Processing equip....missing anything?

[Sami]

Going to do my first ever birds on sat. Am I missing anything:
Cone
Rope for leg lope to pluck
Turkey fryer( scalded)
Propane
Cutting table
Pails for blood, inners, feathers
Pails for cold dunk after scald
Pail with bleach water for cleaning equip
Assorted sharp knives
Cooler with ice and water, two
Garden hose
Rubber gloves, latex gloves
Plastic cutting boards
Pruning shears

Anything missing ?

 

[daleeper]

I don't see a hose end sprayer that will shut off water listed. We use one with adjustable spray patterns. In fact, we have a 4 way manifold, and 4 short hoses and hose end spayers so that each person working has access to their own water.

Looks like otherwise a pretty complete list for the butcher side.

What about packaging? Do you have the bags purchased yet?

I see the chicken plucker is not listed, and a requirement for us. would not want to start without my whizbang, but we did a couple of batchs of 50 before we built it. If you plan to do many more chickens in the future, it is well worth the time and money to build it if you are going to process more than just a few at a time.

 

[Sami]

thanks for the reminder...i have to buy a new knozzle.

For packaging once they are done in the fridge for three days i am keeping 4 or 5 whole and cutting up all the rest. I bought a foodsealer in the winter time which i LOVE and have stocked up on the bag rolls.

the chicken plucker is a manual one .....ME..LOLOL I would love to have one but thought that i woudl see how the first attemp goes before harrassing my dear hubby to make me one I weight the fattest one last night and the meat is up at 9lbs....what do you think she will dress down to....7lbs? Hope so

 

[homestead tim]

I dont do a cold dunk after scalding.

I tried to wear gloves but I couldn't feel anything.

 

[vsmenagerie]

Looks good! We did not do a cold dunk after scalding either. And I did not wear gloves. We made a drill attachment plucker that worked awesome as well, and it was basically free, since we had a lot of the supplies on hand. Good luck!! Oh, a knife sharpener might not be a bad idea

 

[Sami]

thanks everyone...i read that if you dunk after scalding that it stops the skin from tearing when plucking??

 

[Elke Beck]

I have not had problems with the skin tearing unless I have over scalded. Either the water was too hot or I left the bird in too long. When it is scalded right most of the feathers just rub off and the big feathers pull out with just a bit of effort. The part that usually does not get scalded enough is the tail, but I can still pull the feathers, they are just a bit tougher to get out.

I don't dunk the scalded birds to cool them. Usually they are a little hot when I start plucking, but by the time I am through it is comfortable, and then I give the bird a good wash in the sink under cold water to get the last of the feathers off and anything else that might still be hanging on.

 

[daleeper]

thanks everyone...i read that if you dunk after scalding that it stops the skin from tearing when plucking??

I don't think tearing would be a problem when manually plucking, at least we didn't, with a proper scald. Proper scald makes all the difference in the world.

 

[Sami]

hi

Just waned to confirm the temp the scalding pot should be 140-150?

 

[daleeper]

hi Just waned to confirm the temp the scalding pot should be 140-150?

That should be about right. However, you may need to increase it a bit to get the feathers to come out easily, or leave them in the water a bit longer. Wing and tail feathers seem to be the hardest to pull, and so I use them as a guide. A firm but quick tug on the wing feathers should remove them. The higher the temperature the easier to pull feathers and the more risk of cooking the skin, so you have to find a balance there. If the feathers come out easy and you have a good white skin, you have it right. Feathers come out, yet the skin is a bit darker than you think it should be, then you are cooking the skin and have the water too hot or leaving them in the water too long.