My Adventures in Processing Land - or - What not to do

[FutureChickenMan]

The process gets easier and you get faster the more times you do it. I've done 4 so far and the first two took about 2 hours from prep, butchering and clean up. The second time for the same process same number of birds it took about an hour and a half. You also learn shortcuts each time you do it. For example, if you're going to skin them, start your inscision on their back. No crop to hit, no really good meat to screw up back there. Once you've got the back opened up, move around front.

Not only is a good table needed, but one that is the right height to work comfortably. I like to stand when I'm butchering so the average fold up table works well. As for covering the table, you can use an old vinyl shower curtain, just be sure to scrub it down with bleach first and rinse well before using.

As for getting the innards out, I use the chicken dance method. Open up the vent with your knife/scissors. Then stand the bird up on it's feet/knees and bounce up and down a few times. You'll see the intestines start to decend. Once they're hanging out a bit then grab them and give them a few tugs.

I've got pretty big hands so the more innards I can get out without putting my hand inside the bird the better. Less chance of breaking open the innards and ruining the meat.

 

[chiknlittle]

So what you're saying is that I should add legs to my hood table? I know it sounds like an odd table top, but it is rather flat and worked quite well. My husband wants to put some legs on it this weekend (or maybe just some sawhorses under it). He also wants to process another 10 - 15 so that the rest aren't so crowded in the coop. This is the first time my husband and I have raised our own chickens, and we are kinda in a bind. Without being able to find a processor, us first timers are having to process 26 by ourselves.

We are also cleaning out the coop every other day because of how much poop they create and they eat 12 pounds of food every day and drink 5 gallons of water in a day and a half. We've never seen anything like it, and don't recommend the same course of action to any other first timers. To make matters worse, we have 13 brown egg layers in the brooder that would really like to go outside but can't until the meat birds make the move to the freezer.

All I want to know is how do you do the tendon thing with their feet? I'm not sure if my husband will wimp out or not, but I'm guessing the tendon trick will be a good measure.

 

[FutureChickenMan]

 

[chiknlittle]

That's funny! But I think if I show it to him he'll leave me to do the rest by myself. Thank you futurechickenman for the great advice on skinning. I'll definately try the chicken dance on the next one. Getting my hands in ther is not a problem since most child sized gloved fit me well. I'm not quite sure how to get past the idea that the intestines look like big warm nightcrawlers to me. Ewww! Well, maybe the chicken dance will help me two step around the whole issue!

 

[English]

I probably shouldnt' share my secret dumpling recipe but here goes.

Mike's Quick and Easy dumplings.

Ingredients. One can of Grand's biscuits. Preferrably buttermilk!

Directions prepare meat and broth per your favorite recipe. Cut the biscuits into 6ths or 8ths. Place in simmering broth and cover for approximately 10 minutes or until done.

I know you are all blown away by my great culinary skills.

But hey it works and they are pretty good!

This got me thinking as I have a couple of young roosters that are about the right age!

Mike

 

[Alaskan]

but chicken and dumplings is for OLD chicken!!!

 

[pdpatch]

If you have not read the guides posted here you should, lots of tips on how to process also that will make it easier.

The first one I did in years I had trouble cutting the juggler. so I just grabbed a Meat clever and chopped off the head. I then put it into a killing cone to drain it. Using the meat clever method is much easier for a beginer.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=22610

A cheap scalder is one of those turkey fryers, A cornish just does fit into one.
They can run from $45 to $70 dollar plus the price of a propane bottle if you don't have one. The feathers on the cornish tend to be larger then other chickens so they are harder to pull unless the birds are scalded.

There is a couple of recent messages about a self contained processing station.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=75677

I would also recommend leaving the skin on for when you fry, bbq, bake, slow cook them. It helps keep the moisture in the meat.

Tom

 

[bugdoodle06]

My husband made a nice table from scrap plywood and 2 x4's with an old sink and faucet. he made the pipe come down a leg of the table and put on a fitting so we can just screw the hose to it! then for the drain he used some old PVC to drain down the hill.. works great and didnt cost a thing!

 

[ninjapoodles]

You can make YUMMY, and super-easy dumplings with the same recipe for great drop biscuits.

1 part vegetable oil
2 parts buttermilk
4 parts SELF-RISING flour.

Mix, and drop by rounded tablespoonfuls into your bubbling hot pot of chicken & stock. DO NOT stir them or mess with them, or they'll dissolve before they can cook. They float, so you can keep an eye on them. They're done when they're fat and fluffy. The inside will look just like the inside of a biscuit. If you want biscuits, use the same recipe, but drop dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet and bake in the oven at about 425F until golden on top.

 

[chiknlittle]

*** UPDATE ***

Whether chicken and dumplings is for old birds or not, I don't know. What I do know is that the dumplings I made were the best I have ever had, and I didn't have to use much salt at all. Saturday, my husband and I went shopping. We got some gloves, some freezer bags, and a 30 quart turkey fryer setup from WalMart. I'm glad we got the new fryer with burner because we didn't check the burner from the old setup and when we went to use it it didn't work. Yesterday (Sunday) we were feeling ambitious and so we processed 10 chickens. We bled them into a bucket with a little water in the bottom dunked them in the hot water, and got to work on pulling feathers and gutting them. We were so slow that we had to stop for lunch. At the end of the day we were so tired and dirty that we just threw away our clothes. We started out with a bunch of papers and good advice on how to do different stages, but as the day progressed we learned the most through trial and error. Here's some things we learned:

1. One knife per participant. There will always come a time when both of you need a knife at the same time, and it's better to have 2 knifes than one.
2. A sharp knife or none at all. Sometime yesterday afternoon a fileting knife was remember. It would have worked just fine except that it was so dull that it couldn't cut chicken skin.
3. Listen to my father. My dad has some great advice that he usually dispenses well after it is needed. Yesterday night's advice was to use one of those utility knifes (folding or otherwise) with the replacable blade. You don't need a long blade, just a sharp one, and it's nice to be able to replace the blade when it gets dull.
4. (Most important) Listen / Learn from other participants. My husband learned a lot from the mistakes I made on Monday, and watched as I processed the first 2. Then he showed me how to scald them and together we devised a system that worked for us.

All in all I think it was a good day, but from now on we'll probably stick to processing 3-4 at a time.