Question: slicing throat vs. cutting head off when processing

[jsawler]

My bleach jug cones fit the largest rooster down to the tiniest silkie roo...and they are free!

great to know that. which size jug did you use? I'm thinking of doing turkeys this year tho too. so not sure what to do yet.

 

[jsawler]

I also tie flies. I was thinking that if I started to use the cone, I could save the important neck feathers, and still get the blood out of the bird......

 

[Beekissed]

I also tie flies. I was thinking that if I started to use the cone, I could save the important neck feathers, and still get the blood out of the bird......

Sure can! I recently killed 14 standard fowl roosters of various ages, some with beautiful hackle and saddle feathers which I saved for a project. One of those roosters was a favored old gentleman whose hackles I saved out of pure sentiment, but he had the most lovely of all.

Cutting the throat right under the jaw line and then removing the head at the same level leaves a good deal of the neck, and the feathers thereon, salvageable.

 

[Beekissed]

great to know that. which size jug did you use? I'm thinking of doing turkeys this year tho too. so not sure what to do yet.

I used the 2 gal. bleach jugs and they will fit a pretty large bird (15 lb) but not sure it could be used for a very large turkey..maybe for a hen turkey. For a large turkey I'd just duct tape the wings to the body, tie it up by the feet and proceed as usual on slicing the neck for a bleed out.

 

[jsawler]

duct tape is a great idea. the largest bleach container I've ever seen here is 5 litre;and they don't even sell those now.and I work at a supermarket. lucky for you!

do you skin the head to save the hackles?or just as close as you can get? then just salt/dry the capes?

 

[Beekissed]

duct tape is a great idea. the largest bleach container I've ever seen here is 5 litre;and they don't even sell those now.and I work at a supermarket. lucky for you!

do you skin the head to save the hackles?or just as close as you can get? then just salt/dry the capes?

I get as close as I can and just dry pluck the feathers afterward.

 

[gypsychicken]

You can always throw some cardboard over the body to confine it from flailing and bruising.

 

[rvosberg]

I have processed hundreds of chickens and I use the chop method. I found a cheap way to confine the bird so it does not flop around and damage any part of the bird. I use pant legs cut off old jeans. It works great! I create a smaller cuff by using a zip tie to double the cuff over making a smaller opening. We quickly catch the chickens in the coop without doing any chasing and stuff each chicken in a pants leg with the head sticking out of the cuff opening. The chicken is confined and very calm. We use an axe to quickly chop off the head and then hang the pants leg with the chicken inside from a close line . The blood drains quickly and the bird is not damaged in any way. We then scold the bird to quickly remove the feathers with our wiz bang tub plucker.

 

[UtePassChickens]

our 3 turkeys - on order right now - will be named: Thanksgiving Dinner, Christmas Meal and LotzaLunches.