Considerations for butchering in heat - time between death and processing?

[Parront]

Likewise, but gas wasn't an option in many of the places we've lived.

We will not buy a place without gas. One house we paid $300 to get the gas to a different place and took out the crappy 70's electric monster stove. Put in a new exhaust vent and the kitchen was 1000 times better. That house did not have a vent over the stove because it was electric. It had so much grease on everything my husband would not even use those old cabinets in the garage! I am not kidding, it was like fur.

 

[aart]

That house did not have a vent over the stove because it was electric.

I have an avocado(hint at it's age) electric stove.
It has a great hood, vents to outside the house.

 

[Parront]

I have an avocado(hint at it's age) electric stove.
It has a great hood, vents to outside the house.

You got that right! This had a HUGE 70's, non-operative microwave over the top. All one piece. All covered in pre-historic grease. The house was listed for 6 months before we made an offer of 50k less than they asked, they took it. The kitchen was the reason. Think of Green, Yellow, Orange sponge paint to match your stove, now cover all that with grease that has not been removed since the stove was new.

 

[3KillerBs]

We will not buy a place without gas. One house we paid $300 to get the gas to a different place and took out the crappy 70's electric monster stove. Put in a new exhaust vent and the kitchen was 1000 times better. That house did not have a vent over the stove because it was electric. It had so much grease on everything my husband would not even use those old cabinets in the garage! I am not kidding, it was like fur.

Alas, in our previous home the cost of retrofiting the place with propane, including complying with all town regulations about the siting of the tank, was prohibitive. Before that we had what the landlord provided.

 

[Parront]

Alas, in our previous home the cost of retrofiting the place with propane, including complying with all town regulations about the siting of the tank, was prohibitive. Before that we had what the landlord provided.

Yes, never having had gas makes it too difficult. Running a little more pipe is do-able.

 

[HomesteadMom5]

Butchering in the heat is helpful to have the offal and feathers (if you pluck) set far away from your work station as well as your hanging site (I use baling twine tied to a cross post and looped around the leg); in my experience the flies seem to flock to the discards. I butchered over 100 300lb+ hogs last May-June and found that bleeding and moving the discards far away helped a ton with the flies.
I typically do the birds by myself. I have a pot of water for the feet, a bucket with a bag set a couple feet away that I can toss stuff in and once the bag gets full I move it further away and start a new one.
I prefer to hand pluck and can dispatch, bleed out, scald, pluck, cut feet off, and gut a bird within 8-10 minutes. The birds then go into a 55 gallon lined can filled with ice water; as long as they’re submerged the flies don’t bother them.
I did 26 birds, dispatched 2 at a time, a few weeks ago and between waiting for more water to heat up, stopping to make lunch/help kids with something, and taking the neighbors dog home (she kept trying to get the hanging carcasses) it took me about 4 hours. Then the cutting and packaging took another 2-3 hours. In comparison, I helped my neighbors, new to the task, do 10 - I did 3 and helped them with theirs - and it took quite a while, but then again they didn’t pen the birds up the night before. I’m doing 25 tomorrow morning (going to dispatch 5 at once this time to try to speed things up) and then I’m done for a couple of months.
Once you do it more than a couple times or do several it’ll get easier and faster.

 

[ladybrasa]

I prefer to hand pluck and can dispatch, bleed out, scald, pluck, cut feet off, and gut a bird within 8-10 minutes.

I envy and admire you on multiple levels