chickens, the finished product

Due to predator problems, it's been a couple of years since we raised our own meatbirds. Recently I purchased 6 birds, home raised, frozen in bags, from a buddy. We ate one last night and I have come to a conclusion (that will make everyone mad).

Any bird processed off premises is a vastly inferior end product. Period.

If you have been eating home raised birds, but not home killed birds, then I'll make things even worse by saying you do not know enough of the differences to even have anything to add to this conversation. I have had MULTIPLE experiences with home killed birds and 'prefessionally killed birds to assert, with utter confidence, that birds killed by someone else, someone who has production and quota and waiting customers in mind, will NEVER hold a candle to a bird you have killed (properly) yourself. Ever.

The drum I beat over and over, the soapbox I have leapt on throughout my time on this forum is the same : a beautifully raised home product can be MANGLED all to hell in the slaughter process. There is a RIGHT way and WRONG way to deal with the death of your animal. After last night's home raised (but mass killed) chicken I am here to tell you that shipping the birds out to die yields and inferior product.

Here is what I have found, repeatedly. Birds shipped to die, SMELL WEIRD. There is an odour about every bird I have ever got back from a killer. Not rotten. Not offensive. Just... a smell. Is it fear? Is it adrenalin? Is it pain? If those things can have a smell, then that's the smell. And it tells you exactly what was going on with that bird in the hours or moments before it died. And it makes an inferior product. Morally and gastronomically. (for me)

THe texture of the meat is mushy. A little pulpy. Not the spectacular, firm meat I find when we butcher our own.

THe bird tasted fine. THe odour did not affect the flavour of the meat. BUt that smell, which I have smelled before only on 'professionally' killed birds, filled the house, and the texture of the meat was quite different than I had expected.

THe whole bird was riddled with streaks of dark pulp. Blood in the tissues. Bruising. Unacceptable. The more you handle these huge birds, the more injured they become. There is no way this process can be humane or good for the birds. TH y are fragile and not meant to be shuffled about. It's like buying a bag of apples and kicking it from the store to your truck. You are going to batter the crap out of your apples and they will be dark and bruised. Same with your chickens. Moving them damages them. Period.

The fact that no time was taken to do this 'right' was obvious. The bird is of the least concern in this automated, very fast process. It is assembly line work and I think it has no place in the 'home raised' arena. It is the final cop out. And the finished chicken reflects it plainly. A 'proper' kill job cannot be done with the timer ticking in your ear. Slaughter is an art, not an act of mechanized mayhem. Faster is so obviously NOT BETTER. However...if you have never experienced the difference between the two products, you don't know any different yourself.

Is this a judgement against people who ship to slaughter? No.
Am I saying your home raised, out sourced slaughtered birds are inferior? Yes.
Are they better than store bought, factory raised? Yes.
Are you doing a morally/ethically better job with your birds if you ship to slaughter? That's not what this post is about.

However, I do feel that we have had quality ripped out of our hands by our government and I think we should be mad as hell. If you feel ill equipped or do not have the experience/equipment for home slaughter, you should have alternatives available to you aside from transporting your fragile, terrified birds to assembly line deaths. Those options have been taken away from you by your insane, idiotic government.

Despite these birds I have in my freezer having been killed where an 'inspector' was on site, let me tell you, no carcass looking like that would have made it past me! The plucking was very poor and I think the oil gland (on the tail) was improperly removed. And our birds do not smell 'off' they are not mushy and bruised all over.

This is not the fault of the home raising method. This is the result of letting someone else kill the bird. That I will NEVER take my birds out to be killed was cemented for me, yet again.

Mobile abattoirs would be awesome.

Hmmmm interesting post Uno.

I have many times over the past ten years had my home raised naturally fed pastured poultry (Cornish cross and orlopp bronze turkeys) hauled to and killed at a federally inspected plant 5 miles from where they are raised. I am fortunate to have the plant so close.

I have never encountered the streaking in the meat or any bruising on my carcasses. I wonder a few things - how were they caught loaded and shipped to the plant? At the plant were they left to sit in crates or thrown into a collection room?

Bruising is as simple as them flapping their wings when caught (by the feet) and hitting them on a door frame or another bird (or our legs) as as you mentioned they are quite fragile birds.   Blood around the bone is unacceptable also. Just an indication of not being bled fast enough. I'm sure you are aware of those points though - I digress.

When I pull into the plant here - birds are unloaded by young boys usually 18-25 - who grab them by the feet and hook them into the processing 'line'. They birds are first stunned and then the head is sliced off. I'm thinking its stressful yes - but does it add a smell to the meat? I can't attest to that. It is a quick kill.

I was raised killing our own chickens for our wonderfully large family. We did enough that by the age of 10 my cousin and I went and caught a chicken, had it killed and plucked and partially gutted by the time my aunt arrived. We had just wanted fresh chicken for supper and figured that was the best way. Lol. We continued to raise broilers for our family until I was 15-16 when my grandparents and aunt/uncle moved away from the farm. I don't notice any flavor difference between those I ate as a youngster and those I'm raising and eating now.

I do not agree with your statement above that my product is inferior. Just my honest opinion in the matter. You raise some interesting points and it may well be a reason to call the Feds and tell them what's going on. Perhaps, govt inspected or not, some of their practices are outdated or not being completed properly.

Just my thoughts on the topic. Have a super day!

Interesting post. I have not got it in me to process my own birds...yup I am a wimp! I agree with your statement about the government.... What does having an inspector on site do for me or for my livestock? For many years we bought farm raised and slaughtered beef, BEST BEEF EVER!!!!! Thank you to our Government, that option is no longer available to us. We were welcome to go to the farm and often did. We saw "our" beef on the hoof, grazing in open pasture and eating the hay grown by the family who raised the beef. This family treats their livestock with respect..... now all their animals have to hauled off to a slaughter plant somewhere so a government employee can look at them. How is this less stressful for the cattle? How has the meat improved? I can promise you it's not less stressful and NO the meat is not better or safer in any way! We often split a beef with the family who raised it, there was NO possible way they would have cut corners and put their children at risk by incorrectly processing the beef. What did the government think I was going to do....take them to court for not properly protecting me from my personal food choice? This beef was farm raised without all the crap dumped into the beef you buy at the grocery store. GRRRRRRRRRR!

We home butcher all of our own meat. That includes chicken, goat, and fish. I do not enjoy doing this act...but to me, it is a necessary part of providing our own food. In the past, I have purchased home raised but abattoir processed chicken from a couple of different farmers in the area. I have not noticed anything wrong or "off putting" about the meat. Our local abattoir is small, so perhaps their processing methods may be a little slower and gentler than the larger facilities. I must admit to being quite shocked when I saw a video of the large processing facilities, and live birds were being shoved down chutes and such...these are live animals, not boards or some such, and it bothered me to see them treated in that manner.

Hence, I complete the cycle myself, and I know how my animals are treated from day one to the end.

Karaandblue, I cannot say with any certainty whether the bruising/damage happened when the birds left their farm or arrived at slaughter house. Probably both. My point is that these birds are at 100% increased likelihood of bruising and damage by the simple act of being moved! The less the yare moved/handled, the better for them.

I can't speak for how Farmer Bob goes about slaughtering his animals, but we have very rigidly defined ideas of right and wrong and grabbing those huge, lumbering meatbirds by the legs is an absolute, NO NO! Bull in china shop handling. Absolutely NOT going to happen to MY chickens! Chickens are flighty animals, easily frightened. Since we feed them everyday, our presence in their pen causes the least panic. Strangers freak them out. Strangers grabbing them by the legs freaks them out and hurts them! We pick ours up, holding thie wings against their body. We carry them under our arm, quietly, and carefully slip them upside down into the killing cone, no flapping wings flailing around. They are contained and held and heads chopped. They bleed out.

Like Farmer BOb, we dislike this. I can't eat a chicken for at least 3 months after we butcher. But after several experiences like this one (with off site processed birds) the day we can't do our own is the day we quit raising birds. (although now we quit because bears, racoons and bobcats eat them first!!) I still feel that a finely crafted bird, is done an injustice in the end being killed in that manner. The outcome is not the same. It's acceptable...but I want more than acceptable. I want superb. ANd I know the difference.

Ok Uno - we definitely have a difference of opinion on this. This is great discussion.

I have never had any of the birds mishandled or had them freak out at the plant. They are handled quietly and I believe as humanely as possible in that type of setting. I help the boys unload my birds and stay there while they are handling them. They have never been kicked tossed or shoved. That would bring many a complaint from me. The unloading bay is quite dark so the birds are partially subdued due to that already.

Again - I have slaughtered many a bird myself - I am not speaking from inexperience here - and I don't see an issue with it.

It is too bad about the predators - I'm assuming you are close to the mountains in BC? Hope you can find a way around that. I once had a skunk come in and kill all my half grown turkey poults. I was so sad.

Having been on the receiving end of a couple of Karaandblue's wonderful home-grown and professionally-slaughtered turkeys, I can attest to the awesomeness of both the processing and the quality of the meat. Absolutely delicious, no bruising!

I'll be taking any future meaties to the same processor that she does. For the paltry amount they charge to do them, I'm actually losing money if I take a day off to butcher them myself.

Authentic said something that I think is worth expanding on. In a perfect world...instead of a mobile killer coming to you, bringing assembly line slaughter to your house, you would get a custom killer to come to you. This service would be different.

A custom killer would show you and assist you in doing your own birds. This would not be a timed event, but more of a teaching event. Custom person would have the equipment you would need, because not everyone has all this stuff. BUt you would catch your own chickens, you would watch a demonstration or two and then, you would be doing it yourself, with the aid of someone who can oversee the process.

Please don't misunderstand me. I enjoyed this bird last night and it is MILES ahead of what you are going to get on the grocery store shelf! It was HUGE and fed two young men known to be bottomless pits, and still I have leftovers! IT was a treat after so long without home raised birds. But...room for improvement and not done to my standards which, by my own admission, are pretty high.

Did your "" birds "" get held for a bit of time ....a few days ...? they are most likely in the process of being tenderized by hanging or cooling  as they do with beef ?...........just a thought !

Uno can you please let me know where these were butchered via PM? Thanks.

Pigeon Lake Poultry Processors are my go to guys. They do a great job, and I have never had issues with mangling or off smelling birds.

However, if I ever under took my own slaughter I cannot imagine the mangled mess I would create.

I do plan to try butchering this spring. Something small and unchickenlike...a silkie!

I wish we had a mobile abbatoir. Here in our area, it is illegal for a bird to leave the farm unless it has been processed by a government facility with a inspector watching. Even doing that...the price I had to fork out for farm insurance to sell inspected licensed meat ...yowsers.

I haven't been particularily pleased with the facilities where I take them, though the birds arrive looking fine. But a ferry ride and a 3 hour drive has got to stress them out. And even though the price per bird is reasonable, factor in gas, time and ferry for 2 trips ( you pick up the next day) and I'm looking at $50 birds!!!

If I do them myself, there is always the question of what to do with the leftover bits...it's not like on the old farm where we took all things like entrails down to the "bone pile", on the far quarter, 2 quarters away from the house. People here don't like it when the ravens drop chicken guts on thier BMW.

I wish I could be more like my Grandma. If she wanted chicken for dinner, she went to the coop, grabbed one, off with its head and it was cleaned and cooking in an hour.

It is a shame the government has taken away our options.

Maybe I will be brave enough to do my own chickens this year.

Growing up-20 years old, i'm 31. We used to slaughter, gut, skin/scrape then bring to the direct butcher of our choice... for our prefered cuts and smoking. We got back what we brought in. It was small scale from start to finish. Product?.. Very good!, atleast, what "we" were expecting. We raised it, and killed it.. it ought to be that! Right?!
Then, closing of butchers/processers... Including mobile.

Now we wonder, are we getting our actual product back even, and in whole?
Hmmmm. Depends.

It seems...ones gotta make a major lifestyle change. People want tomatoes in mid winter for god sakes. You can't steal from Peter to pay Paul!

Oh geeze Uno, I think you are full of crap and I will tell you so      . I am teasing you, you know, well kind of, and as a friend, I know you can take it, smiling. I think you have an oversensitive nose, palate and whatever else, maybe just plain over sensitive. That is good, that is what makes you you and it is a good thing. But it impedes your thinking I think . I have had umpteen dozen cockerels processed (well, embellish here a little) at the abattoir that I go to. I go to three places. Birds are not mass slaughtered at any of them and I have no worries about rooster bashing. I think the birds' carcass have always come back nice, clean, no feathers, government inspected, the entire nine yards. You said you were probably going to ruffle feathers, you have not with me. But I just totally so disagree. My birds do not smell when they come back. Well, of course, there is a chicken scent, but nothign that is stinky. I rest the birds in the fridge for about 5 days (now this you say is rotten meat, don't think so girl, aged, nicely), and then I take them out of the fridge and then re-bad using my food saver system. There is not a single smell of bad that I can detect. I too have a very sensitive nose, and smells can really bother me. Seriously. There is not really any scent at all. So I dunno....where did his birds get processed? He grew obviously meat birds, probably done at a place that mass produces the killing? I do know of a place where they process hundreds, commercially, maybe that is where, and maybe the place stinks, hence the stink in the bird. I dunno. You have not ruffled feathers, but got a good discussion going, again, and it is wonderful. My two cents are still coming. My cockerels that are excess average about 4.5 pounds, give or take a couple of ounces. They have huge and long wonderful thighs, the meat is tender (now that I am honing down skills of cooking the perfect bird), the meat is not mush, it has full body, and I am ever so pleased. I am going to tell you what. I have a buff orpington cockerel that is a lonester. He has grown up with some pullet girls, from a mother incubation. He cannot stay cause he has an undesirable trait, and must go to the eater. That would be me or mine. But this time of year, (he will be ready in about a month and a half), there is no abattoir open. Would you like this fellow? I would give him to you, but you would have to butcher him yourself and then you can try my table fowl dude. Totally woudl be willing to do that, but you and Hubby woudl have to pull out the killing cone and do that thing yourself....are you in? If not, when is the next time you and Hubby are going to demonstrate how to process a bird? I will need one done, I am laughing and I tease. But seriously....wanna try a nice, good sized bird, that will taste like a good chicken and will have texture that is not mush and it will not stink cause it would be processed by you....are you in? Have a wonderful day, CynthiaM.

Now now. Cynthia M, I did not say the bird stinks. I said it had a smell, a smell that I have never found a word to describe. I have found this smell in ALL out sourced slaughtered birds.

Also the meat was not mushy, but mushier than what I am used to. Maybe some people would call it tender, and indeed it was! IT was great! But still, it was different than what our home raised birds and home KILLED birds are.

I know you and KarandBlue think I'm bonkers. But I have butchered lots of birds, and not way back in my teens, but pretty darn recently and pretty darn often (I say this thinking that maybe KaraandBlue is a young 23 yr old and her teen years weren't that long ago!) So I think my nose is awfully tuned in to what I smell on chicken carcasses, my own or someone else's. Besides, Cynthia, you've seen my enormous honker of a nose, of COURSE it's a highly specialized sniffer. You'd think if I was encumbered with this in the middle of my face, it should at least serve some purpose! This nose, knows!!

I stand by my assertion that moving a chicken for any reason creates stress and the higher liklihood of damage. It is a known fact that transporting animals stresses them. This is not new information. Cyntha, since yours are NOT meatbirds, they are not as prone to having limbs break during handling. Your birds are not that fragile and wildly heavy for their frames. Plus you don't move 60 or 80 of them at a time. My chicken came out of a flock of 80.

Just so everyone doesn't think I'm a chicken hater, I will eat these birds with happiness. But, there is a difference, slight but there, and I believe it has to do with slaughter. (Sorry Cynthia, I can' t take you bird, but thank you anyway. If we put on another butcher demo, you're the first person I'll call.)

Lol Uno now you are making me giggle.

I don't think you are bonkers - we all have our own opinions on these things. My teen years was only a short 20 yrs ago but I do occasionally (when they can talk me into it) help a friend process and dress her CC.

I think it was an interesting discussion. You have your reasons for what you do/say and I have mine. Lol. I have some animal husbandry background (large scale production) so I understand where you are coming from.

I have a hard time with some of the techniques used in some of the large scale barns. It's downright gross. Shows like W5 (the egg production show that aired in November) only show you the bad stuff that in a years worth of time - may happen here and there. But hidden cameras edit and cut and do what they want with the footage. Is it right - nope. Is it a reality - yep it sure is.

The local restaurant owner here in my own town told a friend of mine she no longer eats chicken or
eggs due to that documentary. Yikes. I need to bring her here to see my happy hennies and naturally raised broilers.

While mine are here they are raised with as much care as I can provide. That's what animal husbandry is about. You have some fairly good views and points about the way you look at it - and that's great.

Anyways it's been a great point of discussion this weekend. And I really thank you for the age compliment  

I have been following this thread all along and its interesting to say the least. I have had both processed birds and home butchered birds. I never ate my processed birds mainly because they were my pet ducks and aggressive goose. So I had a love for them that I did not know until they were gone. But they did feed my cats and dogs.

I did get to work along side the people at the processor. It taught me a lot. There was no miss handling of birds. I had the joys of doing 50ish BIG white turkeys and then my ducks. My arms have never felt so heavy    Having said that I think that some processors are better than others. This then comes down to what are "you" comfortable with.

But I have also started to butcher my own. 1st it was for cost efficiency. Then it was changed to at home so I could conquer my own personal hang ups. Now it has morphed into what can I do to make this a ethical, non traumatising experience. How much better can I become at it. Every year it gets better. I must say though I really don't think we were that bad off to begin with. My hubby helped with the 1st batch. He was the executioner, the axe wielding manic, but he was actually far from that. I would grab the bird get it situated and he would come in and make sure the bird was good and relaxed and comfortable. Then BOOM heads off. The friend I had teaching me about cleaning was calling him the chicken whisper    it was quite the joke. Now the butcher we use for our piggies calls him the pig whisper. He has always been good about having confidence around animals (and people but that's not what this about) and I think that helps ease some transitions for the animals.

He agrees with you Uno. Its not that I don't but I'm a Libra and I have issues making decisions   and so far I still have yet to get my butchering in the backyard to that perfect comfort zone where it becomes like second nature when its being done. My biggest wish is to be able to shadow a professional butcher and learn more tricks of the trade. If I could do that........

Hey now, I am also a Libra and I am Captain Decision Maker.

Oohh, eek, Ruffled, I HOPE I did not insinuate that we find it like second nature to butcher chickens!Far from it!

In fact, it's so serious and sombre that it's like getting ready for major surgery. Which in a way it is, except the patient never survives. But everything is clean, sterilized, precise (as it can be!). Not so much the time CynthiaM joined us, that was in the middle of freezing winter with our whacko neighbour who decided the dead cold of January would be a bonus time to butcher. He had NO experience and that was pretty much a gong show. But we did what we could to impress upon him that there will be NO GRABBING BIRDS BY THE LEGS, there will be NO PACKING THEM UPSIDE DOWN UNTIL AFTER THEY ARE DEAD! There will be NO CHASING THEM AROUND THE PEN to catch them, but slow movements, better to have them locked in a dark barn if possible and carefully removed one at a time.

This is how we do it. I realize that large volume facilities cannot provide this level of 'custom' handling. Too many birds to do in too short of time.

Despite having done this many times, we dread it.

Oh NO now I hope that I didn't make people think I was a killing machine    or that I enjoy it. I understand what you were shooting for. Bad wording I know   . You are correct in the major surgery department. You do want a clean area, clean instruments ect.

What I was trying to say for me anyways is that I want to know that my process is something I am comfortable with and I don't have to think about what could I do better. But I am far from that kind of person. I always see things that I can improve on. I do have a lot of pride in what I'm doing these days. I know if you would have asked me 20 years ago if this is where I would be in 20 years I would have scoffed out loud. I find a certain pride in how I live.

PLEASE, PLEASE don't mistake my pride for something that says I am emotionally comfortable with killing any of my animals. I still need a certain amount of time that allows me to prepared myself and turn that switch that takes my emotion out of it. Otherwise I wouldn't get anywhere.

Forget it. Too late. You're a Ruffled Killing Machine. I always knew it.

Well know that my covers blown!    . What next.... apparently not work with the CIA hahaha

Spot on Uno!

The extra handling and transport to slaughter most definately taints the meat. Meat birds are so young, tender, and flavourless (relatively speaking) that the tainting is not significant for most. But the effect is extremely noticeable in a heritage bird. As far as I'm concerned, it makes the difference between a marketable product and unmarketable.

I used to have many meat bird customers who were like Uno, they could tell the difference between home slaughtered and transported birds. When I quit, I sent them to a friend who raised her's the same way, fed the same food and even got chicks from the same source. Sold at the same price. My customers complained and begged me to reconsider raising meat birds. They preferred my illegally produced birds over my friend's legal ones.

There are some people in this province who are allowed to process on their own property, without the oversight of an inspector, and sell direct to customers and to restaurants & retailers within their regional district. They just happen to live in special locations. I call this regional discrimination. Why should our access to traditionally processed meat be dictated by where we live?

Our constitution suggests that such regional discrimination is a violation of our charter rights. The province does not have the legal right to deny part of the population access to foods that other portions of the population get to enjoy. Simply based on where you live.

Uno, you can do you part to help fix this unjust law. Document your experience, with names, dates, etc, and create an affidavit. It could become valuable evidence in the event that someone initiates a constitutional challenge. If I could ever get my wife on board, I'm more than willing to do it myself.