Killing, Plucking, Eviscerating, & Cutting Up Your Chicken - Graphic!

[Hattie the Hen]

HI FRUGAL!---YOU SHOULD WRITE A TEXTBOOK ON IT! I HAVE NEVER SEEN THE PROCESS SO CLEARLY EXPLAINED. HERE IN THE UK NO-ONE EVEN COMES NEAR IT! THANK YOU!

 

[Yardbirds286]

This post is very helpful! Thanks for taking the time to put it together.

 

[whattheflock]

Fantastic!, Thank you very much.

 

[ScrambledAcresFarm]

I just spent the last hour reading all 21 pages of this thread. You guys are fun! Yes the pictures are great and the steps were outlined very well.
I was just wondering........Frugal, are you doing this for yourself or is this your job? Do you just raise meat chickens or other breeds?

 

[frugal]

Quote:
Thanks again for the kind words.

No, it's not my job. I'm a homesteader, living off-grid, raising and butchering most of my own meat. I grow almost all of my own vegetables and fruit and at any time can completely live off the produce of my homestead.

Last year I raised two types of meat birds, a Cornish X from McMurray and some free ranging broilers from J.M. Hatchery. I also have 50+ layers, a flock of ducks and some geese. And then there's the rabbits, sheep, goats, horses and LGDs.

Typical homesteader.

 

[MichiganWoods]

Frugal, what size killing cone are you using? I'm trying to figure out what size I should be purchasing for my birds.

 

[gkeesling]

Great description. I only have a few birds to do so I don't want to spend the money to rent a plucker. I was wondering about skinning a chicken rather than plucking. Can you tell me a little about skinning and if it's better than plucking, and how should I go about it?

 

[MrsSmitho]

Hey yall,

Just my 2 cents here. I had a TX Agriculture field guy out to do our typhoid testing..great guy with 30 yrs + of information. We got to talking about culling and he asked me if we eat the liver, heart, back and or neck...I said back, but only because it roasts with the bird

He described a MUCH easier and quicker way to get the meat...without bleeding, dunking, or plucking.

Make an incision from one thigh to the other, pull the skin up and remove the breast...then pull the skin down to the top of the feet and cut the thigh and leg off...WHOOP - done!!

Obviously not if you want a roaster, but if you have a scrawnier female layer, that happens to choke on hay (yes, happened to us), it sure made dinner easier!!

On the skinning question: I accidentally skinned my first cull, by dunking it too long. It made the plucking easier, but made the meat pre-cooked and chewy.

I do have to say, this is the most informitive and best way to cull and pluck...I have used it several times now!!

 

[Sunny Side Up]

I don't understand all the fuss about plucking. To me it's not the worst part of the job. As long as you can get a good scald, around 140-150 degrees for about a minute, the feathers come out fairly easily. If I had dozens & dozens of birds to do in one day I'd consider a mechanical plucker. Otherwise, it's not that bad of a deal to do by hand.

I'd rather have a machine that would clean out the innards...

 

[jaku]

Quote:
I found making a Whizbang plucker a really fun project. I don't do THAT many birds, but I hated plucking- it took me about an hour per bird by hand. And, I'm not willing to invest that much time to learn to do it faster. Two done in 15 seconds with the Whizbang!