maybe next weekend (growl)..DH talked me into it

[Poler]

I was a butcher commerically for almost six years and I've been doing it personally for longer.

The best thing I've found to do, is to plan for everything and get everything set up before hand.

Get the water ready to go, however you plan on doing it, have a box with two trash bag liners for feathers, heads, unwanted innards. Keep a knife sharpenner handy.

Theres no horror more gruesome than having your 'dead' bird, wake up on the butchering table as you try to remove its head with a dull knife. Sharpen between every step.

Use Coolers full of cold water to store the birds after you gut, pluck and behead.

In short, the best advice I can give is to be ready for everything. That way your not scrambling at the last moment, or after the last moment, to get something ready and run the risk of your bird spoiling.

 

[leslie]

I have not heard (read) it mentioned, but after my first attempt at processing I had lots of black peices of chicken feathers stuck in the skin. I tried scrapping them with a sharp knife and it worked but would have taken a week to do it and it damaged the skin so badly that I had to skin the chicken.
Sooo my farmer wife neighbor told me about taking a roll of news paper and lighting it afire and burning off the remains of feathers. I have not tried this, but will the next time. If there is a next time.
I have several roosters in a pen away from my hens. DH wants them gone. I usually give them away here in the area where I live are lots of elderly folks who are on fixed incomes and I feel good about sharing with them.
BUT this time.. Im worried that there is going to be a problem finding food about January of the coming year and Id feel better with them in the freezer ready for chicken and dumplings.
but would I have electricity to run the freezer by then? Im really worried about our country.. no about my family. and yours....

 

[Poler]

The newspaper trick only works on the pin feathers, the feathers just attatched to the skin, like body hair.

If you have a dark colored rooster then you'll have some blood leftover in the quill sleeve. I generally take a scrub brush, the one with a handle, for washing dishes, and scrub the chicken. My wife wasnt to happy the first time I figured that trick out... she had to go get a new brush...

 

[menageriemama]

I agree with Poler about getting everything set up before you start. Make sure you have a comfy spot to sit while plucking and eviscerating. Good company, background music, maybe a cold beer or two (if you are of that inclination) help a lot as well. I find that if it is a communal effort, with people that you like, it is much easier to get through it when you are doing lots of birds.

Oh, and my own preference is the knife to the throat. And I dry pick because I also do not enjoy the wet feather scent

 

[patandchickens]

My big mistake first time was not to have somewhere to hang the bird, at a handy height, while I plucked it.

BTW, you might try dry-plucking the chicken before you try scalding. In many ways I have been finding it to work better, as long as your particular bird does not have the feathers too tightly 'set' (which depends on how it died as much as anything). Dry, you do not have wet feathers sticking all over your fingers and arms which get in the way; and you do not have the smell of hot wet feathers which is not pleasant. Try it out, you can always scald later to get the last feathers out (you may well need to for the primaries and tail feathers).

Only other advice I have is that whatever method you're using to kill the chicken, just DO IT, don't weenie out and weaken the hatchet stroke or only poke the knife in halfway or whatever. A lack of resolution can be hard on the chicken. OTOH don't beat yourself up if some of them don't go exactly right, it's ok to have a learning curve.

Good luck, you cna do it,

Pat

 

[roosmom]

Thank you everybody...I am adding this stuff to my list on the previous page. Come on people, I know you are holding out on me.......

 

[FutureChickenMan]

Quote:
Think of it like you're back in school and doing a science project, dissecting a chicken. Keep the science hat on, find the organs see if you can label them etc.. I found that to be easier for me. Go at it as "I wanna learn about this creatures anatomy".

The actual killing part is hard the first 2 or 3 times, but after that, it becomes routine.

 

[justusnak]

First and foremost....for me anyways....do NOT feed them the day before. At least 12 hrs before doing the deed...take away ALL FEED. Just make sure they have plenty water. We save the innards...some of them, and there is nothing worse than a full gizzard. YUK!

 

[pdpatch]

Its helpful to have running water to rinse the birds off. A garden hose works well at first, if you decide you can do more then some sort of sink with a work surface it nice.

Dispose of the waste as soon as you can, Hopefully if you use the trash they pick it up soon. If not plan on freezing it until just before trash pickup Or plan on burning it.

Don't assume new knifes are sharp, only expensive ones are.

Only plan on doing a few birds the first day and take your time.

Plan on altering how and what you do to find out what works best for you.

In the sticky for this forum has several links to guides on how to butcher. If you not sure you can remember each step print the guides and have them handy.

Make sure your work surfaces are at a comfortable height. As that will help with fatigue.

 

[Recon]

I am working my way thru my first 25 Cornish X's. They are nine weeks old and I am down to the last few. I had done ducks and geese before but never chickens. I was nervous about the first ones but found that in comparison to water fowl, these things were a piece of cake. I have plucked them all by hand after a quick soak in warm/hot water.... the feathers came of easy in my opinion. I would like to build a drill plucker but I just haven't had time to put it together.