Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[masked rider]

I use a light from Brinsea that is made for eggs. It is crazy bright but still the best I hope for when candling marans eggs is to see a dark blob.

So I must tell someone... I butchered 4 cockerels yesterday. I did it totally myself.... I had never killed something like that before.
Last time we butchered cockerels my husband did the actual deed and I processed. This time he literally could not do it. He hated doing it before and got all upset yesterday because he didn't want to kill a chicken, he said it was my project so I should do it. lol.. poor guy. He had nightmares over it last time. You would think by looking at him that he is a big tough guy who could handle it but nope...a softie.

My heart was racing... I had the bird hanging upside down with a bucket under him and holding onto his head kinda stretching his neck to show the skin.... I stood there with the knife...... and stood there....talking to myself "you can do this you can do this" finally I just did it...made that slice and held onto that poor bird while he flapped. Whew....that was very intense.

These 4 boys were a lot harder to pluck than the older birds I did the first time. I guess cuz they had so many new feathers coming it. I had to get small pliers to pull some of the short pin feathers. But they are soaking in salt water in the fridge now. I am going to let them cure for a few days and maybe this time I can actually eat one. We tried to eat one the same day we butchered last time. The carnage was just too fresh in my mind and I had not let the meat cure... I couldn't eat it.

My husband can't understand why I don't just let them loose. I have released some older hens on a piece of property we own a few miles away. I have so many breeding plans I cannot just let all those culls loose. I feel like if I am going to seriously breed chickens I have to be able to process my culls. I do plan to try to sell or give away extras but roosters are not easy to find homes for.

I know you all can understand...thanks for listening. I am afraid to tell most people I know, they will think I have lost my mind totally.

CH, - learn to just skin them instead of plucking. Chance are you are going to remove the skin anyway before you cook them. Save you lots of time and smell! LOL

 

[3riverschick]

CH, - learn to just skin them instead of plucking. Chance are you are going to remove the skin anyway before you cook them. Save you lots of time and smell! LOL

There's a great video on youtube which explains and demonstrates how to skin a chicken. They are using a clothesline to hang up the carcasses.
Karen

 

[gilavina]

Oh! Good job Christie! Proud of you. I agree on skinning them, that's what I do with all my birds and saves tons of time since I don't cook with the skin anyways. And using a clothesline frame works fantastic. I just made some loops for the legs to hold them upside down and if the knife is sharpened properly and get used to it, only take a few minutes for each bird. We just fill up a big stainless steel milking bucket we've cleaned, filled with cold water and ice and put the birds we finish in there and put a lid on it to keep the cats out. Then when it comes time to do the processing for the freezer like wrapping whole chickens or cutting into portions like breast, etc we just take out a pan and fill it up with a few at a time and bring them inside to finish the cutting and wrapping, etc. Goes very quickly.

 

[desertmarcy]

I use a light from Brinsea that is made for eggs. It is crazy bright but still the best I hope for when candling marans eggs is to see a dark blob.

So I must tell someone... I butchered 4 cockerels yesterday. I did it totally myself.... I had never killed something like that before.
Last time we butchered cockerels my husband did the actual deed and I processed. This time he literally could not do it. He hated doing it before and got all upset yesterday because he didn't want to kill a chicken, he said it was my project so I should do it. lol.. poor guy. He had nightmares over it last time. You would think by looking at him that he is a big tough guy who could handle it but nope...a softie.

My heart was racing... I had the bird hanging upside down with a bucket under him and holding onto his head kinda stretching his neck to show the skin.... I stood there with the knife...... and stood there....talking to myself "you can do this you can do this" finally I just did it...made that slice and held onto that poor bird while he flapped. Whew....that was very intense.

These 4 boys were a lot harder to pluck than the older birds I did the first time. I guess cuz they had so many new feathers coming it. I had to get small pliers to pull some of the short pin feathers. But they are soaking in salt water in the fridge now. I am going to let them cure for a few days and maybe this time I can actually eat one. We tried to eat one the same day we butchered last time. The carnage was just too fresh in my mind and I had not let the meat cure... I couldn't eat it.

My husband can't understand why I don't just let them loose. I have released some older hens on a piece of property we own a few miles away. I have so many breeding plans I cannot just let all those culls loose. I feel like if I am going to seriously breed chickens I have to be able to process my culls. I do plan to try to sell or give away extras but roosters are not easy to find homes for.

I know you all can understand...thanks for listening. I am afraid to tell most people I know, they will think I have lost my mind totally.

Good job, Christie. I just finished bleeding out 8 cockerels this morning. 5 Black Copper Marans, 1 Barred Rock, and 2 young mixed breed project birds. I always tell myself 2 things: that these birds would not be here if we weren't eating them, and more importantly, they have such a better life at my farm while they are here than the factory farmed chickens. So if we are going to eat chicken, we are not going to be eating "abused" chicken.

Last year I treated myself and bought a Featherman Pro plucker. I was getting pretty stressed out facing plucking at least 25 cockerels last year. I figured keeping my stress level down is a big priority. That machine is such a wonder, plucking is the hardest part for me. It was worth the expense. We have used it so much--like this morning, 8 birds plucked clean in just a few minutes. We like the skin, especially when it is cooked crispy, so I don't want to skin the birds. I raise heritage turkeys, too, and it will pluck a turkey. Last year I processed 27 turkeys and sold for Thanksgiving. Wouldn't have considered doing that without the plucker.

 

[Christie Rhae]

Thanks for the moral support guys!

I think I will learn how to skin them. But I am seriously thinking of getting a plucker. I wondered how well they worked. Plucking them just killed my neck and fingers. I think my index finger on my right hand is actually bruised. lol! Gutting them only took moments.

 

[Cotton42]

Thanks for the moral support guys!

I think I will learn how to skin them. But I am seriously thinking of getting a plucker. I wondered how well they worked. Plucking them just killed my neck and fingers. I think my index finger on my right hand is actually bruised. lol! Gutting them only took moments.

Are you dry plucking them or scalding them first? I can pluck a chicken in about 2 minutes after scalding it.

 

[Christie Rhae]

Quote: I dunked them in 150 degree water for about a minute or two. I don't know if it was the age of the birds or what. Seems like they had just molted and all kinds of new feathers were coming in or something. Lots of new short feathers, some not even clear of the skin yet. The feathers came out easily if I could get ahold of them. When I plucked older birds the first time it seems a lot easier. Maybe I should have processed them at 3 months old instead of 4 months.

 

[desertmarcy]

I dunked them in 150 degree water for about a minute or two. I don't know if it was the age of the birds or what. Seems like they had just molted and all kinds of new feathers were coming in or something. Lots of new short feathers, some not even clear of the skin yet. The feathers came out easily if I could get ahold of them. When I plucked older birds the first time it seems a lot easier. Maybe I should have processed them at 3 months old instead of 4 months.

One of the tricks I learned was to put some liquid dishwashing soap in the hot water. It helps the water penetrate the feathers. 150 is plenty hot. Any hotter than that, and you may be slightly cooking them. I use heavy gloves that are meant for concrete work so my hands don't get too hot and even then, they get hot. I hold the feet and swish the bird up and down. Test by pulling a long wing or tail feather--if those feathers, the hardest to pull, come out easily, you are done! I dunk the feet, too since I want the skin to peel off the feet. I pressure cook the feet and it makes a very healthy broth, full of collagen and good for your joints. I put the whole mess through a strainer and give those scraps, bones and all, to the chickens and after they are through with it, there is nothing left but bare bones. I try not to process the birds when they are growing a lot of pinfeathers just because of what you experienced, but sometimes it just can't be helped if you have birds to cull and don't want to feed them anymore.

 

[Cotton42]

I dunked them in 150 degree water for about a minute or two. I don't know if it was the age of the birds or what. Seems like they had just molted and all kinds of new feathers were coming in or something. Lots of new short feathers, some not even clear of the skin yet. The feathers came out easily if I could get ahold of them. When I plucked older birds the first time it seems a lot easier. Maybe I should have processed them at 3 months old instead of 4 months.

Yeah, pin feathers suck to get out. I like to use a knife and scrap along the skin to pop them out.

 

[Christie Rhae]

I did the dish soap in the water. Actually it was probably more like 145 degrees. I did 150 before and seemed like I did slightly burn a thin layer of skin.

Scrape the skin with a knife...hmm that might have worked. I was thinking that there has got to be a trick to it cuz whew that was a pain. lol

Next time I will check their feathers to see if there are an abundance of new growth feathers and wait for them to grow in a bit if so.
But this time I just had too many cockerels trying to beat each other up...had to do a round one cull.