# Bruised Turkey Meat



## Truckinguy (Mar 8, 2008)

Today I processed a couple of turkeys, my last tom and one of my neighbor's hens. My tom seemed ok but the hen had bruised breast meat. I processed a couple of my own hens a few weeks ago anad I had to throw out a good portion of the breast meat because it was bruised pretty much right through. The remaining 10 of my birds were processed with no bruising of any parts.

Is this a result of improper bleeding out or the thrashing about at kill time? My procedure has been the same with all of them. I put them in a feed sack with their head sticking out to contain the wings, shoot in the head with a pellet pistol, hang on for half a minute or a minute while they thrash out then hang them up to cut the neck to bleed out.

I guess another question is: is the bruised meat safe to eat? I've discarded it up to this point.


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

I'd hang them up by the feet and cut their necks so they bleed out with the heart still beating, and have nothing to bang against.

You can still wrap them in a bag or cloth to hold the wings

Cutting the veins in the side of the neck is quick and relatively painless


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## oneraddad (Jul 20, 2010)

I use a traffic cone to keep them from thrashing around and then cut their throat allowing them to bleed out.


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## AdmiralD7S (Nov 1, 2013)

I agree that the bruised ones are likely due to insufficient bleeding. If the blood has all drained, there can't, biologically, be any bruising. I also recommend hanging then by the feet and cutting the jugular artery. The rush of blood to the head from being upside down will calm them, and after the cutting, the heart will pump practically all the blood out. I've never seen bruised meat from any of my poultry when done in this manner.


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## oneraddad (Jul 20, 2010)

After they bleed out we hang them from their feet


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## marusempai (Sep 16, 2007)

Agree that it didn't bleed properly - if you wait until the bird quits thrashing to bleed it, the heart has stopped beating, so there's nothing to get the blood out. Never done a turkey, but we do everything the same for all birds anyway - up to big Muscovy drakes, which approach small turkey size. I hold them by the feet with one hand and wings with the other, and my husband chops off their heads. WHAP and dead, I let go with the wing hand and hold them upside down until they stop flapping. They bleed out well every time.


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## Truckinguy (Mar 8, 2008)

Thanks for the replies. The last turkey has been done for this year so I'll have to wait until next year to apply some changes in procedure.

I saw a video on Youtube that showed a guy hanging a five pound weight off the turkeys head once he got it hung upside down, it serves the purpose of preventing the turkey's head from flinging back and forth and showering the area with blood. 

I'm a city guy who moved to the country and have come a long way in learning to butcher animals. It just difficult for me to hang a live animal upside down and cut it's throat. I guess I still have a ways to go. Quite the homesteading journey!


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