Butchery Day

 This post contains pictures butchery of poultry, so if you're not someone who wants to read about that then I'd suggest you skip this one.

Theh boys from our Indian Game x Colobian Plymouth Rock crosses we hatched out last year have reached around 24 weeks of age and it was time for them to join freezer club. 

I probably should have done this a few weeks sooner, but so long as I rest the birds once prepared and cook them properly it shouldn't make much odds, they're still plenty young enough and we do prefer to have to chew our food! 

The girls have also really started to earn their keep in this job now. I got set up (water boiling, big chopping board cleaned and ready) and when they came out to help we started to process the birds. I'd catch a bird (one would open and close the gate for me) then dispatch and leave for it bleed and clean the meat. Once I had about 3 birds done I'd scald them and leave them for the girls to start plucking while I dealt with the other birds. 

By the end the girls had plucked 4 birds and I only plucked 2! It's amazing to think that yes they might have slowed the job down a bit the first few times we did this, but suddenly they're more than useful and speeding the jobs up! The boy is slowly starting to get involved as well. 

They also helped with the gutting and the next step. I swear there isn't a squeamish bone in their bodies! 

I tend to cut them open and then the girls have a bird or two each to clean out, whilst saving back a few bits we'll try and use. 

The birds were all in great condition. The Indian Game bantam cockerel weighed 2.2kg and has great meat to bone ratio. 

The others birds weighed 2.3, 2.6, 2.6, 2.7 and 2.8 kg.

I then rest these in the shed for a few days (one reason we do it more at a cold time of year) and then into the freezer to feed us later. 

I've just put another batch of eggs in the incubator and now we have breeding flocks set up I think we'll be hatching a lot of birds this year to help feed us, especially as processing them is easier as a team.

Anyone else growing meat birds at the moment?