Where the bad quail go....

[Ace_king_brahma]

Well as some have heard the very first quail I hatched turned out to be killer Tennesse Red quail. As muh as I would have loved to kept them as breeders the fact they killed 3 of my coturnix made the choice to cull them easier.

I feel bad... I botched the first kill and only whacked half way through the neck on the first strike. The second finished the boy off quick with little flopping. The second went worse and it took three chops and the worse was the third bird which took 4 or 5 chops. After the killing I found the hatchet was dull. I was in a hurry not wanting to lose the nerve to actually do it that I forgot to check the hatchet.

After the botching everything else went smoother and I just tried to not think of how attached I was to the quail before this whole mess. I pulled through it and managed to process them myself and now I feel less intimidated by the killing process and the cleaning. And I feel ready to process any extra quail from the next batch and the broilers I have on order.

The plucking was the pretty bad.... I managed to keep the skin from tearing through most of it except when it came to the breast... after I plucked the chest the birds looked more like someone sacred the quail under a lawnmower! So I switched to just skinning them. And here is some pics of the end product. Currently they are sitting in a bag of tequila lime marinade awaiting the grill.

 

[Omniskies]

The mean birds are always more tasty. You made the right choice.

I swear by a good pair of kitchen scissors when it comes to killing quail. It takes a single snip and the bird is already in hand to bleed out with no messy thrashing.

 

[ninjapoodles]

Congratulations--I'm not looking forward to my first time, either. I wouldn't blame you if you had to hit the "marinade" after that!

 

[Ace_king_brahma]

I know you sugguested it before in another thread but I was worried of not being able to do it with scissors. I was worried I was more likely to back out with shears so I went with a hatchet. After the heads were off pretty much everything else was easier.

 

[Ace_king_brahma]

Quote:
Actually now that it is over and even once their heads where off I didn't feel sickened. I thought I would be I didn't. They just closed their eyes and that was it within seconds, the bodies flopped but I just reminded myself what others said that the flopping is just spasms and the bird is already dead. I just forced myself to keep going despite the botch job. Next round I think I might just go with a good pair of kitchen shears as Omniskies says.

 

[Wolf-Kim]

They look good Ace. Sorry you had such a tough time with the old hatchett. It was the method we were hoping to use. We may have to opt for some shears then, that or make sure our hatchett is sharp. We plan to buy a new hatchett for the next birds we butcher anyway. Adams little brothers got a hold of the last one and dinged it up pretty bad chopping at stuff they were suppose to(bricks, rocks, concrete, metal poles, etc

).

Did you marinate them whole or did you take just the breast?

I'm thinking when Adam and I do ours, we'll be trying to do them whole. I've watched the Youtube videos where they just breast the birds and I can't help but thing about the legs. Which your quail seem to have some meaty legs, which is reassuring.

Looking forward to our quail.

-Kim

 

[Ace_king_brahma]

Quote:
Lol... kids will try to break anything!

For my next batch I'm going with either shears or a new machete. I need to buy a new machete since I wasn't expecting rain the other day and left it on a table after chopping down some goat feed and now it is rusty.

I'm marinating them whole. I might snip the rest of the neck off before I cook them but I'll cook the rest of them as whole. When I was looking for processing instruction I saw that too. All these hunters just pop the breast meat out and toss the rest away! I've bought whole quail from the local supermarket so it surprised me no one in these videos kept the legs.

My dad has always taught me if I hunt and kill something use all of it. And nothing went to waste. I was the cats' best friend last night lol. And these boys despite their small size they were rather beefy all around except the wings and the skinniest of the wings I didn't bother with pluck or skinning I just cut them off and they went to the cats.

 

[Omniskies]

I keep the legs and breast, I never bother with the wings at all - it just isn't worthwhile.

 

[Wolf-Kim]

We may try a machete. I know Adam would love to play with one.

Are they easy to handle? I would think a hatchet would be better, because of the smaller blade, you know... less of a chance of chopping off something that wasn't suppose to be chopped off. Then again, a longer blade may help avoid botches. LOL

What is your opinion with the machete?

If they are easy to use, we can go out and get one for a fair price.

-Kim

 

[Ace_king_brahma]

I'll give it a try at the end of the month. I've used machetes for yard work and figure since I'm used to them it would be easier. I am going to also give the shears a try as well. I have quite a few quail chicks that haven't sold and if they don't sell by 2 weeks old they usually don't sell at all so I should have some I'm willing to part with for another round of bbq.

And this is how Cazy Larry and crew turned out: