Making Lemonade [Selective Culling Project - very long term]

[U_Stormcrow]

Freezer is near empty, I should have another cull this weekend, weather permitting. Will be all adult birds, so disrobing for the crock pot or sausage - I'm out of ground poultry again, and only have one bird left in freezer camp.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Freezer is near empty, I should have another cull this weekend, weather permitting. Will be all adult birds, so disrobing for the crock pot or sausage - I'm out of ground poultry again, and only have one bird left in freezer camp.

Any specific criteria this go round? Or still just too many, easy picks?

 

[SheaLoner]

Freezer is near empty, I should have another cull this weekend, weather permitting. Will be all adult birds, so disrobing for the crock pot or sausage - I'm out of ground poultry again, and only have one bird left in freezer camp.

Any good tips on disrobing them? The 2 times Ive tried did not go well.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Still way too many easy picks - made easier by the fact that my main egg buyers have all disappeared. I don't need a flat a day in eggs (and the associated feed bill) to support myself and a few neighbors. There are two darker roosters to remove (they have the gold genes, but the presentation leans towards crimson or mahogany rather than the more orange tones that work better on my property), another roo with bumblefoot for the second time (if they don't have a robust immune system to fight off staph infections, I'm not interested in continuing the line), and more black hens than I can quickly count. Also, need to remove some ducks, since I have five (surviving) birthed this year, and two currently nesting.

As to disrobing? I hang them from my digital scale. Remove the head with a sharp knife. Still hanging, the knife makes a slice under the skin of the neck and about 2-3" of the skin on one side of the breast or the other. Knife goes down, hand goes into the pocket between skin and meat on the now exposed breast side while the other hand secure the bird. I work from breast around to back, pulling the skin free, and generally rip it so I can pull it down the wing. Knife comes up, the wing tip gets removed, and if needed, the fatty section where the wing feathers connect along the edge gets a knick then pulled clean off.
Same basic practice with the thighs, then the leg is separated from the scales once the skin has been pulled either off, or near the knee joint. Once the feet are off, I can use any hanging skin to pull the rest clean.

In short, its brute effort, guided by the way the skin covers the bird.

 

[SheaLoner]

Thanks!

 

[U_Stormcrow]

and I have chickens trying to keep me from shrinking the flock, as well. Broody came down for a treat, this is one of the two hatched. Updating sig now.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

number two

 

[chickfused]

Two's a roo

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Two's a roo

two is out of focus.
How can you tell?

 

[chickfused]

I can't really. It just looks like a roo.