Butchering your roosters!

[Parront]

Starry Hilder Off Grid Homestead....her husband made a plucker using his drill, lol. Go check it out...cheap....

That took about the same amount of time as by hand, as far as I can tell. Made a much bigger mess, though. I heated the water in a canner just like that one, on my stove in the kitchen, then hand picked at the kitchen table into a garbage can, no feathers flying into a wheelbarrow! What a mess!
Edited to add: In the kitchen there is AC, important in AZ!

 

[Bonniebooboo]

Starry Hilder Off Grid Homestead....her husband made a plucker using his drill, lol. Go check it out...cheap....

That was interesting. It could work. they seem happy with it. I probably would need instructions on how to put it together. I just skinned mine. have a few more to do and will skin them as well. I do like having the cone. It does good at holding them there.. May get another one for next year. Thank you for sharing the video. I enjoyed it.

 

[Leighe]

That is what I was hoping to avoid

Yeah, if you do the bleed out method you won't have that problem and if you just cut the head off you can put a grocery bag (plastic) or bucket and hang it so the part where the head was, is in the container and any movement of the body or blood will go into the container.

 

[Leighe]

That took about the same amount of time as by hand, as far as I can tell. Made a much bigger mess, though. I heated the water in a canner just like that one, on my stove in the kitchen, then hand picked at the kitchen table into a garbage can, no feathers flying into a wheelbarrow! What a mess!
Edited to add: In the kitchen there is AC, important in AZ!

Yep....I still use my hands to pluck. There is a peacefulness as I'm doin it. I'm interested in the skinnin instead of pluckin.....may have to try it this next year (after some research, lol)

 

[Parront]

Yep....I still use my hands to pluck. There is a peacefulness as I'm doin it. I'm interested in the skinnin instead of pluckin.....may have to try it this next year (after some research, lol)

If you only have one or 2, skinning is faster and easier. An old rooster is going into the crock-pot or pressure cooker, no skin needed. An old hen with lots of fat, the skin is good slow roasted.
The fat is good for lots of cooking that you use fat for, but I like to use it for frying potatoes! Save the fat by putting the juice in the frig, then take fat off when it is solid. The juice from the roaster is the best broth ever. Boil the bones and ad the juice from the roaster for chicken noodle or dumplings!

 

[peterlund]

CRUEL!!!!!!!!!

Cruel to butcher? Or cruel to sell? Excess boys are just a byproduct of egg production.
Meat doesn't grow on trees..... yet!

 

[jvls1942]

I bought a cone from the farm store near here.
it is one of those parking cones you see everywhere.
I made a hole large enough to stick my hand through to pull the chicken's head through.

I build pluckers and sell them.
ever hear of a Whizbang ?
Mine are styled after that one.
I have made no less than 18 improvements of the original plans.
my first one was V-belt driven,
I developed a series of sprockets and made the next four chain driven.
I can pluck 2 or 3 chickens at a time in less than a minute.
just toss them into the tup and let the fingers do the walking, plucking, that is..
I tried a fish scaler similar to that drill plucker.. it was just as messy..

 

[Leighe]

If you only have one or 2, skinning is faster and easier. An old rooster is going into the crock-pot or pressure cooker, no skin needed. An old hen with lots of fat, the skin is good slow roasted.View attachment 1126530
The fat is good for lots of cooking that you use fat for, but I like to use it for frying potatoes! Save the fat by putting the juice in the frig, then take fat off when it is solid. The juice from the roaster is the best broth ever. Boil the bones and ad the juice from the roaster for chicken noodle or dumplings!

Roosters on my farm are for chicken stock, lol. I definitely save the fat and skim it off the top after refrigerating it, though I have never thought about using it for potatoes! Love that idea. Thanks for makin me drool!

 

[Leighe]

Heard of them, read about them, but have never seen one. How tolerant of heat are they?

Mine made it through the Texas summer just fine. Honestly, they are so cute! They are short to the ground so they don't always make it to the "treats" fast enough, when I throw some out, so I'll sneak around and see where they are and try to give them some first. I have three of them and when I got them I wasn't sure if I would be butcherin but I had CX once and they remind me of them (as far as big breasts) but they are "real" chickens, lol, so they are with the rest of the flock. I'm gettin more to raise for butcherin. They lay small white eggs, about the size of Ameraucana eggs

 

[peterlund]

I bought a cone from the farm store near here.
it is one of those parking cones you see everywhere.
I made a hole large enough to stick my hand through to pull the chicken's head through.

I build pluckers and sell them.
ever hear of a Whizbang ?
Mine are styled after that one.
I have made no less than 18 improvements of the original plans.
my first one was V-belt driven,
I developed a series of sprockets and made the next four chain driven.
I can pluck 2 or 3 chickens at a time in less than a minute.
just toss them into the tup and let the fingers do the walking, plucking, that is..
I tried a fish scaler similar to that drill plucker.. it was just as messy..

I am curious.... do you sell plans? You would do well to sell detailed plans and sourced components.
Drop me a PM with a link to your plucker