Tag Archives: butcher

Butcher my first chicken

Well, another chicken has problem with its legs. 
This is the inherited issue for the White Rock X,
because they are bred to be meat machine. 
With super rapid grow, sometimes its legs cannot
hold its weight and thus the bones are deformed. 
Rather than waiting for it to die because it can’t
move to feed it self, I decided to butcher the
chicken myself.  It is my first time
but I believe it should be quite easy.  After
reviewing the steps listed in the books, I took a
sharp knife and headed out.  If you would
like to butcher your own chicken, here is a list
of things you would need:

  1. A sharp knife, preferably a boning knife.
  2. A bucket of hot water between 145°F and
    150°F
  3. A killing cone specially designed for this
    purpose if you are dressing lots of chickens. 
    But for 1 chicken, I would just tie its feet
    and hang it somewhere far from the house for
    bleeding.
  4. A bucket of ice to keep the bird cool.
  5. A couple of containers would be handy to
    hold the organs and feathers.
  6. Cover-all and gloves

First, I hold the bird upside down
and slit the artery below the jaw line so the
blood would drop.  I waited 5 mins for
the bleeding to stop.
I then dropped the bird several times into the hot water and started to pull the feathers out. I did not finish the
whole job here because it was cold and windy.
Then I cut its head off.
I took the windpipe out 
Then I cut around its vent.
I took all the internal organs out carefully. 
Here came the liver.
I am cutting the breast meat out for lunch.
I am cutting off the foot here.
 
Here I am cutting off the drumstick.  Yummy!
All the while Odelia was observing the whole
process.