I did it, culled roos

[Mrs. K]

I butchered 5 roos today! and it really was not that hard. I use the milk jug upside down nailed to a tree, used a sharp knife, and my turkey cooker to heat the water. The feathers came right off, pretty easy. I used the directions on the internet to eviscerate them, and it worked slick. My sister in law helped me, and we had no experience. But they are safely in freezer camp now, and I am cooking chicken broth on the stove.

I did not have as nice of skin as I would have liked. Seemed like that even though the feathers pulled easily enough, some black ends were left in the skin? Perhaps someone has some advice?

If you are worried about this, it really did not turn out to be that big of deal. Use a sharp knife, and do it quickly, and it is done. Took us a couple of hours to do 5, but we were not experienced, and I think we will get better.

MrsK

 

[lauralou]

Congrats!

I don't have any advice for you about the skin thing. I never pluck mine, I just skin them out.

 

[rancher hicks]

Well I have to say I am jealous, as I have yet to do this. As for the pin feathers I understand that you can pull them out with pliers. Also I've read that plucking is easier with the gloves with rubber palms and fingers.

congratulations

Rancher

 

[ChickieBooBoo]

Congrats! It really isnt that hard after the first one!

You can take a torch once your done to get rid of those little feathers, just kinda burn them off.

 

[Mrs. K]

you know, for as much as I worried about it, it is kind of scary how easy it was. Made me feel like a pioneer women! Dang they were tough girls.

And your own chickens do taste better! mk

 

[PunkinPeep]

Are you talking about the black stuff that's kind of underneath the skin?

I get that most often when we butcher dark birds like BSLs. I've found that i can use my finger nail to kind of press and push it out of the pores. I don't worry too much about it though.

 

[Mrs. K]

yes, they were dark birds, mostly a barred rock cross. I could work them out, but it was tedious. so by not worrying about them, does that mean you cook them with them in there?

 

[PunkinPeep]

I think that means that i do bother with the most obvious spots, mostly because it freaks my husband out a little, but i don't get obsessive about it. It appears to me to be very fatty, and you can't see it after you cook it. I don't think i've paid attention specifically to whether it cooks out - mostly because i never see it after it's cooked.....so it must.

LOL

Did that make any sense?

 

[TomG]

Wow Mrs K! Good show. I have not proccessed a chicken yet. You make it sound doable on a small scale without fancy equipment. Question... How long does it take to pluck one bird?

 

[Mrs. K]

The website I went to, suggested having your water at 150 degrees, and dunking the bird up and down, then giving a test pull. If the least bit hard, dunk him again. I used a propane cooker ring to heat my biggest pot, (I can cook 30 lbs of potatoes in it, and do for branding) and it was a bit more than 150 for the first bird. And the video was right, first dunk, hard to pull, 3rd dunk, feathers came out very easily.

The feathers pulled off easily and in big handfuls, we did this in the garage as it was cold here yesterday. And placed most of the feathers in a brown paper sack. It really did not take a long time, maybe 5-10 minutes to get off most of the feathers, then you had to repick a bit. We did 5 and I didn't time it, but it was not as bad as I thought it might be. I watched the video on the youtube of a picker, and that did look slick, but unless you are processing a large amount of birds, not real necessary.

MK