How long does it take YOU to process a chicken?

[zowieyellowflame]

Did 1 today, about 1 hr. skinned.

 

[silkiechicken]

Provided my water is hot and ready to go at 160F, from the deed to fridge is probably 10 min for a younger bird plucked, 15 for an older tough bird plucked. The part that takes the longest is prepping the feet and innards for soup. Since I use the feet as scalding handles, the water can be a bit cool by the time I get there and the nails can be a pain to get off. If I am skinning and only saving the body meat without feet wings or insides, probably 5-10 to have it in the pot.

Of course, set up and clean up is extra time depending on how big a mess I make. If it's just one bird, the whole thing including heating water is probably 20 min total.

The key to plucking is to get that water temp and dip duration just right. Latex gloves helps with removal of feathers and keeping hands clean.

The key to skinning is to lop off the wings and feet before pulling the skin off... and to just pluck older birds. LOL

The first birds I did when I was 13 or so took about an hour each plucked and was totally botched in that the skin was over scorched. So over a decade of practice and it's gotten real easy.

 

[zowieyellowflame]

Quote:
Do you think it is worth the effort to save the feet? Innards? which ones? neck?

 

[silkiechicken]

Feet are great for stock. Save the neck, gizzard, liver, heart to put into stock with the feet and neck.

 

[zowieyellowflame]

How do you take the "socks" off?

 

[silkiechicken]

If scalded at the same temp and duration of the rest of the bird, they just pull right off, socks and nails. Just like feathers.

 

[sesa]

My son and I did 6 corrnish X yesterday skinned in about an hour.

 

[eudyptes]

I just did my first roosters in two batches of six each, a mixed bag of barred rocks, partridge rocks, RIRs, and one black one--not sure if it was an australorp or a Jersey giant. Anyway, by myself (and it's been cold, so keeping the water hot enough to scald has been a problem) I average just under an hour apiece: Kill, scald, pluck, gut, wash, bag. I'm used to duck hunting, where it's usually just skin and breast them out; this takes me much longer. However, the first few take the longest as the water isn't usually quite hot enough when I start, so plucking takes forever. The rest go quicker. The biggest time saver for me is a bigger scalder, which I will be rigging before my next processing (probably this summer).

Also, on the resting thing, we fried one up the first night and the dark meat was rubbery (to the point of being inedible--I have since cooked it down for soup meat). After being in the freezer two weeks, I put two more (that had been halved) on the gas grill and they were fine. Legs might have been a bit tough but nothing serious. The second batch of six are currently "resting" in the beer fridge since being processed yesterday. I won't make that mistake again. But in my limited experience, freezing does help.

 

[Teach97]

I skin and probably run about 10 minutes a bird...pheasants run a couple minutes as well for me...Can't remember last set of chickens I did...

rabbits run couple minutes for me...probably the fastest critter for me...we have that one down...as long as the boys hang on good that is

 

[Illia]

I would say about 15-30 minutes per bird. And I'm talking about LF chickens.

I don't pluck though, and I most definitely do not bleed birds either.