got a nice rir roo for meat!!

[pringle]

Ok so this is my first time butchering a chicken with my dad.The last time he butchered one was 5 years ago when I was 8 (I was to freaked out but I loved the meat).We got a nice big rir from my dads friend and I put it in a chicken tractor so it could atleast have a nice last day of its life.We are butchering it tommorow and im wondering if I should feed it anything.Were gonna use a ax and pull out the feathers.I want to also know if there are any useful tools I could use for plucking him after I dumped him in hot water.How hot should the water be?thx for all the info you guys give me but I need it kinda fast for tommorow.

 

[Nikki28]

I have never butchered a bird (yet) so unfortunately I can't help you much except to bump this up so hopefully someone can assist. I think it's great that he gets a nice little day before you do the deed. Good luck and enjoy the food!

 

[chevydmax04]

you should hold off on feeding for generally about 12 hours, that way the crop is full of food. As for the scalding process to remove feathers, I have found that heating the water to approx 130 degrees and giving the bird around a 30 second dip seems to work good for me. They should come right out, to get the pin feathers I use a soft bristle dish washing brush.
As for removing the head I have found a large knife, like a butchers knife works very well, I have a large wood block I put two nails in, place the neck between the nails strech it out a bit and whack with the knife and off it comes nice and clean.

Good luck!

 

[wichix411]

Google "how to butcher a chicken". Its on a blog and I followed it to a t. I would advise going there. It works perfectly every time for plucking if you have the water between 145-150 degrees and dunk them in for 4 seconds at a time. Each time you dunk them, wigglethem around in the water. After each 4 second dunk/wiggle, try pulling out one of the long flight feathers. Youknow that you've dunked them enough times when a long flight feather pulls out with no resistance. 30 seconds in hot water would probably not be a good thing, as it would kinda discolor the skin and prolly significantly raise the temp of the carcass, which everybody knows isn't a good thing... Good luck! Pm me if you have anymore ?'s!!!

Ps.- I don't know if you are building-inclined, but a killing cone made out of metal roof flashing works awesome.

 

[jaku]

Hold off feed for 24 hours, and most importantly, read Frugal's sticky thread at the top of this section.