Does anyone know where you can attend a demonstration on how to do this humainly. I'm a bit of a coward when it comes to this and would like to know how to do it correctly. At the moment I have too many drakes and roosters. It would be a shame to waste them.
Re: Killing and dressing poultry Hi - I would ask around in your local community. Im sure an old italian/greek grandmother would happily show you how its done. Especially if you give them a chicken.
Re: Killing and dressing poultry Good idea but I was hoping that it might be part of a permi course. Dont know any Greeks/Italians in regional vic
Re: Killing and dressing poultry I found a few videos on YouTube. Be careful, though, as I found a few that demonstrated very dodgy (slow/painful) methods as well.
Re: Killing and dressing poultry Cowboy up and teach yourself by trying. Hubby likes to chop heads with a sharp hatchet. Even though it seems a bit bloodthirsty, its very quick and bleeds the bird well. We have got a bit sick of drawing and dressing out poultry. We never never roast home poultry because we like to grow the birds out quite mature and then they are very tough to roast. We always stew or casserole the birds. We just did a bunch of cockerills and decided that from now on, we would chop, pluck (these are the quick and easy jobs) and then just cut off the drumsticks, wings, breasts and any other good meat and throw the carcass including the guts. We find gutting messy, time consuming and unappealing. This works well with ducks because there isn't a lot of meat on them for the size of the frame and duck breast is great to grill for like chinese dishes or cut fine and stir fry. Duck and chicken breasts can also be smoked if you get one of those little smokers that the camping shops sell. With the breast, you can slit them and stuff them with herbs and nuts etc and wet bake or casserole for a cordon blue treat. Or glaze them with honey and soy etc. So you may not get the classic poultry cut that you would wish to see from the supermarket but you will get lots of good usable meat for very little effort. Every year we sit the poultry twice a year and as soon as we know which are the cock birds, we move them into a fattening pen and kill two or three times per year. A couple of dozen cockerills are a big help feeding the family.
Re: Killing and dressing poultry there is no kind or easy way get onto emule and do a search for river cottage - one of his episodes shows how to do it and maybe even theres a vid on his web site?? google will tell you a description on how to butcher a bird follows - if you are queasy - seeya if you're a veggie or vegan - apologies try and separate the poultry to be butchered from the flock - so the flock can't see - - they really do understand if you can't come at holding the bird while you chop its head off, a cricket bat will knock it out - just make sure you know how to swing a bat properly and just hit the head then cut the head off - if you cut the head off without knocking the bird out it really will run around like a chook with its heaad chopped off - - have a good sharp axe either way hang it to bleed - you can save the blood if you want to try chooks blood sausage - not my style soak the bird in hot water for 5 mins or so until the long feathers pluck easily - you don't want to leave it in too long or it starts to cook pluck the bird put your hand up the vent and grab the furthest thing you can and pull - most of the innards will come out in one go - have a look inside to see if there's anything left in there and pull it out - - you can sort the innards into liver, heart etc and cook or give your dog a treat. wash thoroughly the feet can be chopped off or left on - some people like to eat them you can hang poultry - but you need to leave the head on and kill in another manner - it can be hung for a day, 2 dyas or two weeks - the hanging allows bacteria to begin breaking down the meat and tenderises it - - I kill and then cook gory I know but a fact of life if you are an omnivore
Re: Killing and dressing poultry There's a post in my blog with photos that will help with the best method I've found for killing and getting birds ready for the table. https://lafermedesourrou.blogspot.com/20 ... s-for.html As folk have said, there's no substitute for watching an experienced hand... :wink:
Re: Killing and dressing poultry Having read some of the above suggestions and having seen and tried a few methods and run some of my own ideas, I suggest you do the same because it is you that has to be comfortable and controlled in order to process with the minimum of discomfort to your animals and yourself. While I could tell you my way was best, I advise you to try and arrange a visit to a a poultry processor, especially on a day religious ritual slaughter techniques are being used, this may or may not be allowed, find out though and tell us how you go. edit: On top of the above it is also advisable to have some knowledge on entrail examination with any animals you choose to eat