Has anyone here Killed/butchered and processed there own Chickens?

[salshep20]

Nice!

Does anyone here throw the leftover non-food parts for the dogs?

 

[chipens]

I do my excess roosters from breeding, I have barred rocks, orpingtons and araucana(they're not so good for meat) I'm currently changing out araucanas for rhode Islands. The barred rocks and orpingtons are not bad for meat birds. I hatch and grow till they can go outside then they're penned keep them from running round too much and fed a meatbird feed, optimizes growth. Once they're a good size about 4 months we process them. Off with their heads, bleed out in a cone. Into a scalding pot, hand plucked (working on a barrel plucker). On to the table for gutting, legs off, tidy up, into iced water. Aldo keep livers for patè. We can do about 10 at a time comfortably, 2 people. Usually kill 2 at a time. They then get bagged up in the fridge overnight to rest. Next day they get cut up into portions. I do a mix, legs, thighs usually bone out skin on, drums n wings, nibbles, breast skin on or off. Half chooks or spatchcock. All the carcass bones skin etc, goes into freezer for making stock. All gets bagged up labeled and into the freezer.

 

[salshep20]

Hundreds. I haven’t raised broilers in 5-6 years but I used to for 14-15 years, Cornish X, 25 at a time, a sharp knife and orange traffic cones are handy, I use 2 and alternate cones catching blood in a bucket and I use that blood to make my catfish bait, my excess cockerels get made into dog food and old retired layer hens get processed and ground into dog food and vaccum sealed and put in freezer.. ground up chicken, cooked rice and mixed veggies make a happy dog or nurse a sick dog back to health. nowadays I don’t make near as much dog food as I used to, but I manage to keep some in freezer just in case of emergencies.. I have many Mennonite farms in the area and some raise broilers, beef and pork and I trade eggs and produce nowadays so no need to mess with my own broilers

You sound like you know what your doing

 

[Poultrybonkers]

My processing days are coming up fast with all these males im sick of them and the hens are sick of em to

 

[Silexian]

Over the years I have processed about every type of poultry. Discussing chickens. In my childhood we just processed the extra roosters that our broody hens hatched. My parents then started buying the “Fry pan special” which was just hatchery over run cockerels. Mostly dual purpose breeds. Like the ones from our own flock. They did not grow very fast. They were all different colors. So there was sometimes pigmentation left in the feather follicles. Which didn’t make for the most desirable looking finished product. When I was a teenager they bought their first batch of Cornish cross chicks. We were just astonished at the feed conversion to meat they possessed. Plus having white feathers. What a nice looking table fowl. Before killing cones. We hung our birds in 55 gallon drums. To limit flopping and to contain the mess while dispatching them. We heated water in a 30 gallon drum to scald them. Then plucked them by hand. Keeping bowls of cold water close. So we could cool our hands down. After gutting them, we placed the clean carcasses in wash tubs full of cold water. To chill them. Before we packaged them and put them in the freezer. Through the years my parents and then myself. Have upgraded our equipment and facilities. To now include a scalder, a plucker, proper knives and tables. Which streamlines and makes the process easier. I am currently seeking alternatives to buying Cornish cross chicks every year. Seeing how supply and prices vary so wildly now.

 

[638858]

Here’s the cheap cone technique

 

[LadyoftheLandfill]

We’ve done chickens, ducks, and geese. My kids have done most of the chickens because raw chicken meat grosses me out, but we had a ton of Jersey Giant crossed cockerels (jerks) that were just begging to be butchered that I helped with. Processing fresh chicken really isn’t bad. It’s not slimy and yucky smelling like grocery store chicken.

Ducks are my favorite to carve and we’ve been experimenting with duck meat in place of beef after all the shortages around here in 2020, so far with great success! A classic beef stew with duck meat substituted is amazing!

Our rotary type plucker is more designed for ducks and geese than chickens, so we usually just skin them, which is super easy with chickens.

We haven’t gotten a killing cone yet, so we tie them up by their feet and someone has to hold them while another person chops the head off with tree branch loppers. Keep the loppers sharp and it’s the easiest and safest method we’ve found. Ducks and geese are the sweetest things and they take a while to bleed out, so that part is hard.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Yes. Chickens and Ducks. Mostly mutts. There's even pictures in my Culling Project thread. No cone. Hang from the scale, decapitate with a SHARP! chef's knife. Break down with the chef's and a fillet or boning knife, depending on how far I'm taking the process.

16-20 weeks, sometimes as early as 12, rarely as old as 2 years - depending on gender, purpose, and production on the property. Most males have short lives, productive females get much longer.

I'd love to claimit happens weekly, but its biweekly, more frequently 2-5 each time, depending on what I need to balance in the flock. Excess males? Schnict. Unproductive female or unwanted coloration? Schnict. Severe injury? Schnict. You get the point. I keep the ones I want to eat to advance the project, and eat the ones that don't measure up.

 

[NatJ]

Does anyone here throw the leftover non-food parts for the dogs?

I've done that. I did not give the dog feathers (didn't want them all over the lawn!), but he was happy to eat everything else-- meat, bones, organs, digestive system and its contents, etc.

Of course you should consider how big the dog is, and how much stuff you are giving him at once. And I know that some dogs are picky eaters, and some have sensitive stomachs, but those were not problems with the dog I had.

 

[stealthmayhem]

That's cool! I also use a chicken tractor!! It fertilizes my grass and makes it grow greener

Yep same here. I do 25 a year to stock the freezer.