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
ya, that sounds really clean. The best way to rid yourself of bacteria is to make sure that the chicken is cooked properly.
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!
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.
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.
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!!
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.
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.
