comadrejaloquita14 was kind enough to do a running photo commentary for us while cleaning a chicken!
Hope I haven't mixed up any of the photos
Here is the frozen rooster. I didn't think to drain them after I killed them, I froze them which thankfully worked just as well as draining them.
The first thing I do is let him sit in hot water. The water is so hot, infact, that I dont want to stick my hands in it very long but its still from the tap, not boiled. This may not work with bigger fowl, I dont know, ours were less than a yr I think.
But you have to make sure the entire bird gets wet
The majority of the feathers come of easily/in hand fulls. I couldn't get a good pic because I was taking the pics and cleaning the bird... bird cleaning needs two hands so it was difficult. When you're taking off the feathers in handfuls try to anchor the skin so that you don't rip it... it will rip easier than you think
Oh yea, Gotta remove the head. It makes it much easier.
Tail feathers kinda suck. The tail skin will rip REALLY easily. Out of the three i've done, I riped the skin on all three's tails... lol
Even though I am going to remove the feet, I remove the feathers on them because it makes life less difficult plus I wanted to keep them
Its good to note with these and the bigger wing feathers- pull them in opposite direction of which they grow. I bend them to about a 45 or even 90 degree angle first
I couldnt get a pic of how I did it but when I remove the legs I break the bone by bending the leg opposite of the direction in which it should bend then I just cut the tendons. Its quicker, easier and less dangerous than trying to cut through the entire joint.
Okay.. I didn't pluck it as clean as I could/should have but close enough. You can pick off danglers before feeding. I have wrist issues and they were killing me and I hadnt even cut the chicken up yet so I figured Id pluck more before serving.
Cut off the legs and wings
Now, my first rooster I cut up the middle but I quickly realized that because of the false stomach located on the upper left (my left) of the birds neck and because of the bowels/intestines/bum its better/easier/cleaner to cut up the ribs (at least for an amature... or maybe just for THIS ammature lol) I decided to do the rest of them by cutting through the ribs on one side. I feel like it gives easier acces to the organs so you can remove the ones you dont want.
I got rid of the esophagus. I dont know if ferrets can eat them but they dont seem safe to me lmao
Close up of removed esophagus
I forgot to take pics of the false stomach and the removal of it but here are the intestines
This is how I remove them + the anus. Lift the tail up and cut in a V shape around the anus, then cut through the back-bone area to remove the tail fully. BE EXTREMELY CAREFUL!!! I cut myself really bad doing this one, lol.
Toss them away in the trash. As I said I cut myself pretty badly during that last part (i took this last pic but after that i was bleeding too much and had to stop. PLEASE EVERYONE BE SUPER CAREFUL) BUT the rest is pretty easy. (Cut it up freeze and then feed) I give wings and neck for one meal, legs and 'gibblet' for another and then brest with a few organs for another and back/ribs with a few organs for yet another.
I wish I would've done a bit on the giblet, its a big hard organ that comes in the hearts and giblets packet.. except in the bird its a whole circular-ish organ. Cut it in half and flip it inside out. Throw out all the gunk inside and wash it. Theres a yellow lining in it that peels right off and then its ready for them to eat.
