Make-shift tools to get the job done

[brandywine]

I guess I won't be taking a dremel to a teaspoon after all.

Great tip. Thanks.

 

[kingmt]

Quote:
Of the cones or what. If it is the cone then PM me & I will try to get one tomorrow.

 

[pdpatch]

Yes that is one of the lung scrappers I use, I also use on of those cheap fish scalers for larger birds, like cornish cross and turkeys.

We made one medium and one large, I messed up calculating one end of the large cone so it's a bit off. I redid the pattern for it But I haven't gotten around to remaking it.

Other then the turkey fryer we purchased for scaling, everthing else we use to butcher with is either home made, or was just laying around the house and intened for something else.

Tom

 

[Peruvian]

Quote:
Here's what I have used (although I lust for real cones).

 

[jaku]

That's my exact set up, except using my own cones- the plastic jugs look like they work well.

I'd avoid a road cone- the inside of them is rubber, which sticks to the feathers and you have to pull down on the birds' head to get it down where it needs to be.

 

[Kali]

Thanks for the pic!
I hadn't thought of using a wheel barrow to collect scraps and junk.
Do you pluck it in there too?

 

[Sunny Side Up]

I use zip-ties to hold the legs together and duct tape to secure the wings to their sides. I first soothe the birds into a trance, zip their legs together, and wrap some duct tape a couple times around their bodies. Last time I hypnotized the birds so deeply they sounded like they were snoring as they lay still on the table getting tied & wrapped.

I use a reclaimed porch swing frame to hang the birds from. I made hooks from heavy wire to hang the birds' zip-tied legs upon. I hang the birds, slice their necks, and let them bleed into a big garbage can with a black plastic liner. (I like using black so the blood doesn't show up as harshly) I like having them hanging from the hooks because I take them off & re-hook them a few times before we go to the cutting table. I hang them to slice & bleed, then take them off to dunk in the scalding pot, re-hang them to pluck (by hand), sometimes unhook a couple of times to scald a bit more.

I use the same lined garbage can to drop the plucked feathers in, and also to toss the heads, feet & intestines. My laying hens are usually circling the cutting table like a school of hungry sharks, waiting to be given all the tasty organs I pull out.

I like the idea of the strawberry huller as a lung scraper. Sometimes I'll use a grapefruit spoon, like a teaspoon with serrated edges. Although I find it's needed more on the lower back, where those icky bits around the kidneys & those nasty little tubes stick to the back. Usually I can get the lungs out just using my fingers, encased in plastic gloves, of course!

 

[Peruvian]

Quote:
That's what this is for.

 

[cluckychick]

I got that tool at the "Everythings a Dollar Store" It works great.

 

[StillwaterCreek]

Quote:
Just goes to show how disconnected most people are from the realities of where their food comes from. He would probably be far more horrified if he knew the details of how that restaurant chicken he had for lunch was raised in a confinement house, breathing grain dust and fecal particulates, never seeing the light of day, consuming who knows what in terms of antibiotics and other pharmaceuticals just to keep them alive, only to be electrocuted before being mechanically killed and separated...

Me, I'll take the backyard chicken!

Thanks much for the great idea on the lung scraper! I'm just now starting to think about our processing setup. Our first batch will be ready in mid July.

Does anyone have a source on the Whizbang Plucker?