Two weekends ago I butchered my meat birds. We had 7 cornish x that were old enough (10 weeks old) to process. I had never done this before, but it was time. The plan was to bleed them out, skin them, and quarter them up into freezer bags.
Cornish X chickens are genetically bred to mature very fast. They go from chicks to full size birds in 8-12 weeks. IF you wait any longer they begin having leg problems and then heart attacks. So, keeping them was not an option.'
These were my 6 year old son's chickens that we got from his kindergarten class (I know, what school district gives meat chickens to kindergartners, right). He had finally come to understand that these birds are designed for eating. We explained it all to him and he was ok with it, might even decide to come out and see the processing, but he has already decided that he will not be eating any of this chicken meat. HA!
So, the first step was to go off to the store to get trash bags and ice, then I was ready to start setting up for the big event.
WARNING!!! WARNING!!! WARNING!!!
THE FOLLOWING PICTURES ARE GRAPHIC!!! SCROLL DOWN AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!
Here's my set up, back by the barn where the kids and neighbors can't see. Built the stand with some spare wood:
The meat birds are hung upside down so the blood will drain well:
The breasts weren't as large as I had figured on, but I'm happy with them. I did 7 birds in about 2 hours. Overall it was easier than I had expected, except for the killing part.
MAKE SURE you have a SHARP knife beforehand. Not just a little sharp, VERY VERY SHARP! I had to cut the first birds' throat 3 times before the blood really started flowing. I felt bad for him.
Advice for anyone trying this for the first time, be sure you cut deep the first time. My birds' necks were tougher than I thought they'd be. But I got there.
Here's the resuling meat from just one bird:
There you have it. My experiences with meat chickens. We didn't know we were getting meat birds from my son's school, and probably wouldn't have taken them if we knew what they were. Overall, though, the experience was good. We will likely be getting more meat birds this fall.
If this offends anyone, sorry, but you should see how the big companies treat their birds!
Until next time...
for more great articles visit: prepperbook.blogspot.com
0 comments:
Post a Comment