Butchering now that my knees are old
Apr 30, 2020 9:32:59 GMT -5
Shawn, treatlisa, and 8 more like this
Post by lew92 on Apr 30, 2020 9:32:59 GMT -5
Ha! My knees have always been the oldest part of me. Even when I was 10.
Anyway, I spent a couple of years killing and throwing away the extra roosters. A terrible waste, in my opinion, and late this winter I dove in and did one rooster that was being beaten up by the others. I skinned him and sectioned him out so as to fit in the freezer better. The first one took me 2 hours, the two I did in the following weeks only took an hour.
Much of it is in organizing the equipment needed to do the job. The first time, I had to make a couple of extra trips during the job to get more of what I needed.
We have a net that I use to catch the bird; I cut his throat and let him flop around until I'm done with the other chores. I then put the bird in an empty feed sack to take him to the summer kitchen. Not really a kitchen, it is a room attached to our garage/machine shed. I set it up last year with a 2 burner camp stove and two tables in a U-shape and bought a comfortable used office chair so I can sit to do 90% of the work.
I have my butchering kit all together to make things easier. A plastic tub (think bus boy tub) to hold it all and to carry everything back to the house when I'm done. A selection of very sharp knives: a paring knife, a boning knife and utility knife, and a sharpening steel that I use very frequently throughout the process. A heavy kitchen shears is good for cutting through thin bones and joints without dulling your knives. I wear nitrile gloves and cover my table with butcher paper to make clean up quicker and easier. A gallon tote of the hottest tap water I can run, a pail of cooler water, a few old wash clothes and a towel or two, paper towels, and another empty feed sack that goes in a pail. I set that up at the edge of my table and all waste goes into the bag. If you are going to bury the waste, I recommend using a paper feed sack, but if you are going to throw it in the trash (we have a dumpster), any kind will do.
This is a pretty good video on the skinning and butchering. I remove the wings to the 2nd joint and I cut more than I pull when skinning but otherwise this is pretty close to how I do it. Her bird is a nice, big cornish cross where the ones I am butchering right now are barnyard crosses so getting into the chest cavity to clean it all out is a bit of a challenge, but it works.
The only criticism I have of her process is that her knives are a bit dull. Keep your knives sharp enough that you can cut with the edge of it cleanly and without having to saw it through - the meat or the skin. If you have to use the point to get through the skin, your knife is very dull.
I hope this helps anyone who is thinking of diving into butchering their own chickens.
Anyway, I spent a couple of years killing and throwing away the extra roosters. A terrible waste, in my opinion, and late this winter I dove in and did one rooster that was being beaten up by the others. I skinned him and sectioned him out so as to fit in the freezer better. The first one took me 2 hours, the two I did in the following weeks only took an hour.
Much of it is in organizing the equipment needed to do the job. The first time, I had to make a couple of extra trips during the job to get more of what I needed.
We have a net that I use to catch the bird; I cut his throat and let him flop around until I'm done with the other chores. I then put the bird in an empty feed sack to take him to the summer kitchen. Not really a kitchen, it is a room attached to our garage/machine shed. I set it up last year with a 2 burner camp stove and two tables in a U-shape and bought a comfortable used office chair so I can sit to do 90% of the work.
I have my butchering kit all together to make things easier. A plastic tub (think bus boy tub) to hold it all and to carry everything back to the house when I'm done. A selection of very sharp knives: a paring knife, a boning knife and utility knife, and a sharpening steel that I use very frequently throughout the process. A heavy kitchen shears is good for cutting through thin bones and joints without dulling your knives. I wear nitrile gloves and cover my table with butcher paper to make clean up quicker and easier. A gallon tote of the hottest tap water I can run, a pail of cooler water, a few old wash clothes and a towel or two, paper towels, and another empty feed sack that goes in a pail. I set that up at the edge of my table and all waste goes into the bag. If you are going to bury the waste, I recommend using a paper feed sack, but if you are going to throw it in the trash (we have a dumpster), any kind will do.
This is a pretty good video on the skinning and butchering. I remove the wings to the 2nd joint and I cut more than I pull when skinning but otherwise this is pretty close to how I do it. Her bird is a nice, big cornish cross where the ones I am butchering right now are barnyard crosses so getting into the chest cavity to clean it all out is a bit of a challenge, but it works.
The only criticism I have of her process is that her knives are a bit dull. Keep your knives sharp enough that you can cut with the edge of it cleanly and without having to saw it through - the meat or the skin. If you have to use the point to get through the skin, your knife is very dull.
I hope this helps anyone who is thinking of diving into butchering their own chickens.