Step-by-step guide on how to slaughter a chicken properly at home

Slaughter of chickens on an industrial scale is carried out when the birds reach the age of 1-2 months. Slaughter time depends on the breed of poultry, weight, economic purpose. At home, the poultry is slaughtered after the prescribed time. Slaughter methods and techniques differ. We will tell you more about them and how to properly slaughter a chicken at home step by step.

Raising chickens for meat

The maintenance of meat breeds of chickens differs from the breeding of birds of egg and mixed type. They need special conditions and a diet that promotes rapid weight gain. It is advisable to select early maturing breeds and crosses for fast fattening and obtaining products with high taste. The older the chicken, the worse the taste of the chicken. Broiler crosses and early ripening representatives of the meat and meat-egg direction are considered ideal breeding options.

Raising chickens for meat

The most popular beef breeds and crosses are described in the table.

For lovers of exotic breeds of meat-class chickens with unusual taste, there are special breeds. Faverolle, La Flash - French laying hens whose meat tastes like game. Silki, Kadaknat, Ayam Tsemani are exotic chickens with black meat and bones that taste like rabbit meat.

Basic rules for keeping and growing broilers that every poultry breeder should know:

• chickens are sorted by sex during the first week - cocks and chickens are fed separately. A three-stage feeding system is observed: starting, growing and finishing rations;
• disease prevention measures are applied. An optimal microclimate is created (air temperature according to age, humidity 55-60%);
• a fenced spacious walk is being set up for the activity of the poultry, which improves the taste of meat;
• a comfortable poultry house with a deep bedding is set up for floor keeping;
• cage rearing of broilers is possible, but this increases the percentage of fat in the carcass.

For each individual species, the correct organization of feeding is required. The regime is observed - 3-4 meals daily during the feeding period. Feed for raising chickens for meat must contain at least 20% protein, as well as a full range of mineral compounds and vitamins.

Important! A common myth that can lead to mass mortality is that broilers need hormones to grow. In fact, rapid weight gain is genetically determined and no additives are able to affect this - you should not risk a flock by introducing hormonal drugs!

Removing the insides correctly

Step by step

You need to gut the chicken as soon as possible after plucking. So that the remnants of food in her gastrointestinal tract do not begin to rot and ferment. This will give the meat an unpleasant smell and taste.

We start by removing the intestines. Hold the tail with one hand. And push the second into the hole at the bottom of the carcass and grab the intestine. Pull gently to avoid tearing.

Next, you need to cut out the stomach and liver of the bird. Cut the places where they connect to the body with a knife. Try to get the spleen, gallbladder and liver together. And separate from each other already on the board. If you damage them, spoil the meat.

Now take out the esophagus and larynx. If it was not possible to do this when extracting the goiter. Then cut out the internal genitals: ovaries - in chickens, testes - in roosters.

Final stages

In the last turn, the lungs and heart are taken out by cutting the adjacent vessels and tissues.

The gutted carcass must be washed. Remove fat. The stomach is turned inside out, making an incision, and the remnants of food are cleaned out. The inner layer of the skin is removed.

You can use a fork for evisceration. Once the intestines have been removed, insert it into the hole and cut the tissue to which the viscera are attached. Flip the bird and the giblets will fall out.

Now proceed directly to cutting the chicken carcass, the rules of which we will describe below.

Slaughter and butchering at home

Before slaughtering a chicken, you should carefully prepare for the slaughter process. Since it is difficult to organize a full-fledged slaughter at home, it is necessary to initially think over the most convenient temporary slaughterhouse.

Preparing for the slaughter

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What you need to cook:

• cones for poultry - this device greatly facilitates the process and allows you to quickly bleed the carcass, which has a positive effect on its taste and market characteristics;
• a sharp thin knife or specialized scissors, depending on the chosen method of slaughter;
• containers for collecting blood;
• carcass cutting table;
• a container with boiling water in order to facilitate the plucking process;
• a burner that can be used to burn the remaining feathers;
• knives and cutting boards and everything that is needed for packaging and storage (bags, freezer).

Before cutting the chicken, it needs to be cooked. To do this, several steps should be taken, which must be started a day before the expected date of slaughter:

• individuals that are planned to be killed should be isolated in a clean room free of droppings and dirt;
• the day before the date of slaughter, you need to stop feeding the selected individuals;
• to obtain a high-quality feather, it is necessary to redeem chickens;
• during the day, chickens are drunk with a solution of Siberian salt and given water in order to completely cleanse the digestive tract of food and feces.

Note! In the process of catching individuals for slaughter, you must be extremely careful. It is advisable to catch them by their paws, as there is a risk of damage. Hematomas, damaged wings, or other injuries will impair the marketability of the chicken.

There are two popular methods for slaughtering poultry - indoor and outdoor. How to slaughter a chicken correctly using these techniques is presented in the table.

The internal slaughtering technique is complex and requires some experience, which is why many poultry farmers do not practice it. There is also a simpler, folk method, but it is more suitable for those purposes when the meat will be used immediately after slaughter.

How to chop off a chicken's head:

1. Spin the chicken in place (it loses orientation and stops resisting), or slightly stun it with a blow to the head.
2. Lay on an impromptu block (wooden stump).
3. Cut off your head.
4. Hang up to completely drain the blood.

Improvised block (wooden stump)

At home, the slaughter of chickens must be carried out taking into account sanitary and hygienic requirements, otherwise the resulting meat products may be dangerous for human consumption. Before slaughtering a chicken, it is advisable to tie its paws. There is a risk of maintaining motor function even after decapitation. Of course, a killed laying hen will not go far, but such a measure will greatly facilitate the process.

What is needed

For slaughtering you will need:

• a sharp knife, ax, or scissors;
• a bucket where blood could drain;
• a bucket of boiling water intended for scalding the bird before plucking (the bucket must have a lid);
• containers for meat;
• cutting board;
• a knife for cutting meat;
• capacity for internal organs;
• trash bin for intestines and other waste;
• hook for hanging the carcass;
• a towel and a few rags to remove blood and dry your hands.

The farmer will also need a gas burner to get rid of the finest hairs remaining on the chicken skin after scalding and removing feathers. If there is no gas burner, the carcass is held for some time over a regular gas burner, periodically turning it over and exposing the necessary parts of the body to the flame.

Slaughter of roosters and broilers

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For slaughtering broilers and roosters at home, similar techniques are used, but there are some nuances that should be considered. How to hack down a rooster or broiler at home - below is a step-by-step scheme:

1. Before stabbing a rooster, you should prepare it for this process, keep it in hunger, cleanse it of dirt and droppings.
2. Roosters and broilers should be tied tightly before slaughter.
3. The rooster should be fixed and its head should be cut off with a light, but very sharp ax.
4. Immediately thereafter, it is suspended for exsanguination.

In the case of roosters and broilers, the external and internal method can be used; the simplest option is described above, which is easiest to implement at home without special skills.

How to cut a chicken correctly - with a step-by-step explanation

In the preparation of chicken dishes, carcass cutting is of great importance. From correctly cut pieces, you can prepare a dish according to the recipe, for example, a shish kebab. Disassembling the carcass into parts can be waste-free, which is economical.

If you bought a whole poultry carcass, then the first thing you need to do is learn how to gut a chicken. If the viscera is damaged, the taste of the meat may deteriorate. If you buy a carcass in a store, you can start cutting right away. By following the detailed instructions, you will be able to complete the task in a matter of minutes.

Step-by-step instructions for butchering a chicken

First, wash the carcass and remove moisture from it with a paper towel. Prepare a board and a knife. It is not necessary to take a long knife with a wide blade to cut up chicken for a shish kebab or other dish. The instrument may be small, but it must be sharp.

It is better to follow this procedure:

1. Put the carcass back down on a cutting board. The legs should be cut off first. To do this, we take the leg in our hand and pull it in the opposite direction from the body of the bird, cut the skin with a knife near the junction of the thigh with the carcass.
2. Take the carcass in one hand, and in the other leg and bend the thigh so that the bone and cartilage of the joint appear.
3. Cut the meat between the joint and the bone and continue cutting until the stem is completely separated from the carcass.
4. We do the same manipulations with the second leg.
5. We divide the legs into 2 separate parts - the lower leg and the thigh. To do this, take it in your hands, feel the joint and cut it at the place of the fold, exactly along the cartilage of the joint.
6. We cut off the wings. The process is the same as for separating the legs. Feel for the shoulder joint, pull the wing in the opposite direction, make an incision. Then we bend the wing so that the bone is visible, and cut the joint under the bone. The tips of the wings (if necessary) are also cut at the joint.
7. Next, the chicken is cut into the breast and back. It is convenient to do this with scissors, but you can also do it with a knife. Putting the carcass on its side, you need to find the fat layer separating the breast from the back, this is not difficult. It is necessary to cut along it, destroying the ribs and cartilage, on the one hand, and then on the other. We get two large pieces of chicken.
8. Separate the sirloin from the sternum. The first step is to cut it in half. Since the brisket is very hard, you will have to press harder on the knife.
9. It is necessary to cut the flesh from the bone with a small sharp knife, bending the fillet to the side. Remove the skin.
10. Perform an operation with the other half of the sternum.
11. The back can be left for the broth entirely, or you can cut into two parts under the ribs, cut off the neck.

We economically cut the chicken into several pieces, each of which is suitable for preparing an independent dish, nothing went to waste. Now you need to wash all the meat, let the water drain, dry it with a napkin, and you can start cooking.

Video instruction

If, according to the description, it is not very clear how to properly cut the chicken, or how to find the joints, the breast cutting line, you can see a photo, or even better - a video, performing all the actions as shown there.

We cut the chicken into equal parts

For some dishes, it is necessary to gut the chicken into approximately equal parts. You can do this quickly and correctly by following some tips.

First you need to disconnect the legs according to the above rules. Then divide the hams into thighs and drumsticks. Separate the breast from the back without cutting out the wings. Then cut the breast in two in a vertical line. The meat is not separated from the bone, the skin is not removed.

And the last step is to cut each half of the breast horizontally into two approximately equal parts. As a result, we get 8 portioned pieces:

1. 2 upper breast segments with wing;
2. 2 lower breast segments;
3. 2 thighs;
4. 2 shins.

This cut is good for grilling chicken - equal portions, fried the same, looks great on the set table.

Useful Tips

In order to cut the chicken quickly and accurately, and then not waste time cleaning, you can use the advice of experienced chefs:

1. For work, prepare a knife, scissors, board, bowl or other container for pieces of chicken, put a trash can next to it. When you fold the cut elements into the dish, and not on the table, the latter will remain dry and clean.
2. Use a special cutting board to process the carcass. If there is none, you can take the plastic version. It, unlike the wooden model, does not absorb moisture and odor. As a last resort, an ordinary wooden board can be wrapped in cellophane.
3. In the process of cutting off the legs and wings, it is imperative to grope for the joint, twist the limb in order to clearly see the place of the cut. It is not necessary to cut the bone, even if the knife is very sharp, and there is a lot of strength in the hands. Proper cutting produces neat pieces without bone fragments.

Dividing poultry into parts is necessary not only for cooking, but also for convenient, compact storage of meat in the refrigerator. At any time, you can take out a bag or container with the desired part of the chicken and cook soup, make goulash, fry cutlets.

It is not difficult to process a chicken carcass, but if you do not want to deal with a whole bird, you can order portioned pieces in a marinade or ready-made in the online store "Shashlik Market"

Slaughter technology at poultry farms

If it is necessary to slaughter a large batch, special technologies are used at poultry farms and processing plants. In commercial poultry farming, as a rule, a special workshop with several departments is prepared for slaughter in order to quickly slaughter, butcher and send for further processing or sale.

Slaughter technology at poultry farms

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How chickens are killed in a poultry farm - the main method:

1. The bird is initially prepared - it is caught in a day and goes through the stage of cleaning the digestive tract from food debris.
2. If it is necessary to transport it to the slaughterhouse, the bird is seated in large boxes and sent to its destination. Receptionists calculate, measure body weight in accordance with special standards.
3. Electric current is used to stun the chickens before chopping the chickens.
4. After stunning for 30-60 seconds, bleeding is performed. If time is missed, the blood in the body of a dead bird will have time to coagulate and the resulting carcass will not be sent for further use.
5. For bleeding, the carcasses are suspended on special devices by their paws.
6. After 15-20 minutes of exsanguination, primary processing is performed - with the help of a special technique or manually, the carcasses are plucked, the paws are cut off and cut.

Note! The technology may differ insignificantly at different enterprises, depending on the purposes of further use of the obtained carcasses. The main condition is compliance with hygiene requirements and storage of finished products.

How to choose a carcass in the store

When buying a chilled chicken carcass, you need to pay attention to its freshness. Fresh chicken can be identified by skin color, muscle fiber firmness and smell. How to do it:

1. Examine the carcass. If bruises, skin lesions are visible on it, it is yellow-gray in places, it is better not to buy it. Skin color and thickness will indicate the age of the bird.In young chickens, it is thin and pink, in old chickens, it is thick and yellowish.
2. Touch the carcass, press with your finger. If it is fresh, there will be no dent from the finger, the fibers will quickly return to their previous state.
3. Sniff the chicken. Fresh meat has a pleasant aroma, stale chicken does not have it, it acquires foreign odors.

This is enough to choose a fresh carcass in a store or market.

Primary processing of poultry

Before cutting a live chicken, it is necessary to prepare everything for the primary processing of the poultry, which consists in the following steps:

1. Plucking and singing the carcass - complete removal of the feather cover. This should be done immediately after exsanguination. The chicken is dipped in boiling water for 10-15 seconds or treated with steam, after which all large feathers are removed manually or using a special machine. After that, the carcass is treated with fire to singe the remaining small feathers.
2. The next step is evisceration. Processing knives must be extremely sharp. The lower abdomen is cut open and the insides are removed from it, which can be immediately used for frying or frozen. After evisceration, you can immediately start packing the bird for storage, or shred and process it into semi-finished products.
3. The final stage is cooking. You can immediately cut the finished carcass into portions, cut the fillet for a shish kebab, separate the skeletal part for broths, or grind the meat into minced meat.

Open way

You need to start cutting along the back, since there is less meat in this part of the chicken, and the ribs are closer to the surface.

1. Using a sharp knife blade, separate the meat from the skeleton, starting from the tail area.
2. Cutting off the meat from the ribs, you need to work in parallel with both the leg and the wing, breaking them off in the part of the connection with the skeleton.
3. The meat with skin on the leg must be removed using the stocking method.
4. As for the bones in the wings, removing them is so difficult and inconvenient that it is easier to simply remove the wing, if the recipe does not require the presence of this part of the chicken in the finished dish.

Useful Tips

Experienced poultry farmers, who have been breeding meat-class chickens for years, have their own exclusive techniques and secrets that speed up the process of slaughtering, processing and butchering poultry. Some tips to make this process easier are presented below:

• if you are planning long-term breeding of chickens for meat, it is recommended to acquire a useful device - a percussion. This device allows you to remove feathers 3 times faster;
• in order to get meat carcasses with a minimum fat content, it is necessary to transfer chickens to a low-calorie, protein-rich diet 3 weeks before slaughter;
• if you plan to prepare stew from chicken meat, it is better to initially keep the carcasses in the freezer for 2-3 days;
• if old chickens are sent for slaughter, their meat will be too tough. It is easy to fix the situation - you need to boil it in water, after placing a dense glass container (a faceted glass, a carafe cork) in it. You can use meat for minced meat;
• if the sale of carcasses is planned, immediately after cutting, they should be immersed in ice water for 5-10 minutes. Due to this, the meat will be stored longer and the presentation will improve.

Knowledge of simple technologies for growing, fattening and slaughtering chickens for meat production will help to achieve good results in this type of poultry farming.

Removing bones

The hostess calls this process the most difficult during butchering the poultry. Bone and meat hold on to each other quite tightly, and the culinary specialist's goal is to separate them so carefully so as not to damage the skin and prepare an aesthetic dish as a result.

Removing bones is the most time-consuming and requiring attention and care stage of cutting.

How to cut a chicken for a roll, how to preserve the integrity of the skin for stuffed poultry, how to guarantee the finished dish maximum presentability? Only by very carefully getting rid of the frame.

There are two known methods: open and closed. The first assumes one "through" cut, and the second (it is more complex) is based on turning the carcass, like a stocking.