2nd Butchering: Lesson's Learned

[Salt and Light]

Last Saturday morning, I butchered 1 of 15 x-rocks. This Saturday morning, I butchered 5 more. Here's what I learned:

1. I don't like slicing their neck as a way of killing/bleeding. The only one I did this way, took too long to die and towards the end still flapped his wings. I will stick with the axe!

2. To speed up processing, have one draining blood, while processing another one.

3. Slow down so I don't cut the crop or the innards!

4. Try the wax method again. Seemed like their were more pin feathers without waxing. Oh, by the way, what exactly is a pin feather. Once done plucking, I noticed two types of "things" still attached. One looks like a small quill w/o a feather and the other looks like a hair. Which one of these is a pin feather?

 

[unionwirewoman]

Not sure what "wax"is all about but I will tell you how we do it up here in Mt . First we chop the head off with a meat clever . After they are bled out , we dip them in a big pot of boiling water for a bout 30-45 seconds , we then wrap them in newspaper and transport them to the plucking table . The feathers come off beautifully . The pin feathers are the "quill" feathers that your talking about . Every chicken has "hair" which is the other thing you were talking about . The hair we usually burn off with a propane torch after you have plucked them . We then gut them , wash them , and cut or package them whole . Good luck !

 

[Rosebud75]

Do you use a killing cone with the cleaver?

 

[Salt and Light]

Rosebud, I do not use a cone. Instead, I have two large nails hammered into a stump. The nails are spaced to hold the neck without letting the head slide through. Also, the nails are close enough to the stump's edge to allow the body of the bird to hang over. Thus, the bird's body weight stretches the neck. The birds generally make no sound or motion.

I then give the neck a swift and decisive wack and the body drops into a washtub. There is a LOT of flailing so I sometime use the axe to hold the bird down a little bit. But, most times, I just walk off and start plucking another bird. After a minute or two, I come back and place the killed bird upside down over the washtub by placing his "knee" joint in between the nails.

I should also mention that the top of the stump is cut at an angle which makes it easier to drape the live board over the stump's edge.

 

[Rosebud75]

Is it terribly messy? I've read that one reason cones are so popular is because gravity does the work, draining the blood into a basin. How does that compare with your method? I've also read that the chopping block method causes the blood to get everywhere... am I wrong?

 

[ChickenToes]

Rosebud - We butchered 11 roos last Friday. It was not that messy. We chopped the heads off and then stuck the birds into a length of stovepipe so they couldn't run around. (Just another version of a killing cone.) The inside of the pipe was bloody, but that was about it. After they stopped flailing, we hung them upside down to drain, but there wasn't a lot of blood left by that time.

 

[Salt and Light]

Quote:
In my experience, cutting the artery was almost as "messy" because towards the end, the bird still flapped it wings. The BIG advantage of the washtub is that all the "mess" is contained in the tub. I can't say that I didn't have any blood on me, but it was very minimal. Honestly, even if it's messy, I'm still doing it because bleeding an animal is a slow death. Not to mention, it probably doesn't feel too good when you slice their neck!!

 

[chickenfanatic]

well congrats on a good learning experiance i wish all lessons ened this tasty hehee