Still like rabbit better.

[currituckbun]

I picked up 3 chickens today from a friend that was sold Cornish Cross for laying hens. They were huge at 7 weeks and it was cruel to keep them alive any longer. After taking care of that today I made dinner and did not want to look at chicken on my plate. I cooked up some mushroom rabbit and when I had it simmering I thought it looked like it was not enough. The 14 year old is eating a lot lately, so I added some of the chicken to the pot.
This is the first time I have had both in the same dish. Rabbit is so much nicer. I am not sure that the chicken needed to rest like rabbit but the flavor of the rabbit was just better. Yum.
Ps. Chickens are so nasty! I get the whole meaning of the word and use of FOWL..this was my first butcher and I am definalely sticking with laying hens and rabbits for meat. I still smell them. I think it is stuck in my nose. :razz2:

 

[MamaSheepdog]

I've noticed that poultry reeks when you kill it- it just smells... dead. :x

We have some roos to do, and I am not looking forward to it. I don't have a big appetite for meat anyway, and killing them, plucking them- it just turns me off. I will definitely need to FC them before I will want to eat them. We have some senior bucks and a doe that need to go to FC also so it will be interesting to compare the butchering and eating experiences with poultry versus rabbit.

 

[No Acre Farm]

Have yet to dress out a rabbit, but I do a fair amount of chickens. I've noticed that dead poultry smell, but after working in dog kennels for years, I've kinda learned to turn my nose off. Now I'm curious about dead rabbit smell...and of course, how the meat compares to chicken!

 

[skysthelimit]

Dead rabbit does not smell compared to dead chicken. And it smells even worse when it's dipped in hot water to pluck. I have only eaten on of the dozens of chickens I butchered for the dogs. I stopped plucking a while ago, and started skinning, just peeling the entire skin off in less than 5 minutes. Of course, if you are roasting the chicken, you need the skin on.
I have yet to eat a rabbit.

 

[Secuono]

Dead duck don't smell. =D
Gave up on chickens, only have some for pets/eggs now.

 

[LadyKarli]

I noticed when I butchered my first rabbit I did not Smell it right away & if I was a bit more experience maybe I wouldn't have smelled it at all. The whole process was fine it was the death smell that got me. If I let it rest in the fridge is it going to smell it up?? How long should I let it rest. The one I butchered I threw in the freezer all wrapped in foil!

 

[MaggieJ]

Dead chickens smell a lot worse than dead rabbits. I find it nauseating. I had to butcher four cockerels a month or so ago and I had forgotten how unpleasant it is. The smell did not contaminate the fridge, however. I put the birds in oversized freezer bags while aging and then popped them into the freezer.

 

[fuzzy9]

Chickens are definitely worse than rabbits! I don't really notice a smell that's that bad when processing rabbit.

 

[currituckbun]

Rabbits don't smell much. I just did three today, and nothing like those chickens. I have noticed more of a metallic smell from the blood of the rabbits. That is my only complaint. It goes away with the salt water when I dump it after soaking. I cover my rabbits when they are in the fridge so it does not smell up the fridge.

 

[Miss M]

The only times I smell anything bad when butchering rabbits are when I perforate a stomach, or when I empty the gut pail at the end of the butchering session.

If I feed only hay the last two days, even perforating the stomach doesn't smell that bad.