4th time processing - getting better

[donrae]

We've never plucked, he's always skinned them. I was thinking about trying dry plucking, as I'm not at all worried about the time frame. But, I'm having cramps in my hands with fine motor tasks, so that may not be realistic for me right now.

I have a few good hanging places. I have an outdoor table I was going to set up near the faucet. Trash can to catch feathers and guts. We have wonderful sharp knives and sharpeners all over the house--it's kind of Honey's thing

Big cooler to chill, although with only one small-ish bird I may not need that, just get him in the refrigerator and let him rest a few days.

I'll figure out a way to get hot water outside. Like I said, this is a learning thing for me, and kind of a personal challenge. I will literally plan to spend most of the day doing this, if I need. Not like I do much else these days, if there's no doctor's appointment I'm a free lady

So, I've been thinking chicken pot pie. I'm not usually a pie crust fan, but for some reason it's calling to me. I have my home grown pork lard I've rendered, I think I'll give that a try. Chunks of chicken, lots of veggies in a gravy...sounds good! Sometime next week, depending on Honey's work schedule.

 

[aart]

I applaud your 'personal challenge' goal donrae. I've found that the setup and cleanup(few hours) takes way longer than the 'kill to chill' (20-30 minutes) portion of harvesting. I also consider it a 'whole day' event, mostly for breaks between hauling stuff around.

Here's a post I did detailing my process, maybe you'll get some ideas from that.

 

[donrae]

aart, I'd read you post and that was part of what inspired me to do this myself. Well, I did it today! I feel so accomplished....

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1037276/chicken-math-subtraction-or-my-first-solo-processing

 

[Hholly]

A turkey fryer would be a good way to scald outside. They're not too expensive.

 

[donrae]

It would probably be good, but I didn't want to have to mess with propane or anything else. Plus, we just had to put a new starter in the truck, so "not too expensive" is relative until payday...

I wound up using a cooler chest. Saw it on a you-tube video and it worked very well for me. Mine is on wheels, so I just wheeled it up to the kitchen porch. Heated about half a big canning pot of water to 180 or so and poured it in the cooler. Wheeled it out to my processing area, where it wound up setting for several hours. When I was ready to process, the temp was down to 120. So, more water in the canning pot, and heated it up. It worked very well, and the cooler is large enough I wasn't sloshing water all over the ground when dunking the bird. Not sure how it would do for multiple birds as far as holding temp, but for my one or maybe two at a time I plan to do, it seems to work well. The not having to mess with propane or carry water is a bonus to me!