our first processing experience--question

[Mrs. Mucket]

Gummiepig, our son made the cones and I believe he used this as a guide:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/86571141@N00/sets/72057594112493787/

Ours are sized for standard chickens but they can be made smaller or larger.

 

[dancingbear]

Nice set up, good job on the chickens. I think the others are right, arteries not cut enough on that one.

You might want to reconsider burning the plastic. It puts a lot of toxic gases in the air, better to just roll it up and put it in the trash. We sometimes use cheap plastic shower curtain liners to cover tables for butchering, and use cutting boards under the chickens, so they aren't rubbing around on the shower curtains, because they aren't a food-safe plastic. (though some of the "approved for food use" plastic have turned out not to be food-safe either). We don't do that whole thing often, because I usually just do a few at a time when DH is working.

If you're worried about the plastic getting really stinky while waiting for garbage day, you can hose it off, and let it dry before you roll it up.

 

[Lil Mucket]

Well ok as far as the arteries here's the weird part - all of the heads were completely removed. I am thinking that in some part of when I cut off the head it must have pinched the artery or something. I think I would prefer to just slit the artery but I didn't have enough confidence in knowing where the artery was so I opted to just cut them off completely. Even after looking at the severed heads & necks I still couldn't find the artery.

 

[sfessler]

I find the hardest part of the whole job to be locating and removing the crop. I found a trick though after about 8 birds. So you kill, bleed, behead, and then pluck. I use regular garden pruners to pop the head off after I believe the bird is dead. Then I cut the feet off. Then I flip the bird onto its belly and slit the neck skin from between the wings all the way to the head stump. Slide your finger into this slice about mid neck so that you r finger is between the windpipe/esoph and the neck and then slide that finger to the head stump to free the neck from the skin. Now grab the neck skin/windpipe/esoph in one hand and the neck in the other and pull them apart to expose the hole where the neck enters the chest cavity. Now jamb your finger into the chest cavity and hook the esoph/windpipe in there where they are not attached to anything. This is below the crop. Now slide your finger between the neck skin and the esoph/windpipe away from the body cavity and as you go you will be freeing the crop from the neck skin. Once the crop is free then you can either pull the hole mess out the butt or you can cut it off from the neck end. You will want to trim the neck skin a bit for presentation.

I've got 13 to do tomorrow morning.