Butchering question??

[ridder]

Well, we finally finished butchering our 96 buff roos yesterday. It was a chore but actually went smoothly. My question is: We dipped them in 145-150 degree water with a few drops of dish soap in it, hosed off the birds after plucking , kept a bucket of bleach water handy for continually washing off the work tables and hosed them off. Washed the chickens with the hose after gutting and put them in a cooler full of ice water after. Is this getting the chickens clean enough? They looked nice and pretty just like you get from the store but I am concerned that we should have dipped them in some kind of solution to clean the skin better. Did we do OK? or should I be concerned that they are not clean. Thanks

 

[Farmer Kitty]

Sounds good to me.

 

[Poler]

ya, that sounds really clean.

The best way to rid yourself of bacteria is to make sure that the chicken is cooked properly.

 

[miss_jayne]

the more you add, chemical-wise, the worse. just moving quickly, as you did, and keeping your work station clean is the best ticket.

you did a great job! now enjoy!

 

[mullers3acers]

I have been helping my dh butcher chickens and turkeys for about 8 years and we pretty much clean the same way you did and haven't had any problems.

 

[Tamidon]

getting your chickens cold as soon as possible is good too. They should go straight from the butchering table to a sink or bucket of cold running water then into the fridge once cold

Remember, the danger zone in food safety is no more than 2 hours between temps of 45 and 140 dF...this is a total time.

 

[miron28]

Hey ridder why do you put dish soap in the water? I am very new to all this so any info I can get will help thank you!!

 

[max13077]

miron28, I think the soap helps the hot water to work through the oils in the feathers to get down to the roots and loosen them up.

 

[ridder]

We put dish soap in the water to desolve the fat around the feathers so they pluck easier. I have got to say that the feathers just brushed off except for the wing feathers those we had to pull a bit. We had one person dispatching the birds and 2 of us dunking and plucking and 2 gutting. We figured we were doing about 16 birds an hour so had a real assembly line going. It helped that my son us a butcher by trade so is very good with a knife. BTW thank you everyone for your answers I feel much better now about cooking the birds with no worries.

 

[TedsFarms]

wow, 16 birds/hr. That sounds like a lot of work to me. Thanks for the soap tip though.