Does these lungs look ok? :/ and first kill..

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Zab

Zab

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So, with my new does I got another bun that was to be slaughtered anyway.

I did not feel ready to actually do the deed yet.. but I couldn't find any good reason to not accept the ofer.. so.. I had no choice, more or less. But now I've killed a bunny so I know I can :D Poor bunny.. I still think ''I should go see if Nameless has water..oh, right.. he's in the oven, well most of him anyway...." and I only had him a couple of hours..

Anyhow, I think he died pretty fast. I hit him twice because when he fell to the side I though he was going to run off or something so I hit again more or less by reflex.. I did note he was already bleeding through the nose which I hadn't expected.. I think I hit too hard.. (''swedish'' butchering: put them on the table, stun them with a blow to the forehead, debleed by cutting the neck) anyway, he looked ''dead'' in the eyes and was bleeding out through the nose quite heavily but he got thid wheasing breathe just that minute. I cut the jugular veins and went to skin etc.

Now.. does the lungs look ok? Is it normal with all the red lines/spots? Is it perhaps just blood from the neck area or messy butchering? I couldn't really tell.
But is it an infection of any kind or is it normal or have I caused it?

He breathed fine all the time before the kill, even as he was pretty stressed out by being carried and catched. Eyes looked fine, not messy behind except on the foot pads.. liver etc looked fine and an even brown.
No other buns in the stable was sneezing or looking snotty ether. A few kits had a little messy eyes but most looked fine and they moved abouth healthily. There were some a tad messy behinds but - not to make any bad comment about a very nice person who had the place, he happily showed me around, gave me advice and whatnot even though I must have seemed like a sissy girl, all giggelimng nervously (I'm uncomfortable with choosing pets/animals, afraid to offend the breeder.. silly I know) - I think that's because of the cages. It was time for their weekly cleaning, which was done in the weekends. But in the big picture they looked and sounded healthy.

http://www.elftown.com/stuff/Skärmavbild 2013-01-26 kl. 16.20.59.png the lung..

So.. how does it look?
 
overall looks good, I always hope for a little more color (not quite as pale), i cant tell if those are tiny spots or just the picture. but it looks good. whatcha gonna cook???? My wife has been bugging me for rabbit chili because of all the rain. rained 4 days in a row now!!!
 
Good then :) I looked around on google, didn't find much but what I found seemed the same so I'm a bit relieved.

Tiny spots? What sort of spots?

Well I de-boned it (way harder than killing I learnt) and rolled it up with spices and butter, put it in the oven for some hours..

It was.. okayish. Something bugged me with taste/smell to the point I had trouble swallowing, but I can't say if it's really the taste, or just becuse I've had my face in the inestines earlier. It was like some liver-smel/taste.. (felt it with the roots I had with it too so I don't think it's the actual taste).. I had washed my hands and face and changed clothes, but I know I can be sensetive to such. It's the same with sheep - I can't eat it right after I've cooked or cut the fat off..
I guess I just need to get used to it.
 
I do not like the flavor of rabbit fat, thankfully it is a lean meat.

I grind most of my rabbit meat into hamburger and drain off any fat but if I roast a rabbit I put it on a wire rack so fat drips down and the rabbit and veggies don't sit in the juices.

I also find younger rabbits (8 weeks) to have a much milder flavor compared to those that are 16 weeks or more, so when I do rabbit for the family I make sure it was a young one and reserve the older buns for dog food.
 
Not to alarm you, but the lungs look to me to be very similar to the ones in my rabbits that were sick. Here is the thread I created about it: is-this-pastueralla-warning-potentially-graphic-picture-t11713.html The first picture was of almost healthy lungs, they just had a few barely visible spots. If you scroll down, the other pictures I have are from the sickest rabbits. They are not the best pictures, but the lungs had the same bruising and spotting that yours seem to. I was told it is a sign of pneumonia, usually caused by pasteurella, though not always. I was also told that the meat is still safe if fully cooked, but some people said not to eat any of the organs, and some people said to just toss the damaged ones. I would keep an eye on the rest of your herd to be sure none of your bunnies start showing any symptoms.
 
I had a bit of a "liver flavor" from bashing my first bunny too hard and bruising his shoulder. I did the same as you, got worried about him flailing. This is unavoidable when you kill by smashing its head. If you smash it in the back of the head, just below the base of the skull, it will die instantly, but still flail. Keeping this in mind can help reduce bruising.
 
DarayTala: Ah, well it's the white spots that's the sign? I couldn't see any white spots at all, it was all the red spots that made me concerned. It was that light pink colour with the red stains. The pink was evenly coloured, no shifting hues or so.. I think the white on the picture is just light reflection.
The meat was cooked to 90°C in the deepest part so I figure it's safe..

This killed bunny and the two new does comes from the same breeder/barn. The does are in quarantine from my other three rabbits so it should be safe.. None of the breeders buns was sneezing or snotty while I ere there. But of course, I wouldn't know.. I'm careful with the quarantine routine and I'm keeping an eye on them all :)

Happy: Well I can't hit the back of the head (illegal here) but I hit in front of the ears while they sit on a table. It stuns them, debleeding them kills.. it's the only option I have to kill them legally. (since I don't have a hunting/weapon license). I just freaked, uncertain if I had hit hard enough.. silly since I knew it would fall to the side but.. well, first time. :3

What's causing the "liver flavor"? Bruising? Is that visible when you skin them?
 
lungs look to me to be very similar to the ones in my rabbits that were sick.
Click to expand...

Zab's rabbits lungs do not have and pea sized puss filled nodules like the lungs in DarayTala' pictures.

As long as the lungs have uniform colour and there are no lighter areas you don't need to worry.
 
Good for you, Zab, that you got through your first butchering okay. :goodjob:

A couple of suggestions that may help you to enjoy rabbit meat more. First, I never cook rabbit the day of butchering. I chill the meat in cold water as I go and then drain it well and age it in the fridge for 2-3 days. This not only makes it more tender but also eliminates that "liverish" smell you mentioned.
 
Thanks for the advice :)
I've heard people aging the meat and people saying it makes no differense, but I'll just have to try for myself and see.
How do you keep it in the fridge? Plastic bag? Hanging? Water?
 
I was told that the white spots were one sign of ill health, but so was the red bruising. From what I have researched since, the lungs should be a light to medium pink color all over. They can slowly darken after a few hours of exposure to air, but will still remain a uniform color. So, any noticeable lighter or darker areas are a sign of ill health. I will see if I can find some sources and pictures for this, I didn't think to save them at the time.

Also, I age mine a day or two in a bag of salt water in the fridge. The salt water draws out more blood from the meat, which reduces the livery flavor. The aging makes sure the meat has passed rigor mortice and is more tender, but I don't know if the aging itself effects flavor unless its done in water.
 
Thanks for the advice and info :)

The both does still sound and look healthy, and they're still quarantined.
 
That's good, best of luck with them. If it was indeed pasteurella, or even any other illness, and they remain unaffected even when bred or stressed at all, then those are definitely genetics you want your herd to have. I'm pleased that the rest of mine are now over a month with no symptoms since I culled the four sick ones. I also hope your next processed rabbit is more to your taste. I've only made rabbit in recipes with a lot of sauce and spices, never roasted, so I'm wondering how the pure rabbityness will taste for me.
 
If the lungs were bruised, I wonder if that could come from the air? I don't want to say anything bad about the breeder, but the barn was pretty smelly, both from rabbits and sheep. I didshow up just before cleaning, it was probably as bad as it get in that very barn and with the cold it was not very ventilated (to keep the heat), so I don't want to judge. But I know I noticed the air wasn't the easiest to breathe.. at least not when you came from outdoors (not as bad as many cow barns I've been to though). I heard no sneesings and all rabbits seemed fine and sounded good in breathing.. wouldn't damaged lungs cause the rabbit to breathe awkwardly? No matter the cause of it?
Maybe I was just messy with the gutting and managed to spill blood on them or something..
Anyway, I'm keeping a close eye on the does. I hope they'll be fine.

I'm not one for lots of spices :p But we'll see. We'll try a lot of different ways to cook it. :)
 
the lungs look like some of the livers I saw in my rabbits. Mine are all healthy so I would not worry. congratulations on getting through your first butcher.
 
If I have a bit of difficulty getting the lungs out of the chest cavity they look like this, they look fine to me.
Good job on your first dispatch and deboning
 

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