Stiff chickens after killing! whats going wrong!!

Hello everyone, i am new to these boards ,although i have been having a read for a little while now, but i couldn't find the answer to my problem, so i have joined you all and am now making my first post!

We have just fattend our first batch of cob chickens, and have so far killed two to eat. The first one i really overcooked and since reading this board i realise they need cooking slowly and keeping wrapped in foil!  Last night we killed our second chicken, and the problem we are having is they are going stiff very quickly, and now we cannot tie it up in the usual chicken shape, it is currently sat in my fridge with its legs pointing straight out like it was when it was hanging uside down to be plucked.

We killed and plucked, gutted all within an hour.
How come supermarket chickens are still floppy and soft and mine seem stiff and hard!?
 :cherry:

Oh right, so how long untill they go back floppy again? I just cooked the last one when it was all stiff still the next evening.  That must have been too soon! :oops:

Thanks, yes i had read the first one, and we had done all that correctly, but the stiffness was what we were confused about and how long it will last?

Rigor mortis lasts up to 72 hours in humans. They will go floppy eventually.

It needs to be hung in the shed for longer. Apparently (so Muntjac tells me) there is a chemical reaction with the fibres of the meat, also the sinews that when the bird is hung up-side down all the blood goes to the head. As it cools rigor mortis sets in which stiffens the bird, but the chemical reaction is still happening. Which means the bird needs to go through this process without being chilled until the process is over......this could take 24hrs. Munty always hangs our birds for 24hrs and they do benefit ...taste-wise.....and he's never had a stiffy!!!

Not sure you should have said those last few words Aggy!!!!        Poor Munty!!!!

My brian also likes to hang his chickens for at least a day, but when he killed the last lot, the weather was hotter, so he did put them in the fridge earlier than usual, as we had nowhere cool enough and there were flies around.  With the stiffer legs, he just pushes them hard into shape, and as he used to work for a butcher years ago, he ties them up very neatly, not like the lady on Jimmy's Food Hereoes tonight, whose chickens were sitting on her table with their legs crossed!!!! lol

But it won't hurt to cook them whilst stiff, but like Aggy says, they do taste better if hung.

It's a good job geese are a winter bird traditionally, as Brian likes to hang them for 10 days!!!!    

Not sure you should have said those last few words Aggy!!!!        Poor Munty!!!!


 

Well he is getting on Annie!!!!!