just for cutting through the skin. The fishing filet knife is all i need for everything else.

The very best tip i can give anyone is to make sure that whatever tools you decide to use, they are SHARP. There is nothing worse than trying to kill and process a chicken with dull tools.

I think you will be glad you did the first ones by yourself. That's what i did, and i was happy that i was able to struggle through that experience at my own pace. It also gave my husband something to brag about to his co-workers. Now they think i'm awesome 'cause i butcher chickens by myself. So silly.

ETA: link, the first time i butchered

 

[morrisandy]

Use a funnel or just tie the legs together and hang them--the important thing is to take a thin /narrow blade while holding the beak and shuv the knife through the bottom of the beak and out through the top of the head--this causes the blade to enter the brain killing them instantly--no flopping--then just remove the head to bleed out--I skin them---after skinning run your knife down both sides of the breast bone and remove meat then disslocate leg joints--cut between thigh and body and fold legs in opposite direction that they are and cut from body--remove wings the same way--doing it this way you dont have to gut the chicken

 

[Sunny Side Up]

I have butchered chickens at a friend's house to share the use of his WhizBang Plucker. Although I prefer to slice the neck arteries and let the bird bleed out with his heart still pumping, my friend instead twists necks to kill, then places in a cone and cuts off the heads to let them then drain out. I notice that his birds seem bloodier. Their meat seems much pinker and there is more blood seeping out on the cutting table than the ones I dispatch with the Kosher Kill.

Yes, it does take a bit longer and their reflexes can include a lifting of the head & opening of the eyes. That can be disturbing unless you remember that they really are on The Other Side of the Road and this is merely reflex. The same as the wing flapping, the running & jumping, and all the other movements they make.

 

[Tiss]

Well, I got my knife, cone and apron all set out. Went to the coop, caught myself a rooster, felt him up real good and decided I wouldn't get 2 pounds of meat off the scrawny thing. He probably wouldn't weigh 4 lb soaking wet. Hardly worth the effort in my opinion. So Woody has a month's reprieve as we fatten him up real good.

Bummer since it is sunny and 80 today. We don't see this often in July in Georgia.