Processing Chickens

For the last two years I have ordered chicks from a breeder in Texas, "Ideal Poultry," and I have been pleased with the product, the service, and the shipping.  I sized my chicken coop to accommodate between 8 and 10 bantam chickens.   I researched chickens since I wanted chickens that could stand the heat, that could be used for meat, and that laid brown eggs. 

In 2010 I received my 12 Cochin chicks but also I received 4 regular sized Barred Rock roosters that they included for body heat. This year I ordered 12 Ameraucana chicks, simply for the blue-green eggs, and received 5 Barred Rock roosters added for body heat.  While this sounds like a huge windfall, I mean 5 extra chicks, large sized for meat, what you don't know is that Ideal-Poultry does not 'sex' their bantam chicks so the best I hope for is 50/50 hens and roosters.  Last year I wound up with 10 roosters that I had to "process" and this year I had needed to process another 10 so invited friends.  My two friends, James and Rob showed up and Rob brought two roosters of his own that needed culled.

We started off our butchering adventure by reviewing a video on YouTube that we used last year.  It was one of the best I found - http://youtu.be/NAJh9ehtTmA.  After we were satisfied we knew the basics of butchering we went out side to the coop and each caught a rooster, Rob by reaching into the dog carrier he brought, and we placed the roosters head down in the metal cones I had made from aluminum flashing the night before.

Rob and I used razor knives and James used a sharp fixed blade which he kept sharp with a steel.  I quick, diagonal cut on the left, arterial side, of the chickens neck seemed to cause little pain to the chicken.  They did not panic or attempt to escape until the last few heart pumps.

After the roosters were dead we cut their heads off and pulled them back out of the cones and to the scalding pot.  The water in the pot is kept at around 170 degrees and is used to loosen the chicken's feathers for plucking.  After a few seconds I pulled at the feathers around the feet and when they came off easily I knew it was time to pluck the chicken.

I plucked the chicken into a lined garbage can using a swiping motion until all the feathers were gone.  This is the most time consuming part of the process.  We used a water hose to get the chicken cleaned off prior to cleaning the inside.

I placed the chicken carcass on the table and cut a slot in the neck skin to enable access to the trachea, and esophagus, as well as the 'crop' (a bag that food is held in after the chicken eats it and before it enters the gizzard).  After separating the trachea, esophagus and crop from the neck I cut them off low on the neck near the chest cavity and pulled the neck through the skin.

I then turned the chicken around and from the top I severed the tail through the bone.  I ringed the vent being careful not to cut into the bowel.  I screwed this up on one of the chickens and had to deal with the mess.  Luckily I had not fed the chickens for over 24 hours and the mess was contained.

After I had access to the body cavity I was able to reach into the cavity and pull out the entrails.I had to work them loose from the cavity but they came out fairly easily.  I cleaned and saved the heart, liver and gizzard.  The membrane should be pulled off the heart, and the bile sack cut away from the liver.  I had to take care with the latter because rupturing the bile sack leads to another mess and can taint the meat.  I had to actually sacrifice a small piece of the liver to ensure the bile sack stayed intact. 

The gizzard is another matter.  I had to take a knife and cut the gizzard, open it and remove the contents which is undigested food and gravel.  I emptied this and hosed it out, pulled out the yellow plastic looking lining then rinsed again.

The chicken was rinsed and placed in a clean zip lock bag, and the giblets were placed in separate bag.  All were placed in an ice-filled cooler until we were done, then I transferred them to the chest freezer.  It took us about three hours to process 12 chickens.

This is my second time butchering chickens and I must say that it got easier.  I even did it without gloves, it was just easier not to have to worry about the gloves.  I think for me I want the process to be respectful, quick and as easy for the chicken as possible.  It is DEFINITELY a farming skill that must be learned!