What is your method?

[momofthehouse]

When you are slaughtering a chicken what is your method? How and what do you use or do to pluck feathers. Cutting guides? What parts do you use and what for? I want to get everything I can out of my birds and not waste anything! We haven't butchered a chicken yet but getting close to needing to. Thanks!

 

[Ridgerunner]

There are a lot of different methods to kill a chicken for slaughter. I use the hatchet and two nails in a chopping block method, but many use a killing cone, the broomstick method, or some other. I don’t see any one as superior to the others. The trick is that it has to be something you can do without flinching. If you close your eyes or flinch at the wrong time you may injure yourself or just wound the bird. Just find something that you can do that is sure and quick.

Normally I skin the chickens instead of plucking. That takes some strength, especially around the wings. Old hens aren’t too bad but a mature rooster can be really hard. At about 22 weeks they start to grow connective tissue that holds the skin to the body. It gets worse the older they get. I still skin them but instead of pulling the skin off I wind up cutting a lot of that connective tissue. You can probably do OK with your older hens. There is a learning curve to the whole process, slaughter through cooking, so don’t get too discouraged at first. You’ll get better with a little practice.

My procedure is to first cut off the feet at the bottom of the drumstick. Poultry shears come in real handy for this and other things. They also help you keep your knife sharp since you are not cutting bones. Save the feet. Then I cut a slit across the bottom of the chest and start pulling the skin off, working it off the wings and legs. Often on the wings I have to cut the side where the flight feathers are. That just won’t pull off very easily all the time. I throw the tip of the wing away. It’s not worth the effort to try to skin it. Pull the skin off the neck too, being careful to leave the crop behind. The skin comes off in chunks, it does not remain in one piece.

Then work the skin back to the vent. The process is now the same whether you pluck or skin. Take the vent area off and remove the internals. You can find instructions and photos of this at the top of the meat bird section. Instead of keeping the carcass whole, I cut it into serving pieces as I go.

I save the drumsticks, thighs, breasts, and wishbone for the table. The dogs get the liver. I like liver but my wife just can’t stand the smell from cooking it. The wings, neck, back, gizzard, heart, and feet go into broth. To clean the feet I bring water to a boil, take the water off the heat, and dump the feet in there for 30 seconds. Then dump them out in the sink to stop the cooking. If you don’t overcook them doing this, the skin peels off pretty easily and you can easily twist the toenails off. This gets them clean enough for me. If you overcook them, the skin tears really easily and they are a pain to clean.

To make the broth, I put a bay leaf, a dozen peppercorns, some rough chopped carrot, celery, and onion in a crock pot, along with some herbs, usually basil, oregano, maybe thyme, parsley, chives, or garlic, whatever feels good to you. I add a chicken carcass, top off with water, and cook overnight, usually 12 hours or so. Strain off the liquid through a sieve, take the fat off the top, and then strain through a few layers of cheesecloth. That is very good chicken broth.

I pick the meat out of what I strained through the sieve. You’ll find some meat still attached to the neck, back, and wings, but a lot of it has cooked off the bone. Carefully go through that and you have cooked chicken great for salad, casserole, or tacos. You do have to be careful to keep the small bones out. There are a lot of small bones. This is certainly a part of that learning curve.

When I slaughter the chickens, I keep an extra bucket handy for things I’ll feed back to the flock. I empty the crop and gizzard in there, and cut the crop into a few pieces and in that goes. You’ll find a lot of fat in a hen. They store a lot in a fat pad right at the vent area plus you’ll find plenty more. A lot of fat and any membrane I find goes in that bucket. I always split a few intestines when butchering, looking for worms. Haven’t found any yet but it’s a great opportunity to look and check on the health of your flock. Some intestines go in that bucket too, but I try to keep the amount in that bucket to what the flock can clean up before dark. I just empty that bucket in the run and don’t want stuff left that can attract predators.

When processing roosters, I’ve been known to save saddle and hackle feathers for people that use them to make jewelry.

I bury what’s left. If it’s after my garden is finished for the year but still fall, I bury it in the garden. It’s gone by spring when I plant, but I bury it where later things are going. Any other time of year, I bury it in my orchard. Eventually it will feed my trees.

I don’t think I waste much.

 

[tadaen sylverma]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...-eviscerating-cutting-up-your-chicken-graphic

This one has it all figured out and very clear with pictures. Is what I intend to follow except I will chop head off, I believe throat slitting = suffering time but to each their own.

 

[momofthehouse]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...-eviscerating-cutting-up-your-chicken-graphic

This one has it all figured out and very clear with pictures. Is what I intend to follow except I will chop head off, I believe throat slitting = suffering time but to each their own.

Thanks!