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

[MrsSmitho]

Morning all!
The second bird I did, and didn't scald it too much

, was easy to pluck. I have to admit the gutting was definatly the trickiest part! It is cool the first couple times to see the "goings on" inside a bird, but my hands barely fit in there and I never seem to get all the lungs out.

On the plucking, it only took a couple minutes, and the feathers came out nicely. The only bad part was the smell of wet/soapy/dirty feathers, and I had a problem getting all the down off the skin...nothing beats a good hard water flow for that!!

I'd have to have a LOT of birds to do at once to get a plucker, but they sound good!!

 

[katrinag]

This is wonderful info. Thank you very much.

 

[jeanniejayne]

Somebody posted about using melted wax in the hot water and then into the iced bath helping to get feathers off very easily.

Anyone who wonders how frugal squirrel knows so much should explore his website! Fascinating stuff there!

I might get the nerve to try to myself on day, but one thing at a time. Want to learn how to raise 'em first.

And Frugal -- I LOVE the story about the feet! How knowing that one piece allowed you to market your goods to so many more venues. That's the value of knowledge ... if you keep your ears (and mind) open, it can take you places you have never imagined!

I, too, read every post on this thread and enjoyed it mightily. You just never know what you might learn on BYC!

 

[frugal]

Quote:
Thanks for the kind words! With chickens, as with many, many things in life, if you pay attention to the small details seemingly complicated tasks become much easier. Cleaning the feet (simple task) made marketing (a much more complicated issue) a breeze.

Thanks again.

 

[Toast n Jelly]

I've heard of people using a grapefruit spoon to remove the lungs instead of the lung remover.

I haven't had any of those spoons around for years but if I can't get a lung remover easily, I will try to find a grapefruit spoon or two.

 

[MrsSmitho]

Morning all,

I used a butter knife. I bent the top 1/2 in or so and put a couple notches in the other side with the bench grinder...works really well!!!

 

[chiknwhisperer]

That is a great idea. I'll have to tell that to my DH.

 

[Debi214]

Fantastic tutorial! Looks like I will be able to cull and process my extra roosters now instead of giving them away for free. Thank you Frugal!

PS - what in the world do you do with the chicken heads?

 

[ranchhand]

In Ecuador, they use the heads for stock, sometimes just popping it in the soup pot while it's cooking. Freaked me out when I was 18 and put in charge of stirring the soup.

 

[abluechipstock]

i had an amish woman do this for me and charged me 55 cents a piece to do 15 roosters, i gave her a dollar a piece and let her keep the necks, and giblets, you would have thought i gave her gold, she was afraid she was cheating me, i told her she was doing me a favor, those birds came back immaculate