Arizona Chickens

[lacymorgan]

No flies, but I just beat them. The area where I had the cones got sunny before the area with the planting bench, and by the last chicken, I could hear the flies congregating BIG TIME on the bloody shavings. If I had taken another 20 minutes, I would have been swatting those ******** away. Next weekend, I have 3 more to process, and I'll have to start a little earlier because I think it's going to be hotter. When I'm processing, the flies only really come out when it's sunny and hot, so if I can beat them before the sun comes over the peak of the house, I'm good to go!

Had not thought about flies I wonder if a mister might help other wise I will have to get up and be ready to go by 5am. 'Sigh' I will be processing my first birds in a few weeks, just hatched some Cornish X

 

[desertmarcy]

No flies, but I just beat them. The area where I had the cones got sunny before the area with the planting bench, and by the last chicken, I could hear the flies congregating BIG TIME on the bloody shavings. If I had taken another 20 minutes, I would have been swatting those ******** away. Next weekend, I have 3 more to process, and I'll have to start a little earlier because I think it's going to be hotter. When I'm processing, the flies only really come out when it's sunny and hot, so if I can beat them before the sun comes over the peak of the house, I'm good to go!

We moved our butchering process into the garage because of sun and flies. Neither of us can get up early enough to beat the flies. I have a couple of hours of work feeding birds, etc. beforehand also. I guess that's why I'm more concerned about blood getting everywhere. Don't want a mess in the garage. We put down a large plastic tarp to catch any mess but I prefer no mess. Doesn't always happen, of course. We hang the cone from a heavy metal chain from the rafter. The cone is removable, and we toss the chain up on the rafter to get it out of the way of the vehicles, which are moved out when we butcher and pluck. We use the cone for some pretty big, strong turkeys. Broke a smaller chain before we upgraded to a heavier chain.

 

[pipemum]

Yeah, you do the turkeys by yourself? I was thinking about that yesterday. I'm not sure I could get a turkey into a cone by myself, and I can fairly easily pick up and haul around 50+lbs. But live things squirm and flap and avoiding giant turkey claws as you're tilting them into the cone???

And yep, I don't have as many animal chores as you...but my poor chickens and gardening chores have to wait till after everything is done before they get feed on processing days! Got to beat the sun and heat (and flies). I didn't even get my cup of coffee before I started.

 

[desertmarcy]

Yeah, you do the turkeys by yourself? I was thinking about that yesterday. I'm not sure I could get a turkey into a cone by myself, and I can fairly easily pick up and haul around 50+lbs. But live things squirm and flap and avoiding giant turkey claws as you're tilting them into the cone???

And yep, I don't have as many animal chores as you...but my poor chickens and gardening chores have to wait till after everything is done before they get feed on processing days! Got to beat the sun and heat (and flies). I didn't even get my cup of coffee before I started.

Victor helps me. The hardest part is catching them to bring them into the garage. It helps if they are relatively (or completely) tame. The last two toms we did were pretty easy to catch. It would also help if my cone were a little bigger. I built it with chickens in mind, using some scrap (but new) sheet metal left over from another project. Their heads just barely fit through the bottom opening and they would surely get out of it if Victor wasn't holding their feet. But their thrashing after the kill? Violent and strong. That's how the small chain got broken. I don't know what I'd do without Victor to help.

And doing all that without caffeine first? You are one strong lady

 

[City farm]

...

I butchered 3 of my meat chickens yesterday using my new stand. It worked like a dream. Where before, I was scrambling for a place to set up, making items to use as a cone, finaggling somewhere to put the cone...set up took 15 minutes for EVERYTHING, including getting the scalding water, knives, processing area, etc. I'm going to disagree with desertmarcy about cutting the head off and blood spraying everywhere. I put a pile of pine shavings below the cone, and that's where all of the blood went. No spray. Clean up was pretty simple too. I unscrewed the table portion and stored that in the shed, and the rest of the stand sits in a corner of the yard. I probably should unscrew and store the cones so that they don't get sun brittle. Oh, I use a power drill with a homemade plucker, and fastened that to the top. Way too high for me. I had to hold the chicken out above my shoulder, and while I'm strong, these birds were still heavy. Next time, I'll strap the drill to the side. I think I saw a drill holder for a peg board once...I'll try to find something like that, reinforced with straps. Anyway, here is cone station. Only took a few minutes to build with some scraps. The little side table held the scalding water. To the left of the orange cone is where I fastened the drill. Oh ha, the drill is in this photo! I paint EVERYTHING, and still need to paint this thing. To the right of this area, I have a planting stand/processing center/outdoor sink (not yet functional)/chick brooder that I use for processing the chicken. I love it...it's above normal counter height and doesn't hurt my back at all to work at. Oh, also...this time I used a disposable scapel (box of 100 from Amazon) to butcher--it was amazing. I only needed a butcher knife to trim down the neck. One blade worked amazingly well for all 3 birds. I'm pretty nervous I'm going to severely slice myself with the blade, but I guess that's a risk with any sharp object around me! Ah, I already have a picture on BYC. Here's my multipurpose planting stand. There's a double sink under the green cover where the seed tray is stacked. Of course, the raw wood has since been painted to match. This is where I process the chickens. Dang, I made this stuff!!!! There's no way I would have believed I could have done this 5 years ago! [/

Wow, that's awesome.. If we ever do meat bird's this is a great st up!! So love the photo's

 

[micro]

Hey all, I've got a small backyard flock of 9 birds that are about 2 years old. They're production reds (except for one Buckeye?), and they are not aging well at all. With another brutal summer about to start, I think it's time to bring out the knives.

The problem is... this is my first flock, and I've never harvested or processed any poultry before. Does anyone know of any really good resources for a first-timer? Or have good advice, especially for a desert dweller (e.g. any possible way to cut down on water usage)? Or... maybe you would be willing to help a stranger if you happen to live in the Tucson area?? I've read some good tutorials from the Meat Birds section of the forum, but honestly I would feel much better having an expert around. It's a little difficult to try consulting a computer/printout when in the middle of things, I imagine.

How did you all learn how to kill and butcher a chicken?

 

[desertmarcy]

Hey all, I've got a small backyard flock of 9 birds that are about 2 years old. They're production reds (except for one Buckeye?), and they are not aging well at all. With another brutal summer about to start, I think it's time to bring out the knives.

The problem is... this is my first flock, and I've never harvested or processed any poultry before. Does anyone know of any really good resources for a first-timer? Or have good advice, especially for a desert dweller (e.g. any possible way to cut down on water usage)? Or... maybe you would be willing to help a stranger if you happen to live in the Tucson area?? I've read some good tutorials from the Meat Birds section of the forum, but honestly I would feel much better having an expert around. It's a little difficult to try consulting a computer/printout when in the middle of things, I imagine.

How did you all learn how to kill and butcher a chicken?

First,

I am self taught with the help of a book. Back in the day before You Tube videos, we read books

My first poultry book was "Raising Poultry Successfully" by Will Graves, copyright 1985. He has very straight forward and good advice. The few pages on butchering with drawings were very helpful to me when I first got started. I basically just followed his instructions and then practiced. If you do not really want to go through the killing/processing of these older hens, consider donating them to the Iskashitaa Refugee Network. I learned about them from a friend in Tucson who had an older flock she wanted to "rehome'. They will pick up your birds and then give them to refugees for food. The refugees come from countries where butchering your own chicken is a normal part of life and they are happy to get the free meat. PM me and I can give you the contact person's name and phone # to call if you want.

 

[Diannastarr]

we are in Bisbee AZ we have a 12 by 20 tarp up to keep the sun off the raised beds of oat grass the hens love , plus a covered dirt bath area ,and a covered deck with a cooler going all day for them ,plus a big fan cooling them , they love that cool deck , but yeah no corn in summer.... but corn is in the scratch..

 

[lacymorgan]

we are in Bisbee AZ we have a 12 by 20 tarp up to keep the sun off the raised beds of oat grass the hens love , plus a covered dirt bath area ,and a covered deck with a cooler going all day for them ,plus a big fan cooling them , they love that cool deck , but yeah no corn in summer.... but corn is in the scratch..

That sounds like a nice set up

 

[lacymorgan]

Well I have decided to try and find someone in AZ that has Cemani eggs so I can go pick them up. That way I can make sure they have the chickens and the eggs stay out of the post office.