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

[jaku]

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Thanks for the kind words. It's really easy to do your own birds.

I have my own plucker now and I'll be doing this years flock of meat birds in a couple of weeks. Here's a pic of them a few weeks ago:

http://www.frugalsquirrels.com/gallery/brooders/brooder_5.jpg

Yummy!!

Is that your brooder only, or do you keep them in that pen?

 

[frugal]

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I both brood and raise them in the same pen. I had a much smaller area cordoned off inside the pen when they were smaller.

My pen is portable so I can change locations each year.

 

[jaku]

Quote:
I both brood and raise them in the same pen. I had a much smaller area cordoned off inside the pen when they were smaller.

My pen is portable so I can change locations each year.

As with all of your stuff, that looks like a very nice setup- is it hard to keep clean? Is it fully enclosed? There should be a "Frugal" section to these forums, where you just post pictures from around your farm, and we all ask you about all of your great stuff!

 

[achickenhead]

Wow. Thank you for your step by step! We have layers and meat birds for the first time this year (first ever chickens!)...they are seven weeks yesterday. We are newbies to this online community as well.

We feel much more prepared since viewing your tutorial. Why do you use the culling method of cutting the throat as opposed to cutting the head off? Just curious as you have a great deal of experience.

Also we have started to gather our equipment for slaughter. We are curious about freezing the birds and other storage options....any advice from members would be great. I am also searching the forum but am on dial up and as you can imagine takes forever!

Is it necessary to salt water soak before freezing? If so what is that process?

Do you suggest freezing the whole bird or do you find that it keeps better cut into portions? Thanks again.

PS Your set up looks very professional and organized. Excellent advice! I am a health inspector (sanitarian in the US) and have some "issues" about cleanliness and disinfection...I am sure my husband will be driven crzy during the process!

Thanks Again

 

[frugal]

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It's very easy to keep clean however I'm only raising 250 birds in the pen.

It's fully enclosed with chicken wire around the inside so I can roll up the sides for ventilation. Up here we're dealing with global cooling

so we don't have an overheating issue however the sides roll up very easily and the birds sunbath every day!

Here's a diagram of my brooders. I've been using the same design for over 30 years and it works great. I expect that I first saw this design back in the early days of Mother Earth News. The only thing I do differently is that I insulate the top and ALWAYS use heat deflectors between your bulbs and wood.

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Thanks for the kind words.

Some people soak their birds before freezing, I don't. I both freeze my birds whole and cut up with no discernible difference in flavor.

I've found that letting them bleed out is the most sanitary and humane way to dispatch the birds. One year I even purchased an electric stunning knife. It worked great but I became convinced that it was harder on the birds than just slowly bleeding out and going to sleep.

Keeping things sanitary is not hard if you plan ahead. After your birds are dressed out always, always get them cold ASAP.

---john

 

[Damummis]

Today I harvested a chicken. I did 12 last year and totally did a hack job. Today I followed your instructions and I have to say MUCH better!!!! I am still green at this but I am getting better. Thank you so much for this post. If it helped me........

 

[tattoozz]

awesome info and very informative thank you very much

 

[jedidja]

Wow...that is awesome - great tutorial!

 

[jedidja]

Does anyone know how the scalding tank shown in the first set of pictures works?

 

[jaku]

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Looks to me like it's just a turkey fryer filled with water, unless I'm looking at the wrong pictures??