Cornish Cross Spring 2019

[Mini Horses]

I remember you posting about that set-up, with pics. I truly is hard to hold 'em and pull at same time!! I'm looking at 17 roos! That is a job and it must get done. They still eat & are sure defeathering some hens. 12 are already penned. I will feed them in pens until I can get them all finished. Hate the thought of several days in a row of this but, will see how it goes. Just a gotta do thing. Right now I'm off work the entire week of 7/1-5. Yeah, hot but, start early and ice them fast! If I do 1/2 first if week & 2nd 1/2 late week, it won't be bad. (keep repeating that to self!!! Won't be bad. Won't be bad. )

The worst part is smell -- raw blood & guts. You really don't want to eat any chicken for a while after..... I'll have some nice chicken salad the couple days before, as an incentive for better days later.

Today, I will make the wild blackberry jam. A more fun job.

 

[Beekissed]

After all these years the smells don't bother me as I kill....the flies and yellowjackets do, though, so I try to avoid killing in hot weather and start a daybreak if I have to do so.

I don't ice my birds at all...small carcass animals just don't spoil that fast, no matter how hot it is outside. Think of how long they would "cure" wildfowl hanging in a larder to soften~or rot~the muscle fibers back in the day. And they still had the guts in them!

That's the modern day thinking that everything must be cooled down immediately or it will grow bacteria that will kill you. Just doesn't happen that way, especially if one is using clean methods while doing their butchering. Trust me, after living off grid and killing and processing chickens, ducks, turkey, wild turkey and deer, I can tell you that down through history people just didn't have a vat of ice or even that cold of water to ice down a carcass. They didn't even have cold storage to store it in while they figured out how to preserve it for the future, unless they were Inuit.

Since none of these birds will be eaten while raw, what airborn or surface germs they come in contact with~very few if you are doing it right~is just inconsequential. No need to be icing them at all, IMO.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

Bee, I'd like to see you post a video of your killing station set up with good close up video of your skinning and gutting. IIRC, you've described a dorsal approach to entering the body cavity.

 

[Beekissed]

Bee, I'd like to see you post a video of your killing station set up with good close up video of your skinning and gutting. IIRC, you've described a dorsal approach to entering the body cavity.

I do now and I really like that method. I'll try to get vid of it this year if the old camera will cooperate. If not, I'll try to get frame by frame pics of the same.

The chicken shucker vise is by far the best innovation to my station...saves my arthritic hands so much pain and also keeps feathers and scurf off my meat.

 

[Mini Horses]

Well, while the bird is hanging/ laying with skin & feathers pulled down over his ankles, I would think a sharp pair of kitchen scissors (small pruners?) would cut the rib cage at the backbone with reasonable care.... I would suspect that anyway. Then it would be laid open?

Beekissed will clear us up!

I'm for fast & easy.

Bee, I agree about the butchering of years past. But, I have a large cooler & I throw a bag of ice in it. Then the carcasses. It makes me feel OK if I want to take a break, get slow, etc. Plus helps with the flies. Makes it easier to move them from the barn side porch where doing and to the house, also. It has wheels. As much convenience as all else.

Grandad would butcher a chicken, grandma would wash it up in cold well water, then lay it on a platter with a flour sack towel over it until she cooked a couple hrs later. I'm still alive! They were into their 90s before passing.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

https://www.fsis.usda.gov/shared/PDF/How_Temperatures_Affect_Food.pdf

Condensed version:
The “Danger Zone” (40 °F-140 °F)
Bacteria grow most rapidly in the range of temperatures between 40 ° and 140 °F, doubling in number in as little as 20 minutes. This range of temperatures is often called the “Danger Zone.” That’s why the Meat and Poultry Hotline advises consumers to never leave food out of refrigeration over 2 hours. If the temperature is above 90 °F, food should not be left out more than 1 hour.

Ice is cheap.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

Just for the record: When I had the fox kill a few of my birds, I left the carcass on the lawn for a few days, hoping that I could get a bead on him when he came back to feast. 3 days... with exposed breast meat... and that meat looked and smelled as fresh as it would have if cello packed at Hannaford. Though it was much redder b/c it had not been bled out properly. No odor what so ever. Not saying I'd have wanted to cook that meat... but, folks survived for generations by hanging meat without refrigeration. Filet mignon is VERY aged to break down the coarseness of the meat.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

https://oureverydaylife.com/age-filet-mignon-34888.html

Filet mignon is VERY aged to break down the coarseness of the meat.

Aged w/refrigeration.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

When I had the fox kill a few of my birds, I left the carcass on the lawn for a few days, hoping that I could get a bead on him when he came back to feast. 3 days... with exposed breast meat... and that meat looked and smelled as fresh as it would have if cello packed at Hannaford.

I dunno - but I'm guessing that your temps might be just a bit cooler than ours. We've had temps in the high 90's and heat indices of over 120....no way I'm not refrigerating any raw meat at those temps.

 

[baymule]

We will slaughter 11 tomorrow. I broke a wing on a big rooster, so can’t include it in the package meat for my customer. I felt bad for the rooster, didn’t mean to hurt him. What an oxymoron, right before I cut his throat.

I hit them with a jet stream before scalding, I even give them an enema with the water hose to clean out that end. LOL BJ plucks and I gut. Wash and pack in ice. That lets me take a break before I start cutting and packaging them. I even leave some on ice to process the next day.

Meat Marathon. Haha