OK How do you pluck

[dancingbear]

Well, I do hope I wasn't brutal! I just know that many times, when in a similar situation, I was the one that made it worse. I dear friend kindly pointed that out o me, and you know, after that, things began to get better! It's a journey. We learn lessons. I learned that if I start out a task saying to myself, "OMG, this is going to be horrible!", the Universe has a way of shrugging and saying, "Wish granted!", and it's horrible.

On the other hand, if I remember to take the advice of an old Granny-lady a friend of mine told me about, and tell myself. "It's easy done!" it usually is a lot easier.

I just have to remember to learn what I can ahead of time, have at least approximately the right tools, and allow myself the time to learn as I go. Too many times I've done things the hard way, but as I get older, I don't do that to myself so much!

Having help makes it so much easier, just in having a pal or family member to crack jokes with over the gut bucket. It's a way to deal with hard jobs. The emotional stress of butchering animals you've raised is hard to cope with in the first place, it helps to have company in the task.

If you don't have company, maybe you can at least have a radio on your favorite station, and sing along while you work. Even if you're off key, the chickens won't care!

I just applaud you for doing it at all, I say good for you for diving in and raising your own food. Even after the difficult time you had, you're still determined to continue. That shows that you've got a lot of strength deep down, a lot of people would buckle and quit. You've got backbone, girl!

 

[chiknwhisperer]

Quote:
Thank you so much!!!! You have no idea how good that makes me feel right now

Thank you. You've got the determined right on hte head lol. My DH says I'm stuborn and obbsessed.

 

[dancingbear]

My DH says something like that, too. So I understand!

 

[chiknwhisperer]

My neighbor was talking to me last night about my meat birds and he is very ummm city. He is single again and he hired three people to come mow his yard that isn't very big at all. Back to my point. He was asking if I not only raise them but kill and clean too and then cook. And I said yes. Well he thought that was pretty darn cool. Here I was thinking he was going to complain that my birds stink when the wind blows his way. It just goes to show that you never know what someone will say to you. I should probably send him a chicken from this next batch for putting up with me and my chickens huh. I'm actually looking forward to plucking this time now that I have had all this great advice.

 

[dancingbear]

I bet he'd love to have a homegrown bird or 2. What I nice idea.

My DH got a great price on 50lbs of very nice tomatoes from a guy he works with. $18 and a couple of jars of my salsa when I finish canning it!

I usually grow my own, last year I had more than I could process, but due to water trouble this year, I wasn't able to keep them watered. Sigh.

I hope next year will be better. This year I'm scrounging for bulk produce from anybody who has extra, i.e., people who don't live down my road, and were able to water their gardens.

 

[pdpatch]

This is the first time I have ever used a scalder to pluck with, it was a lot easier the not using one. We used a turkey fryer, to scald with and just a small kitchen timer for the broilers. A turkey fryer is the easiest way to get a scalder when you don't have a lot of Chickens to process.

Hand plucking after scalding:

We scalded at 145 degrees F for 1 min to 1min 30 second. the time was based on testing to see how easy the feathers came out. We did notice that different breeds of chickens took different times. Grabbing a small hand full of feather and gently pulling down.

For the Great white and BB bronze we have done so far we had to come up with a different scalder.

We use the burner from a brinks smoker, a garbage can, and a cherry picker to move the turkey around. The USDA recommends not using a galvinized garbage can, but just about every online place I could find suggested using one. So until we find something different I guess this is what we will use.

Of course plucking a turkey took longer and the wing feathers were hard to get out n most cases. We have done 4 of our turkeys so far. But have stopped for now since the chest freezer doesn't freeze any more.


The leg shackle is a piece of new nylon rope with a kind of a slip knot on the ends. It tightens up around the legs and is easy to get off and on. At first we used a piece of a coat hanger but this ended up being much easier.

Cabellas (hunting and fishing store) sales the plucker that was mentioned in some of the post above. You might find something simular in a local hunting and fishing store.

At the moment I am trying to make one of those kind of pluckers.

Tom

PS. Sorry for the messy back grounds in the picture, but I have been making to much chicken stuff this year I haven't had time to clean up much yet.