What did we do wrong (if anything)?

[roofgoat]

Good morning. Have read this forum on an off for awhile and decided to join today.

My buddy has too many roosters so I kept telling him we should butcher a few. We both have chickens for the eggs and we didn't know how to butcher a chicken. His neighbor does and so my question.

All three of us got together yesterday morning and the neighbor was going to show us "his way". He grabs a chicken and twist/pulls the neck. Then he takes a hatchet and chops the neck off close to the body.

He then cuts off the legs at the joint, cuts of the wing so we have the body left. Then he cuts a slice in the skin on the breast side and literally hand tears all the skin from the body. Near the tail area he cuts the remaining skin.

Now he slices open the area where you stuff the bird and removes all the entrails. We then clean thoroughly.

Is the above an acceptable butcher plan if one is OK with a bird without skin to cook or BBQ? There was no bleeding out and we used our bare hands throughout (I see a picture tutorial sticky here where the poster is wearing gloves).

Last question, he said to soak the whole birds in cold water with salt overnight. Is that correct?

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[Brunty_Farms]

That is ok, as long as you don't want to eat the skin.

The birds will bleed out enough when the head is chopped off.

There is no right or wrong way to butcher so if you came away with a clean bird with no defects than you did good.

You also do not need to wear gloves, this is a prefrence. As long as you start with clean hands and wash the bird good after handling you will be fine.

 

[roofgoat]

Thanks Brunty Farms - how about the overnight cold water deal, good idea?

 

[jaku]

Quote:
yes, good idea.

 

[muddler6]

I have done several that way, I typically clean them in the early morning, soak them all day then at dinner timecook them up either for dinner or I cook up something to freeze or just debone the bird and freeze what I don't intend to use in the next 24 hours.