Equipment for Processing

[rootes]

I got my processing station set up, finally. Tested it all out Saturday. Processed 7 roosters, a duck and a large turkey. I splurged and got a plucker. The rest came from a guy here in Cleveland that sells used medical/surgical equipment. I found him on Craigslist. What luck!

This is my set-up. It is designed for one person to be able to process poultry with cleanliness, efficiency and practicality. It is all stainless steel. Easy to keep clean. Everything is on wheels and highly portable. Easily moved and stored.

The cone is mounted on an old surgical table stand. I cut the table itself off. It can be raised and lowered to a comfortable height. I can put different size cones on it easily.

Under the cone is a nice wastebasket on wheels. Put a nice liner in the can, then pour come kitty litter in the bottom. Then line the can a second time with another scoop of litter in the bottom. Position the cone over the can and dispatch the bird. When I cleaned up, all the entrails went in here as well as feathers. Off to the compost pile or to the trash with little chance of leaks.

As a scalder I got a "Hydrocollater". It has a 1000 watt heating element, thermostat, a lid, it's fully insulated and it's all stainless steel! Also on wheels for easy moving and storage. It even has a valve and bottom drain to empty easily. It works great!

As I said, I got a plucker. So glad I did. Soooo glad!

Then I got a nice stainless table and several stainless tubs, buckets, stands and such to help with icing, moving and holding different things along the way.

I got 5 stainless steel buckets that are so helpful for water, ice and moving/holding birds in the process.

The table, cone stand, buckets, garbage can roller, scalder, steel tubs and some other misc stuff not pictured for less than $200.

So, look in your city for used medical stuff. If you are trying to find things you can use for processing that are clean, sturdy, portable, flexible and affordable, you might find some used/retired medical/surgical equipment that will do the trick.

I processed the nine birds, by myself, in less than 90 minutes. Set-up and clean-up were a breeze.

I have 15 Cornish-x that will be ready in two weeks. It should go smoothly. It's important to me that I can do this without assistance if I have to. All the stainless makes it so easy to clean and to keep clean.



I hope you get an idea or two from this information.

Be good to yourselves.

Tim

 

[donrae]

What a beautiful set up! Sheesh, I've got a milk jug, a plastic table, cooler chest and some knives. Now I have processing envy

. Love, love all the stainless.

I so want a plucker........

 

[chadmen2013]

I agree very nice setup. Nice job makes things go so much smoother.

 

[MedicDog]

Lovely set up! Do you process many birds per year?

 

[rootes]

Thank you.
I process Cornish-x four times a year.
I've been doing quail twice a year and pheasant once.
This year we will add turkey and duck to the mix.

I try to keep the number of birds I process down around 15-18 at any one time, maximum.
And, we have limited freezer space.

I really had to save hard to get the plucker. It was a hard purchase to make because of the expense. But it's worth every penny. The rest of it was very inexpensive.

I hope there is an idea or two here that could help someone else who wants to find good tools and equipment. I came across the guy selling the medical/surgical stuff and it made a world of difference.

Take Care,

Tim

 

[rootes]

Yesterday the weather here in northern Ohio was spectacular. 45 degrees F the entire afternoon.

I took Mother Nature's cue and got my Cornish-X processed.

15 birds in 2-1/2 hours. 30 minutes set-up and sanitize the equipment. 30 minutes to take down, clean and sanitize. 3-1/2 hours total time, start to finish.

I love stainless steel!!

It was just me with no help in this run. I wanted to see how it would go and if I could do it by myself again without any speed bumps.

By tonight, the freezer will be full of whole chickens, quartered birds, boneless ballotine and some ground chicken. Over 90 pounds of dressed meat.

Good feeling.

The retired medical equipment all worked extremely well.

Keep your eyes out for some of this stuff in your area. Inexpensive, and a great investment.

Take Care,

Tim

 

[Egghead_Jr]

What a beautiful set up! Sheesh, I've got a milk jug, a plastic table, cooler chest and some knives. Now I have processing envy

. Love, love all the stainless.

I so want a plucker........

A cooler! Oh what I'd give for a cooler. I use plastic 5 gallon buckets.

 

[rootes]

Clean 5 gallon pails do a great job. With lids, even better.

Going to have a nice dinner tonight!

 

[donrae]

The cooler is what I use to scald the birds in prior to plucking. I don't have a good way to heat/hold water at the correct temp on a burner. So, I heat it in my canning pot on the stove, carry that to the porch and dump the hot water in a wheeled cooler chest with a good lid. Wheel it to where I'm processing. I usually over-heat the water, but it doesn't seem to cool off much before I need it, so I add some water from the hose to bring it down to temp. We tie baling twine around the bird's feet, put it in the water, replace the lid and agitate the cooler around to swish the water all over. Having the baling twine on the legs keeps you from having to fish around in hot water to pull the bird out----that's an ask me how I know thing

.

I don't use a cooler to chill the birds, but again I don't do very many at a time. Mine all go into Ziploc baggies, or maybe into that same canning pot and into the spare fridge to rest a few days. I've been just cooking them after that, again not many birds at once so it's basically only one meal or several lunches/snacks for our family.

I am wanting to do a batch of CX this spring, so I'll either need to be sure the spare fridge is cleaned out or use some coolers to chill them for a few days. Looking forward to stocking the freezer--- 90lbs is a good amount of meat!

 

[rootes]

I say, whatever works!

These birds were huge. I was surprised.
Part of me thought they would be smaller because they were raised during the winter.
The one thing I did notice is a lack of extra fat on them.
They were solid meat with little fat. I usually try to glean some fat from each bird and keep it for cooking.
But, there just wasn't any.
Maybe they used what they had to keep warm.
I don't know.

But all are neatly tucked in at freezer camp.
Except of course for the one in the oven!