The end of growing season - How we kill a bird

With the mornings getting colder and growing season coming to an end it came time to cull our meat birds.  Over Spring and Summer the birds put on muscle and a good amount of fat reasonably fast - but in the cold winter months they stay skiny and weedy from spending their energy trying to keep warm.  With the help of Poppa and Uncle Bears we killed, plucked and gutted 5 birds in about an hour at the weekend - we're getting very effient.  If you don't want to know how to kill a bird don't read the italic below:

If you're wondering how we kill our birds, here goes:  To process our birds we quickly and quietly take one out of sight of the other birds, they are then hung upside down where for some reason they go limp and very relaxed. With a hand closed over their head they are lowered into a dust bin with a clean liner.  With a razor sharp knife, a lot of pressure and a swift cut the head is removed, starting at the back of the neck (boney side) all the way through to the front (arteries and wind pipe).  After killing quite a few birds this is the quickest method we have found, the neck is broken and nerves severed instantly.  Hold the bird in the bin while it flaps around for about a minute then slide neck first into a flax bush (or hang over a bucket).  They need to bleed out for 15-30 minutes.  After bleeding they are plunged into nearly boiling water for about 8 seconds, until the breast feathers are pulled very easily from the carcass.  Hang the bird over a bucket and get plucking, pulling the large wing and tail feathers out one a time so the skin is not torn.  Have a hose or bucket of clean water near by to get feathers off your hands every now and then to make the job easier.  Rinse the bird with the hose and get ready to get a bit smelly.  Remove the feet and then you want to remove the gizzard (the food sack at the bottom of the neck).  Do this by removing the skin up to 2cm from the base of the neck.  Next feel which side the gizzard is sitting and gently work the skin away from down the neck and over the top of the gizzard.  Then work your finger around the bottom of the gizzard.  Once separated gently pull the gizzard up out of the bird until you can see the tube that feeds the stomach, cut gizzard away from the bird.  Pull wind pipe out of the neck too, you don't need to cut this, just give it a good tug.  Next pinch the skin over the stomach of the bird (vertically) then with a sharp knife cut along the natural seam in the skin to 1cm above the vent - you may need to do this a few times to get the depth of the cut right - to get through the abdomen lining, but not so far that you cut the innards.  Continue this cut to the tip of the bone on each side the the vent (the Pubis) making sure you don't cut the intestines.  You you can now reach inside the bird and pull out the innards.  After practice I have learnt to slip my fingers under the liver and then pull, the liver comes out cleanly and intact this way, so it can be easily cut it away (I'm keeping mine to make pate).  Reach back in and make sure everything is removed, you will probably have to scrape the lungs away from the rib cage, they never come away first time.  With everything removed you can cut the rest of the way around the vent and you're done.  Give the bird one final rinse inside and out. Double bag and rest in the fridge for 2 days before cooking or freezing.

Our meat birds were 18 weeks old with full long legs, meaty breasts and thin to medium layer of fat.  Well, mostly, the one hen out of the bunch was considerably fatter compared to the others.  I guess it was because she was due to start developing her very hard working reproductive system to make eggs everyday and had built up extra fat stores to help her through the transformation.

After resting in the fridge for 2 days the four roosters were packed away in the freezer for winter meals, the hen was skinned and butchered into 6 large pieces (2 breast, 2 thigh and 2 leg fillets) and 2 lions.  I will post our lemon chicken recipe soon.