How many can you process in one day by yourself (with a tub-plucker)?

[Tiffrz-N-Kidz]

Hi all,

I am getting ready to process the 23 CX I have ready to go. I am borrowing a scalder and tub plucker from a fellow 4-H parent, and I am wondering if I am being realistic thinking I will be able to get all 23 done this weekend.

I have about 4 hours on Saturday to dedicate to this, and all day Sunday. This is my second go at processing, the first was our Thanksgiving turkey who weighed over 20 lbs and took me a solid 2 hours start to finish (most of that was time spent hand plucking the FLIPPIN pin feathers from HADES).

Oh, and they are 11 weeks old. I noticed one had some weird pin-like feathers on its breast, but I think the others are all downy.

 

[Oregon Blues]

I can't remember how long it took me to dress a chicken by myself with hand plucking.

I butcher with 2 people, which speeds things up, and use a plucker and also use wax. I know it took 2 people 30 minutes to do a goose because the plucker wasn't getting many of the feathers, so they were mostly hand plucked.

The right scalding is your key to cutting down the time it takes. I don't know how long it would take me to dress a chicken, but I could sure as shootin' do 23 by myself in one day.

Birds will pluck better if you put 2-3 of them into the plucker at the same time. Keep the time they are in there down, because if they are in there too long you will get broken hip and leg joints.

After the birds are chilled, I part them out, so I get a break while they chill, then they can be moved into the kitchen where I remove legs for dog food, remove wings to be packaged for Buffalo wings. The majority are cut in half, because that is the most common way I use them in cooking. I like to be able to take them directly out of the packaging and into the pan. A lot of people just freeze their birds whole, though.

 

[Tiffrz-N-Kidz]

Thank you O.B. This gives me hope.

I was thinking that with the scalder and plucker I would be able to rip right through them (pun intended.)

 

[LilyD]

We did 19 starting at about 9 am and we were done by about 3pm that is using a scalder and plucker but doing our own gutting and then piecing out the chickens and shrink wrapping the parts. If you just did the killing plucking and gutting and left them whole it would take you a lot less than that.

 

[kizanne]

Is the skin this valuable. I saw a video on Youtube about skinning the chicken instead of scalding/plucking. He had that down to about 2 minutes but he skinned. My family doesn't actually eat the skin so I was going to try that to make things easy. Other than being able to eat the skin am I missing some downside to not having a skin?

 

[Ariel301]

I can do about 20 birds in a day, plucking by hand. You get faster the more you practice. If you're not going to eat the skin, it's all right to just skin birds, I do it sometimes when I'm lazy or tired. The only really good thing about having the skin on is if you're roasting or grilling, it helps to keep the moisture in. But with Cornish Cross, it doesn't matter as much as with a regular bird, because they're more moist and tender and fatty anyway.

 

[jessicayarno]

Quote:
IMO skin equals flavor. My family doesn't eat the skin either, but it does keep the bird moist and adds alot of flavor to the meat..

 

[ghulst]

With my wizbang plucker I did 19 in 4 hours all the way to the freezer by myself.

 

[Oregon Blues]

[[[[[........Is the skin this valuable......]]]]]

Speaking as a cook, yes, it is.

 

[gallorojo]

I have done 8 myself skinning them in about 1 1/2 hours.
I have done 12 with 2 helpers plucking them, in 1 1/2 hours, or, 30 with 2 helpers to pluck, in 3-4 hours.
I would imagine you could go way faster with a tub plucker, so, I could probably do 30 birds in 3 hours myself if I had a good plucker.