- Dec 31, 2012
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I have done both now and with smaller birds you get so much more if you pluck, but I like the idea of having lots of left over scraps on the cage for stock. We have a system now that allows us to process a bird in around 20 minutes. I Bleed the bird and then check on the scalder, once up to temp I hand the bird to my wife and she scalds and starts plucking, I then get number 2 and bleed him. Once plucking is finished no.1 goes on the processing table and I go and get no.3, no.2 is then taken by my wife for scalding and plucking while I process no.1, then no.4 is taken to be bled and no.2 is now ready for processing and no.3 is ready for scalding and plucking. We just keep going untill we are done. Then My wife starts clearing up the feathers wile I process the last chicken and then it's clear up time. The system works well and we each have our own jobs to be doing.
If I were doing it on my own then I would probably just skin the birds, but with a helper (or two) you can process very quickly.