"dispatching" & scalding ?'s

[Ibicella]

No, water won't get inside them. You will be waiting for the body to stop spazzing before you dunk, so they can't inhale water or anything.

Scalding water is around 145-165 degrees. I normally do it at 150 degrees. I dunk for 30 seconds and then pull at one of the big primary feathers on the wing. If it comes out easily, I take the bird out and start plucking. If it's still kind of stuck, I dip it again for another 10-15 seconds.

For cutting, I cut just under where the cartilage at the base of the sternum is. It's up far enough that I don't hit the bowels. I widen the hold I made lengthwise, and then pull the cavity open with my fingers. I can scoop the guts out easily then, and finish up carving off the neck and feet.

For an example of what I'm talking about, you can see it here:

WARNING. VERY GRAPHIC VIDEO OF KILLING AND BUTCHERING (but well filmed if that's what you need to watch! It's also in Spanish, but you don't need the commentary if you don't understand Spanish)

Do the entire cleaning process before you put it on ice. Don't leave the guts inside when you put the bird to rest in the fridge.

 

[Tracydr]

Quote:
I do this, too. I'm then able to do mostly dry plucking, which I prefer. The pithing somehow loosens the feathers. I only have to dunk to get the last few stubborn ones. Cuts way down on smell.

 

[CCourson05]

I just watched a lot of YouTube videos before my first try. The first try went smoothly... I slit the throat... and scald for about 15-20 seconds at 170 degree water..

The hardest part of gutting is... loosening the esophagus. (IT IS SO SLIMY AND SLIPPERY!!) and sometimes the lungs are snug in the chest cavity... A spoon helps with that if it poses problems.

 

[booker81]

There is a photo blog in my signature for pretty much all the steps, might want to check it out. I slit the neck, but that's more because I barely can cut a tree limb with loppers, let alone make a clean kill on a chicken.

 

[Midwest Lizabeth]

Well, it took almost two months, but we finally got around to sending some of the roos to "freezer camp". Just wanted to thank all of you for encouragement. Hubby/I neither one wanted to do them in, but we all gotta start sometime if we don't want to just give them away for someone else to eat. The rowdy boys (7 months) were starting to tear up the feathers on the hens.

The loppers don't really go through the feathers worth a darn, so we ended up using a sharp knife to do the deed (dispatch) and loppers for some of the disassembly (heads, feet).

Roos were gathered up in morning and put in large dog kennel (empty croups). We set up a water bath at 150 degrees (turkey fryer that had that nice temperature guage), a double lined large trash can (wonderful, most useful idea from someone on this forum), knives, loppers, cutting board, and a couple of large trays of cold water, & zip lock bags outside (weather for January is crazy warm). I'd grab a roo (thanking him for his life), hubby would hold him over the trashcan, I slit both sides of his neck with a sharp knife, he'd get lowered into the trashcan (after first one, hubby held roos feet with one hand & gently pinned both wings together infront of bird. . .I had to help him to gather both wings. . .minimized flapping/spatter--if you don't hold the wings, at least put bunge cords around the outside of the trashcan to hold the trash bag. . .that first bird made a mess and flopped the bags all over the place. . .not fun to reassemble the trashcan/bags) to bleed out, when bled out he'd raise them up and then I'd lop off the heads (didn't want to look at them) with my trusty tree loppers, then into the 150 degee water for 60 seconds (had to use a broom handle to keep submerged). Back to the trash can to scrap off the feathers (they all came off easily, except the one that got dunked at 170 degrees which got a few tears in his skin), then we'd rinse any loose feathers, I'd lop off the legs (we did skin the legs, the loose skin and flaking toe nails were wierd. .they'll either become frozen dog treats or soup sock. . .if I can get over their appearance). The dispatching and de-feathering were the easiest part of the processing.

I'd get to finish processing the bird. Getting the guts out was the most challenging aspect. I started at the neck, loosening the croup (it was harder to see not full) and "things"/trachia--a couple I even tied in knots so the stuff could not ooze out (just being extra cautious), cut off the neck (saved for stock), and go to the back of the bird to cut around the vent to pull all of the stuff out (kept heart, liver, gizzard). The first one looked terrrible, I wacked his legs/thighs/wings off before I got the insides removed. I did get better as I went along. I did opt to cut off the hole tail part so there would be no way to have the oil glands taint the meat at a later point in time. The rest of them were done as whole birds. We'll be storing them in the refrig for a few days before they go to the freezer. I might go a head and cut them up to help avoid freezer burn (we're just using zip lock bags).

These were our first home grown chickens that we butchered. It was somewhat awful, but we did have a sense of pride that we did the deeds. Hubby said one month we are worrying about pasty butt and then a few months later, we're killing them. I did give three roos away. But, then we bought them, raised them and we do eat meat. My feeling is that if one eats meat, that they should know where it comes from and how much it took to get into the nice plastic wrapper that we see in the grocery. It took us 1/2 day. There are Amish close that charge $2/bird to process--not a bad deal. We might opt to use them the next time, or not. We are taking a steer to them for processing. I can't imagine wacking up a steer. . . then again. . .I guess I can. As long as we can afford them, they'll get the steers.

Red Neck Tech/Booker81 & all that helped me: The photos/u-tube (graphic) were great, really appreciated them! This website and forum are so useful. Thanks again!

 

[silkiechicken]

Congrats! It really does only get easier from here on out. Remember to slow cook these boys.

 

[GoChick]

Quote:
which loppers do you use?

 

[Smiles-N-Sunshine]

Congratulations!

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Yes, and you will continue to improve! Though dispatch day is never as much fun as hatch day, they're both necessary for the final product: fresh, home-raised poultry. Ignore the "fowl" looks from others: Meat does not grow on a meat tree, and well over 99% of the world's chickens didn't have nearly as pleasant a life as yours did.

After a few more times, you'll probably develop your own method. I ended up preferring to skin rather than scald, as most of my recipes has the skin removed anyway. And I prefer to cradle the bird in my left arm, hold its neck in my left hand, and use a double-edged sticking knife with my right hand to pierce (not slice) its jugular, and bleed it out by holding it upside down by the feet. (I've never heard of anyone else doing it this way.)

You might want to splurge on a FoodSaver vacuum sealer at some point. I've been very pleased with ours.

Again, congrats, and enjoy your chicken dinners!

Bryan

 

[ScottyHOMEy]

Looks like pleny of advice.

I'll just add a little punctuation to your question about the temp of the scalding water. The 145-160 range is a good one

A rolling boil is a boil and will be too hot, with the effect of cooking the skin and you'll be pulling skin off along with feathers.

A thermometer is handy to have.

If they're not plucking well, increase your temp as suggested by 5-degree increments until things go more smoothly. If you find yourself tearing the skin, I'd suggest dropping the temp by a whole ten degrees and adjusting from there until you find the right temp.

 

[Midwest Lizabeth]

GoChick: "Anvil-type" for trimming trees. . .available at most farm stores or hardwear stores. I go through several pairs a year (trimming tree limbs, not on chickens). I've even bought them at "Aldi" grocery stores in the spring when they've got the gardening supplies. They'll usually cut limbs up to about 1".

Regarding our processing, one thing I had obtained but forgot about was a "cone". Had we actually used a cone. . .it would have solved the flapping issue.