I never knew raising meat chickens would be so stressful

[ChickyLaura]

I do have to admit though, I have 2 meat birds that we acquired by accident (sort of). We initially were going to eat them, but now I don't think I can.

 

[steveo]

All I can say is never again. I got six birds done and 11 to go. I plucked the six by hand and never never again. I need to build myself a plucker and then I would do this again or I will make sure the butcher is open for business before I get my birds. I might even consider paying someone to raise my birds for me.

 

[cassie]

Quote:
I would be interested in knowing who put out the video. I am not saying that there are not abuses, but I question whether it is the norm. I live in an area where there are a lot of large commercial broiler and turkey facilities. While these facilities do not allow visitors because of biosecurity, many of these broiler houses are near the road and on nice days you can see right in. During bad weather you cannot because they have the curtains down to block the wind. There is no odor. You can see the turkeys or chickens moving around and doing whatever it is turkeys and chickens do. They look content to me. During hot weather, and it gets hot here, they have fans on the birds. The turkeys and chickens look clean and white and the bedding is dry. I know it is dry because if it gets wet it smells. I drive right by these places several times a week.

By the way, I have also had some experience with the radical animal rights (as opposed to animal welfare) activists. It has not been pretty. A few months ago they invaded an egg farm not far from me and came up with some pretty lurid film footage of alleged abuses. They generated lots of publicity. There were articles in the newspapers and TV news trucks from all the major networks came down to cover the story. Trouble was, they staged most of it and the egg farm could prove it. Currently the egg farm is suing the activists for defamation.

The animal rights activists have an agenda. The agenda is making money. The animals are a means to that end. The more sensational and lurid the film footage of alleged abuses they can obtain, the more publicity they get, and the more money is contributed to their organization. Accuracy and actually improving the welfare of animals is not a priority with them.

 

[cassie]

Quote:
Plucking birds isn't fun. But if you get the water hot enough, add dish detergent to the water, and dunk them long enough it helps. I have been using water about 150 degrees and I dunk them until I can pull out wing feathers easily. That is a little hotter than most of the books say, but if I can get the feathers off, I don't care. I keep thinking about my grandmother who could dry pick a chicken in two minutes flat.

 

[joebryant]

If God wanted us to go to all the hassle of raising Cornish X, he wouldn't have given us the Amish. We buy ours for about ten bucks each in BloomingTON, IN, all raised and processed... DELICIOUS!

Edited to correct spelling of Bloomington.

 

[steveo]

Quote:
I wish there was some Amish near me in Poland, Maine

 

[Riparian]

Hey Steve, sorry to hear about your bad luck. I pay to have mine processed, because plucking is such a tedious job.

 

[steveo]

Quote:
I will probably finish up the rest of the birds next weekend and the next batch will go to the butcher or I will build myself a whiz bang plucker. I may even build one to do my remaining birds if I can find the time before next weekend. The only bad part about this whole experience was plucking by hand, everything else was not a big deal.

 

[Riparian]

did you scald them first? I dry plucked a bird once, never again though.

 

[steveo]

Quote:
Yes I scalded the birds and most of the feathers came out ok, it is just a tedeous task. My scalder was a lobster pot that I put on the burner on my gas grill. I scalded the bird and then put the pot back on the grill to heat back up while I was plucking.