A few questions re: processing

[bairo]

You can use an old bleach bottle, etc. with the bottom cut out. 2 gallon works well. If you want to make a throw away one//// take a piece of thin cardboard (pizza box) and draw a trapazoid.

1st line is 12 inches long

measure up 16 inches and draw 2nd line 29 1/4 inches long and cut out

(12″ Base-1, 29.25″ Base-2, 16″ Height)

roll up with 1 inch overlap and duct tape seam well. will last at least 5 birds

 

[wowmanacat]

My husband and I did our first one today. We just held it till it stop bleeding, I have a square bucket that I put tap water in( my hot is set to 160°) worked like a charm. all in all it took us a round 45 minutes since he had to keep coming in the house to look at the pictures.

If you go to my blog there is a great one about butchering chickens on there, I think it is called the howling duck or something like that.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

Here are the cones I have made, I used 3 different materials in order to see which one I liked the best. And I like them all, using the different sizes for different birds. The black one is made from a plastic plant pot, those cheap flexible ones that nursery plants come in. The white one is a big bleach bottle. I found the traffic cone discarded on the side of the road.

If you don't yet have a cone, you can wrap duct tape a few turns around the bird's body. The point is to hold the bird's wings against his body so he doesn't flap around too much. Some folks use a feed or vegetable sack with a hole cut in a bottom corner, or a sleeve cut from an old sweatshirt.

My frame is from a metal yard swing someone discarded. There are wire hooks in-between the cones, from which to hang the scalded birds by their tied-together feet for plucking.

As for the mites, you know that the oil method is just for the skin on their legs, you don't dunk the entire bird in oil. Maybe you already know that and that's what you meant, but when you mentioned dunking them in cooking oil I was concerned that you were going to hold them all the way under, feathers & all.

 

[watchdogps]

Quote:
Oh, haha, no, I won't dunk the whole bird! At least not till AFTER they are processed!

thanks again for the ideas. I was going to do something with a pillowcase or pants leg/shirt sleeve, but we just moved and I cant find a blasted thing and of course when you move you get rid of so much that I NEED everything I have and cant go cutting it up!

 

[jenny_kap]

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I forget this isnt like an email list, not everyone got to read how I acquired the birds. They were kind of dumped on me. I was told someone had about a dozen birds to get rid of, I went to get them and they had stuffed two dog cages full, left for work and the birds were in the sun crammed in the cages. There ended up being 43 birds, about half roos. I was not equipped to keep this many, and they are quite stressed being crowded together. I'm killing a bunch because it's not really humane to keep them this way for long. Plus they have leg mites and I dont want to treat that many birds if I dont have to. I feed the dogs a raw diet, so I need this meat for them more than I do for me anyway.

i tell you what i would do. for the mites, i would oil them with lard (pork fat), especially where the mites are located: on the back of the head, under the wings, on the chest sides, on the legs. it is time consuming, indeed, but in about one day all mites are dead. the lard is working for lice as well. i would use the lard because i don't like to use chemicals if i have an other option. after that, i would feed them with wheat and corn for at least one more month and i would have pretty nice birds to butcher for myself and for my dogs. but this is me...

 

[watchdogps]

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From what I am finding LEG mites stay on the legs, and thats what they seem to have. I have looked and looked and rechecked the dead birds too, and there are no other cooties that I can see. If you read that thread, there are some links to info that indicate the leg mite lives its entire life cycle there, no need to treat the coop, etc.

 

[jenny_kap]

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yes, of course, and a lot of people are living on credit cards. in america. we are a poor country and we don't afford to waste things as you do over there.

 

[secuono]

I've never found pulling feathers hard. Only the small feathers around the neck, butt or shoulders.

 

[watchdogps]

Quote:
yes, of course, and a lot of people are living on credit cards. in america. we are a poor country and we don't afford to waste things as you do over there.

Feeding animals to your dogs is not wasting it. First of all, I can feed my animals meat for less than I would spend on dog food. Second of all, twenty grown roosters is more than my husband and I want to eat. These are surplus animals.

 

[wowmanacat]

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I found it to be very easy. I might have missed a couple in the start but I got them once I was cooling the bird down in the sink of cold water. I think there might still be one here and there and I will be them when the bird goes in the stew pot for soup, for the were under the top of the skin and I could not pull them. They were very new feathers.