Processed first bird, seemingly successfully…follow-up questions, one time-sensitive

[tickens33]

Hi all. Processed my first animal ever today. It was pretty gross and I was a little emotional, but overall it seemed like we were successful. I have some questions to make sure it’s all squared away.

I apologize if any of these questions are silly as I have never butchered an animal before, nor have I eaten meat in many years, so I might be asking some things that seem obvious. Hopefully this will be the end of my vegetarianism, if we did it all right

1. How can we be positive we got all the organs out? I mean it looks like we did. First we got the crop from the head side, then yanked out most of the stuff (definitely identified heart, gizzard, liver, intestines) from the vent side. Then we pulled out the lungs, we got the kidneys, which kind of “scrambled” as one of the BYC butchering articles says. At the very end we got a couple pieces of esophagus that it seems like we missed somehow at the beginning.

2. If we somehow did leave organ pieces behind, would that taint the meat or make a dish unsafe to eat? We were planning on cooking the whole carcass in a soup.

3. Time sensitive question- How to store the bird now? I’ve seen so many mixed opinions on this. We are planning on cooking it within the next few days. It’s currently in a ziploc bag in the fridge.

But it looks like water from rinsing the bird is pooling up in the ziploc. Should I drain it and/or put it in a new bag? Am I supposed to wrap the bag in a towel? Bird wrapped in towel inside bag?

4. During butchering we punctured the crop (the reason we culled this bird was because it had a pendulous crop and we didn’t want it to go any further and suffer, so the crop was really large and hard to work with) and the intestines.

Both the crop and the intestines got like a few little particles of waste on the meat but overall we were really careful about not letting it get all on the meat. We rinsed it very thoroughly many times throughout the process and it now looks “clean”. Is there any reason to think the meat is contaminated in such a way that wouldn’t be addressed by thoroughly cooking?

If it turns out the meat is not good to eat, then I will still be grateful for the learning experience, but really hoping it’s edible!!! Other than the enlarged crop, which we knew about before opening up the bird, we didn’t notice anything that seemed out of the ordinary from our research.

Huge thanks to anyone with some advice!

 

[MysteryChicken]

Hi all. Processed my first animal ever today. It was pretty gross and I was a little emotional, but overall it seemed like we were successful. I have some questions to make sure it’s all squared away.

I apologize if any of these questions are silly as I have never butchered an animal before, nor have I eaten meat in many years, so I might be asking some things that seem obvious. Hopefully this will be the end of my vegetarianism, if we did it all right

1. How can we be positive we got all the organs out? I mean it looks like we did. First we got the crop from the head side, then yanked out most of the stuff (definitely identified heart, gizzard, liver, intestines) from the vent side. Then we pulled out the lungs, we got the kidneys, which kind of “scrambled” as one of the BYC butchering articles says. At the very end we got a couple pieces of esophagus that it seems like we missed somehow at the beginning.

2. If we somehow did leave organ pieces behind, would that taint the meat or make a dish unsafe to eat? We were planning on cooking the whole carcass in a soup.

3. Time sensitive question- How to store the bird now? I’ve seen so many mixed opinions on this. We are planning on cooking it within the next few days. It’s currently in a ziploc bag in the fridge.

But it looks like water from rinsing the bird is pooling up in the ziploc. Should I drain it and/or put it in a new bag? Am I supposed to wrap the bag in a towel? Bird wrapped in towel inside bag?

4. During butchering we punctured the crop (the reason we culled this bird was because it had a pendulous crop and we didn’t want it to go any further and suffer, so the crop was really large and hard to work with) and the intestines.

Both the crop and the intestines got like a few little particles of waste on the meat but overall we were really careful about not letting it get all on the meat. We rinsed it very thoroughly many times throughout the process and it now looks “clean”. Is there any reason to think the meat is contaminated in such a way that wouldn’t be addressed by thoroughly cooking?

If it turns out the meat is not good to eat, then I will still be grateful for the learning experience, but really hoping it’s edible!!! Other than the enlarged crop, which we knew about before opening up the bird, we didn’t notice anything that seemed out of the ordinary from our research.

Huge thanks to anyone with some advice!

It takes practice. Get pretty good at it after awhile.
Don't worry too much about leaving something behind(My dad has done this, & he's been doing it longer then me), it happens with beginners, can be given a look over, & second cleaning before cooking. Common organs left behind by accident are lungs, kidney, Testicles.

If you accidentally got crop contents on the bird, just rinse thoroughly, same if you accidentally break an intestine.

 

[tickens33]

It takes practice. Get pretty good at it after awhile.
Don't worry too much about leaving something behind(My dad has done this, & he's been doing it longer then me), it happens with beginners, can be given a look over, & second cleaning before cooking. Common organs left behind by accident are lungs, kidney, Testicles.

If you accidentally got crop contents on the bird, just rinse thoroughly, same if you accidentally break an intestine.

Thank you so much for the info and taking the time to respond!! <3 This all lines up with what I thought, but so good to get confirmation.

Any thoughts to share on the storage conditions, based on your experience?

 

[MysteryChicken]

Thank you so much for the info and taking the time to respond!! <3 This all lines up with what I thought, but so good to get confirmation.

Any thoughts to share on the storage conditions, based on your experience?

What do you mean by storage conditions?
I just bag mine in poultry shrink bags, & freeze after processing.

 

[tickens33]

What do you mean by storage conditions?
I just bag mine in poultry shrink bags, & freeze after processing.

Well the carcass is bagged in a ziploc right now but the water from rinsing it is pooling up in the bottom of the ziploc. I just wasn’t sure if it would do something bad to the meat if the bottom quarter-inch-ish of it is submerged but the rest isn’t. Like should I drain the water?

And again thank you so much

 

[Fluster Cluck Acres]

Hi all. Processed my first animal ever today. It was pretty gross and I was a little emotional, but overall it seemed like we were successful. I have some questions to make sure it’s all squared away.

First of all, Congratulations! It's not an easy task (it will get easier). I still get emotional, but in a way that's much easier to deal with than the first couple birds we ever processed.

3. Time sensitive question- How to store the bird now? I’ve seen so many mixed opinions on this. We are planning on cooking it within the next few days. It’s currently in a ziploc bag in the fridge.

But it looks like water from rinsing the bird is pooling up in the ziploc. Should I drain it and/or put it in a new bag? Am I supposed to wrap the bag in a towel? Bird wrapped in towel inside bag?

I keep my birds stored in freeze safe Ziplock gallon or 2 gallon sized bags. I leave them in the fridge for a few days, then transfer to the freezer. When I take them out to cook them, I always give a once over to see if I missed anything.

4. During butchering we punctured the crop (the reason we culled this bird was because it had a pendulous crop and we didn’t want it to go any further and suffer, so the crop was really large and hard to work with) and the intestines.

I'm not expert, but I don't think this is a big deal, especially if you rinsed it off right away. The crop isn't as bad as the intestines. Even that I think as long as it's rinsed right away and not left to sit, it's not a huge deal.

 

[tickens33]

First of all, Congratulations! It's not an easy task (it will get easier). I still get emotional, but in a way that's much easier to deal with than the first couple birds we ever processed.

Thank you so much I never want it to be “easy” because I want to give the animals’ lives the respect they deserve. But I definitely wouldn’t mind getting a little more used to it!

I keep my birds stored in freeze safe Ziplock gallon or 2 gallon sized bags. I leave them in the fridge for a few days, then transfer to the freezer. When I take them out to cook them, I always give a once over to see if I missed anything.

Sounds good, this is what we did too…thoughts on what I wrote about the water pooling in the bag? On a second look it’s a lot less than I originally thought, just enough to fill one corner of the bag if I tilt it.

 

[Molpet]

You did a great job.
Rinsing well takes care of the nicked crop and intestines.
Nicking the gallbladder requires super well rinsing to get all the green bile off.
USDA said 10 days from slaughter to use or freeze if close to 32f.
Liquid at bottom of bags is fine. I usually pour it out before I freeze

 

[MysteryChicken]

Well the carcass is bagged in a ziploc right now but the water from rinsing it is pooling up in the bottom of the ziploc. I just wasn’t sure if it would do something bad to the meat if the bottom quarter-inch-ish of it is submerged but the rest isn’t. Like should I drain the water?

And again thank you so much

I let mine drip, & drain well. Water likes to get caught in the neck skin, I squeeze the Necks to remove excess water before bagging. A small amount of water left behind won't hurt much.

 

[tickens33]

Just wanted to say THANK YOU again @MysteryChicken @Fluster Cluck Acres @Molpet this has been so helpful!!!