Processing big birds

QueenMisha said:

Cones don't really fit turkeys. I would just hang it by the legs. You can wrap it in an old tshirt to stop it from hitting you with its wings. I've done two different methods for bleeding; you can either hang them, or if you have a steep hill somewhere nearby you can tie the legs to a cinder block and then push it down the side of the hill so it lands on its belly, and that gets a decent gravity bleed as well. For hanging, you need to do it somewhere they can't hit their wings on anything. I, for example, hang them from the bottom of my deck, between two posts. I've also done one by nailing together two two by fours in the shape of an L, turning it upside down, and nailing it to a tree. You should tie each leg individually. As for water, I don't know how you scald, but I use a large metal trashcan, and heat up water in the four biggest pots in the kitchen. In a 30 gallon trashcan, for example, the water should fill it 1/3 to 1/2 of the way. 1/2 for sure for a full grown BB Tom.

Click to expand...

AA Maple said:

I have 4 BBW toms that were 1 week old the first of July. They are getting very big now. I've had to stop letting them out to pasture since they're terrorizing my neighbor (mostly sneaking into his garage and leaving their calling cards) and they're not cooperative about going back in their house at night.

So in 3 more weeks these things are really going to be enormous. It was a 2 person job knocking the heads off of my Cornish X broilers at 5-10 pounds dressed how am I going to wrestle these things into a position where I can dispatch them with a blade?

Any pointers on managing a very large turkey? How big of a pot will I need to blanch them for plucking? If I were to try to use a cone (I used a stump with a couple nails in it and an axe for my chickens and ducks) how big of a cone would I need for a full grown tom?

Click to expand...

AA Maple said:

Can you elaborate on the cinder block business?  I don't think I follow you there.   Tie them onto a cinder block and throw it down the hill to kill the bird?  I was trying to manhandle one of them last week and it whacked me upside the head and it wasn't pleasant.   I really don't want to have to go a few rounds toe to toe with all these birds!

I do have a large food grade 40 gallon barrel that I can just fill with water boiled in my stainless pots.   I've got a five, six and eight gallon stainless pot here and a couple gas burners to boil over so I figure I can get 30 gallons of 150 degree water in a barrel.  I know these barrels take boiling syrup so hot water shouldn't be an issue. 

Click to expand...

QueenMisha said:

Not to kill the bird, just to bleed. Cut the throat before you push them down. The cinder block is to stop them from running away or getting up. And yeah, the wings hurt. Definitely put a tshirt around them beforehand, it helps tremendously. There's also kind of something hilarious about a turkey wearing a t shirt. Bonus points if it's a Hunger Games t shirt like I used for my first turkey!

That sounds like a fine scalding system. You should do great! I've always found turkeys so much easier to process than chickens; killing and moving them is harder, sure, and plucking takes longer, but evisceration is a breeze - no squeezing and angling to get your hand in there like with chickens, or, god forbid, teeny tiny things like quail and partridge.

Click to expand...

LovedMyAlydar said:

What we do is cut a small hole in the corner of one of those plastic type feed bags (Purina, Nutrena, etc.) Stick their head out of it and straddle them on the ground. My husband strokes their head until they basically fall asleep, then he slits their throat and bleeds them out. Takes just a few minutes, but they do flap pretty vigorously, but that is why you straddle them and basically sit on them, so they don't bruise the meat and/or get away. The bag contains the wings. We then use a hack saw to get the head off, and dry pluck them. It's actually pretty easy to do. We have never used hot water, just pluck the feathers , chop off the feet, and clean out the guts, rinse them good and let them cool in icy salt water for a couple hours, then put them in a pan, cover with a bag and leave them in the frig for 4 days to let the rigor mortis come out. They taste divine!!

Click to expand...