The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Poultry & Waterfowl => Topic started by: PaulJill on October 14, 2017, 11:26:03 am
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Hello, I'm going to despatch a couple of my hens for the table. Is it best to hang the bird for a period of time afterwards as you would say beef. Thank you, Paul.
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yes.
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How long for? And will just resting them in the fridge for a couple of days do the same job?
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If you just intend boiling/casseroling them like you would older laying hens then hanging isn't necessary.
But if you want to roast them then I should hang for at least a week. Traditionally they are hung with the innards in. I once had a yearling Welsumer cockerel that I had hanging in the garage. I actually forgot about him so left him hanging for 2 weeks. He tasted really nice. Not strong and gamey, but just had a definite flavour, unlike your oven ready chickens from the supermarket.
I don't believe that just resting in the fridge is as good. For a start it's more likely to go off, as a hung bird has air circulating which keeps the skin dry and stops bacteria growing. The fridge has a much more humid environment.
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We've slaughtered 3 lots of birds so far. The first were big and meaty, I didn't hang them but I was painfully slow at plucking them. They were delicious and tender roasted. The were a cuckoo maran hybrid. My next lot were white leghorn and I did the hot water dip to pluck them, the third was a couple year old cockerel that a friend couldn't deal with. Neither of these were hung. The 1st leghorn I roasted and while the breast meat was fine the leg meat was tough. The old cockerel legs were baked in the oven and also stupidly tough. I did another one of the leghorns the other day as a slowcooker roast and the meat was lovely.
I guess the moral of my story is for some reason the first chickens were ok despite not hanging, but I will be hanging birds in future. If you can't hang the birds though there are ways to still eat the meat without it being tough though.
Dans
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We've slaughtered 3 lots of birds so far. The first were big and meaty, I didn't hang them but I was painfully slow at plucking them.
Dans
Gry plucking ducks lol
Chicken takes 15 minutes - duck 2 hours! Lol
Young broiler chickens don't require any hanging as they are so soft, you can just leave them in a fridge for a day or so. Older hens and cocks might need hanging for a week depending on what you want to do with them
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I should have said, all our birds were min 6 months old.
lol I'm not sure I want to try plucking ducks, it took me a whole lot longer than 15 mins to pluck the first birds! We tried a dunk in hot water for the other batches and that helped.
Dans
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We pluck immediately after killing, hang for 24 hours then cut, gut and freeze.
Great results usually, but these are young birds (12-16 weeks) so an older bird would probably benefit from longer hanging.