Questions about the CX I just processed

[vfem]

Since it was said, and I've never had this issue maybe this is why...

I do not pluck, I skin them to save me the work, I'll knock out 10-15 in an hour this way. We only save the hearts and livers. Hearts I use for broths, or the dog. The livers are for my husband's cat fishing. To make skinning even easier, we cut off the wing tips. Not the whole wing, just the skinny tip where there is no meat. Then then wings go in my broth bag (I do keep freezer bags of chicken parts and bones just for when I make a huge pot of broth in the pressure canner.

 

[MontyJ]

V---They can't get to anything. They never leave the coop. I am changing their feed to a 20% starter/grower. I don't think I'll have time to get set up for fermenting.

Meggsy---I thought you might have hit on something with the growing environment. Let's face it, chicken poo stinks. We keep the coop pretty clean, but in a few days it's a mess again. But, I did go out and clear my head, then went into the coop to see if I could detect the smell in there. Nope. It smells like chicken poo and nothing like what the meat smelled like. But then I also realized that if it was a stinky environment, commercial chicken would taste like that too. I know my coop is many times cleaner than one of those chicken factories. It was worth a shot though.

Ridge---I can try skinning a few. Heck, I can debone a chicken in about 2 minutes. Maybe I'll try skinning and deboning. At this point I'll try anything.

Lesa---Don't let this discourage you. Obviously, this isn't normal. From what I understand, CX taste like they should, like chicken.

Jared---There was no salt in the ice water. Just ice and water. I removed the chickens from the water after about 5-6 hours and rinsed them again then put them back into fresh ice water. The one we ate, was removed from the ice water at that time and placed into salt water and put in the fridge. We also wrapped one in plastic wrap and put it in the fridge at the same time. We didn't cut them up until last night, and all of them still had that strong smell to them.

Hopefully I will ahve a chance to process some hens tomorrow afternoon. I'll keep y'all posted.

And thanks for the help trying to figure this out

 

[catjac1975]

Our cornish x rocks were always delicious. We raised them very large, for at least 30 years. The wings were always overcooked because the breasts were so large they took a long time to roast. We never did our own killing -brought them to a professional butcher. We never did anything special other then feed them and give them water. We did have a roost so the breasts developed evenly. Never saw the things you described. Perhaps the flavorless grocery store chicken is just what you are used to.

 

[catjac1975]

In my state we had our chickens tested for disease for free from the state dept of agriculture. I would call the experts and see what they have to say.

 

[journey11]

They do have a funky smell to them, live and dead (ETA: as in just plucked), IMO. Kind of a weird greasy smell. I've never tasted that in the cooked meat though. They don't seem to care as much about their personal hygiene as normal chickens do. I've only recently heard about the benefits of fermenting their food and I think I'll study up more on that prior to my next batch.

You have eaten home-raised CX before, Monty?

I keep the necks, hearts, gizzards and deboned carcasses for making broth. Even CX make better broth than Swansons.

I can't think of anything else that would impart an off flavor. I really don't think you did anything wrong in the butchering process and probably don't need to change anything unless you just want to try other ways of doing things.

As far as fear and anxiety of the chicken prior to being processed, that wouldn't affect the flavor either, although it can affect the tenderness of the meat some. There was a thread somewhere awhile back where I think I remember Jared explained the physical processes at work in the adrenaline response and also in rigor mortis.

Let us know how your next batch turns out here in a couple of weeks.

 

[MontyJ]

I've never eaten home raised CX before Journey. But I don't think that's it. I eat home raised pork and beef. That also tastes different than what is bought at the store. No problems there. I also eat wild rabbit, squirrel, turkey, grouse and deer. No problems there either. It's certainly not a "more chickeny" flavor that I am tasting. I can't describe it, not really gamey...maybe chemical sort of?

If I have time tomorrow and can get some done, I am going to try to do the rest over the weekend. I still have 21 to go.

 

[baymule]

Monty could you put off the butchering for another week or two and feed them fermented feed? Or maybe save just a few back and try the fermented feed on them? It might be worth a shot to experiment on a few of them.

 

[thistlebloom]

I have zero experience with any of this, but my thought would be to suspect the feed.

 

[bj taylor]

monty, I know I mentioned it in my earlier post, but I was just reading a thread on backyard chickens and her description sounded so similar to yours I thought I would put it forward again. she said she failed to cut the oil preen gland out of one of her birds & the taste in the meat was ruined.
I thought I would throw this out there for just in case.

 

[MontyJ]

Bay, I probably could hold a few for another week or two. Some of the hens from the second group are still a little on the small side. I might as well give it a shot.

BJ, when i procesed them it went like this: Deed, scald, pluck. Then over to the table, cut the back of the neck skin, peel it down and loosen the esophagus, crop and trachea. Flip the bird around and remove the oil gland. Flip the bird over, pinch the belly skin just above the vent and make a small cut. I used my fingers to widen the cut until I could get my hand in. Reached in above the connective layer and ran my hand around to loosen it. Then grasped the gizzard and gently pullit out. Most of the entrails came out with it. Pinched off the gall bladder and put the liver into the bowl. Reached back in and removed the heart (if it didn't already come out), and grasped the esophagus and trachea and pulled them out. I then used my knife to cut around the vent and tossed the works into the bucket. Then back in to remove the lungs. The lungs were a bit tricky on the first one until I figured out how to get them loose. After that I knew what to feel for and it wasn't that hard. I then inspected the inside for remaining bits and gave them a good hosing out...and holy crap...I think I just found the problem. The hose is brand new. I also used the hose to fill the cooler with water after I added the ice.

I have to check out the hose and go to work. I'll post back later.