Butchering Roosters

We had some MASSIVE Cochin roosters that were occupying part of our barn.
It was time to butcher them
{something we had been avoiding doing}
I have helped people CLEAN chickens during butchering
but
I have never done the deed from start to finish.

There is an amazing amount of information available from people's blogs or pinterest
on the process of butchering chickens.
It is amazing.

My dad hunts. I remember hunting with him.
He hunts everything but bird hunting was a very valuable experience
in regards to my decisions about chicken butchering.

{As you can tell from the title this post won't be for the faint of heart}

We decided against the ax or throat splitting.
I really wanted to do bloodless butchering.
My children have been exposed to blood and animal carcasses
but
{in my mind}
there is something different about seeing an animal die and then having lots of blood to go with it.

We decided to ring their necks.
I highly recommend leather gloves and a thick long sleeve shirt.
I didn't ring the neck.
My dad did.
It was over within a few seconds.
Our youngest daughter watched
{our older daughters were in school}
and she was fine.

The next step was removal of meat.
We have lots of scavengers where we live and because we were doing roosters we decided to take the breasts and legs.
There was
No plucking
No guts
No blood
No smell

You start by laying them down on their backs.
You then pinch their skin {not just feathers}
and make a slit to get your fingers or thumbs hooked in.
Then your rip all the way up and expose the meat.
It looks like you unzipped a jacket
a big puffy feather jacket!
You then take a sharp knife and slice down the breast bone.
Be careful not to cut to deep or you'll puncture the chest cavity and then you will get some blood.
You continue down until you have removed the breast.
I put it in a bucket of cold water.
You do that to both sides and then you move on to the leg.
Take a pinch of skin and make a slit and remove the skin and feathers off the leg.
Once exposed you can dislocate the hip joint then take a large sharp knife and cut through at the joint.
The leg will then be removed.
Take a saw and take the feet off.
Do this to the other side.

And that's it.
I then take it in the house and clean it really well then soak it in some salt water
(this helps take the blood out)