I have to say that it was not as smooth sailing as it has been in the past and I am glad there were only 3 to do. I am not sure why I felt weird about it but I did, my chicken butchering mojo was off.
The last lot of chickens we butchered were a specific meat breed and had been sexed so they were all females. As I discovered today female chickens are much easier to deal with when it comes to plucking and gutting.
The large tail feathers and well developed wing feathers were a bugger to deal with and additional dunking in the hot water did not seem to help at all.
Then when it came to gutting them I discovered that their body shape, with a much smaller opening between the end of their breast bone and tail, made it a lot trickier. It was really tricky trying to get the insides out easily.
In the end these 3 ended up skinned and split into portions as it was easier but I would love to know if anyone has any tips or tricks for butchering roosters. Or have you encountered the same isues?
Hi Fiona, I've only ever butchered roosters, so I can't compare, but I remove the little tip section of the wing that is un plucked because of the feather removal Issue and I pluck the tail as much as I can and if its too hard I cut it off... I have medium sized hands and I have to force it into the cavity. It's a bit tricky but it helps to open the sides as much as possible and ease gently. They don't end up like perfect shop chickens but they work for me.
ReplyDeleteThanks Phoebe. I think cutting the tail and wing feathers off is the plan. There is not much meat there anyway.
DeleteNo tips sorry - but I'm interested to know there is a difference in ease between roosters and young meat birds. Thank you. I'm yet to kill my first chook - but have offered to help a friend next time they process some. I'm keen to watch a few others before I tackle it myself.
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