Official Squatch Watchers

[rjohns39]

Good morning! Bob and the derps are out there going crazy over old stale lucky charms of all things.
I dumped them all the way at the back thinking crows might eat them and if not a possum might.
Nope, tidbitting city out there, terrible marshmallows are panty melters of the highest order, who knew? Lol!

Good morning Chicky, have a great day

 

[Molpet]

Good morning Bob!

Today is butchering day and I’m seriously short on sleep. The Milk Drinker wanted to be held while he slept last night so between midnight and 3:45am I barely had any sleep at all. He wouldn’t settle for longer than a half hour unless held, in our bed or in his crib. It was so infuriating. I’d get him to sleep and I’d fall asleep and he’d start fussing and wimpering to be held/nursed. Thank goodness DH had gotten some solid sleep earlier in the night, so he took the baby so I could get some real sleep. The stinker slept on him for another 2-3 hours in the office. Getting started on setup shortly.

Wish us luck!

Prayers it all goes smoothly

 

[Molpet]

Good morning all

 

[rjohns39]

Good morning all

Good morning Mo, have a great day

 

[Chickassan]

You too! Today is grass cutting day, going to lop some of my dammit bushes too.
The dammit roses need it bad, they are almost S.O.B size.

Good morning Chicky, have a great day

Good morning Mol!

Good morning all

 

[Parront]

First batch of 1dz eggs solely incubated in the Brinsea are now in lockdown to hatch this weekend.

We are also all set up to butcher some meaties tomorrow! I have enough help to do an assembly line. We plan to try for at least half the birds (12) hoping to do all (23) first time butchering chickens in... a year and a half-ish. Did the pigs a few months ago, so I’m not too out of practice.

It is great to have enough help for a dis-assembly line!

 

[Parront]

Good morning folks

Good morning!

 

[Parront]

Good morning! Bob and the derps are out there going crazy over old stale lucky charms of all things.
I dumped them all the way at the back thinking crows might eat them and if not a possum might.
Nope, tidbitting city out there, terrible marshmallows are panty melters of the highest order, who knew? Lol!

What a mental picture!

 

[Redhead Rae]

Good morning Rae, best of luck with your processing and have a great day.

Done with the most gruesome part. We have 12 eviscerated birds in a vat of salted ice water to chill.

This morning was a little bit of a comedy of errors. First, we drained the vat which we had soaking overnight with hydrogen peroxide water to get it clean. Then we wanted to fill it a little bit and just add ice and water as needed. Well, we got sidetracked and the vat filled up and overflowed, so we had to mostly drain it again. Then we are all set and our scalding water was almost hot enough so we decide to start bleeding out the first bird. Well, my killing cone works fine for dual purpose and egg laying breeds, It does not work for frankenbirds (I suspect it won't work for my Cornish either). Their breasts are so big that their necks didn't come out the bottom of the cone. So built another one out of some flashing my dad had, same problem. we cut the end off the cone and ducttaped the sharp edges and that work. Well, all this while and the scalding water is almost boiling. So I had to cool that off. The second bird we bled out, ended up flopping out of the cone 5 times before she bled out. I had forgotten my trick of tying up their feet to the nail the cone is hanging from to keep that from happening. I get everyone started on the front end of the assembly line and I start eviscerating. The birds were coming over-scalded and half plucked. By the end we got the balance figured out. Once we worked out the kinks, it took us 2.5 hours to do 12 birds. Not bad at all. Before this, the most I did in a day was 6. If we didn't have all the comedy of errors, we could have done more. I think it was a good refresher.

Another thing I found out, a 30lb baby on my back in a carrier and an evisceration sink at the right height REALLY helps keep my back from kinking up. I'll have to take a picture of the sink, but it is an old bar sink that my dad put up on cinderblocks. The baby in the carrier kept my shoulders back and me from hunching over. I really didn't start feeling the strain until the last bird.

 

[Parront]

Done with the most gruesome part. We have 12 eviscerated birds in a vat of salted ice water to chill.

This morning was a little bit of a comedy of errors. First, we drained the vat which we had soaking overnight with hydrogen peroxide water to get it clean. Then we wanted to fill it a little bit and just add ice and water as needed. Well, we got sidetracked and the vat filled up and overflowed, so we had to mostly drain it again. Then we are all set and our scalding water was almost hot enough so we decide to start bleeding out the first bird. Well, my killing cone works fine for dual purpose and egg laying breeds, It does not work for frankenbirds (I suspect it won't work for my Cornish either). Their breasts are so big that their necks didn't come out the bottom of the cone. So built another one out of some flashing my dad had, same problem. we cut the end off the cone and ducttaped the sharp edges and that work. Well, all this while and the scalding water is almost boiling. So I had to cool that off. The second bird we bled out, ended up flopping out of the cone 5 times before she bled out. I had forgotten my trick of tying up their feet to the nail the cone is hanging from to keep that from happening. I get everyone started on the front end of the assembly line and I start eviscerating. The birds were coming over-scalded and half plucked. By the end we got the balance figured out. Once we worked out the kinks, it took us 2.5 hours to do 12 birds. Not bad at all. Before this, the most I did in a day was 6. If we didn't have all the comedy of errors, we could have done more. I think it was a good refresher.

Another thing I found out, a 30lb baby on my back in a carrier and an evisceration sink at the right height REALLY helps keep my back from kinking up. I'll have to take a picture of the sink, but it is an old bar sink that my dad put up on cinderblocks. The baby in the carrier kept my shoulders back and me from hunching over. I really didn't start feeling the strain until the last bird.

The 30 lb. baby is a new one to me for keeping back pain away! Sounds like you did great.