Slaughter and Clean a Quail - PEP BB animal.sand.quail

Ok. Nobody in my family hunts, or raises livestock. This is my first time killing and cleaning anything other than fish and invertebrates. Forgive me for not sorting the organs, but with quail they're so small anyways and I think I cut through an intestine so. Ick. The second two were easier, but by then my hands were pretty gross so I didn't take pictures. I've always hated the feeling of raw poultry, and now I know that it's way worse when it's warm! Fun.

I think these were all roosters. I'm actually not 100% sure about the white one, but that was the one I posted about a few weeks ago with the injury. The other two had behavioral issues. The sandy one was way too aggressive. The silver one, that I did first and photographed, was the hardest choice, because he was pretty and not picking fights, but he was way too skittish, flying into walls every time I came near and hurting himself. Plus a few of the hens that hung around him were picking up on that and following suit...

So I had two quail who were all around trouble, I mean starting fights and startling the rest of them. I've decided to cook these two, and the next two I have and get some more hatching eggs later and hopefully get a better hatch rate this time.

I somewhat misinterpreted "Quail after slaughter, depicting the method used" and did not take a picture immediately after slaughter, but after everything was plucked and cleaned...I hope that isn't an issue...I followed the video in its entirety, took a pair of Cutco scissors to their necks and did it in one clean cut.

The rest of the cleaning went exactly as the provided video.

This was my first time slaughtering and cleaning, and other than missing that second picture, everything went pretty smoothly, didn't even cut an intestine.
.

Okay well, attempt two. After the quail fried rice was hit with the hubby and I messed up my last BB, I tried again. Today's meal was roasted quail and potatoes, absolutely delish.
I culled them the exact same way as last time: scissors to the neck and one cut.

I've been keeping quail for a while, but this was my first time processing some of the extra males. They went straight into the freezer afterwards, and became a lovely stew later in the week.

Ten of the fifteen chicks I hatched this summer were males. I kept two, culled the most aggressive three last weekend, and gave away three this morning as part of a barter which netted me a couple more hens, but that still left me with two extra. And I remembered I had this bb unfinished still, so here's a second attempt. They're joining the three from last weekend in the freezer for now, until I'm ready to roast them.

Third time's the charm? I'm going to consider this an opportunity to demonstrate how my process has changed over time; I've gotten considerably more efficient, and no longer have to do everything outdoors!

I process quail in a bucket over the sink, still using scissors. Head, skin/feathers, blood (and usually any innards I don't intend to eat, but they're plated for the BB) drop directly into the bucket to be buried. I kept the wings separate this time since I want to save some feathers for crafts. Feet and spine will be used for broth, heart and liver fried and eaten tonight, body roasted over vegetables tomorrow; all this goes directly into the fridge, sorted by use.