First cull today. Question about processing issue

[ILChickenTV]

Kosher process? That does sound like a pain. Doesn't a certified shochet have to do the slaughtering and use special kosher knives and tools that are only meant for butchering for the meat to be considered kosher, among other pretty strict and hard to follow rules like the knife being sharpened in a certain way, the plucking having to be done cold (not scalded), etc? If it was a home butchering, how on earth did you manage all that?

My neighbor is certified and has the equipment, and we were plucking but we ended up just skinning them. Then there's the whole salting process. It was only two chickens and two quail, but it basically took an entire afternoon.

 

[Everlastinghoop]

Your scald was too hot/too long. For me, I won't go over 150F if I can help it, I like it right at 145F. Dip and swish and pull out, repeatedly - start trying to pull a wing feather after the third dip and continue just until they'll slide out. Even so, I still sometimes get them a bit over-scalded and will have yellowed top layers of skin kind of slough off a bit, though that doesn't hurt anything.

Good job!

Thank you so much! We ate a nice rooster salad though last night....our first homegrown from egg to plate!