Shoudl I feed my meat birds in the last day before processing? I know of some species you pull up the food. Also, I've never processed before and I'm getting a little wigged out. How long do you put them in the boiling water for? What's a boning knife for? Can't I just use a good meat cleaver? Do you take out the organs before or after plucking? Some of my brids have poopy butts. Can I just wait until we process for that or should I clean them up while they're alive?
Here this should help you out http://www.butcherachicken.blogspot.com/ this is where I went for my info
Quote:It's been a few years since I last butchered chickens and ducks but here's what I remember. Stop feeding for 24 hrs so their crops are emptied, food in the crops makes a mess, besides the food will not be process by the bird anyway. Depends on how hot the water is but never submerge more than 30 secs to a minute--the less time the better as you don't want to cook the bird. You'll adjust as your learning curve improves and you find that ideal point. I'd even dry pluck on occasion when I had the time I never used a boning knife or meat cleaver. I used a small very sharp paring knife if I want boneless breast or thighs--worked ok for me. I'd cut joints with a good meat scissors. Keep the organs in until you're done plucking, in fact, get rid of as much of the feather mess as you can before opening the bird--they stick to everything. Cleaning them up may be the worst part of the job. The cleaner the birds are before you start, the less mess and danger of disease you'll have to contend with. My Cornish X's always had poop on them as they got older and heavier, I'd try to hose them off before butchering as best I could. Good luck. Hope this helps.
I like to keep them off feed for about 36 hours before processing. I just use a single sharp skinning knife. Works great for me. The order I have always used is kill-scald-pluck-gut-bag. I scald at 145 degrees for 60 seconds in 10 second increments A good spray with the hose after killing but before the scald should fix any birds which are a bit dirty.
