Processed the whole flock today.

[Buttercup Chillin]

Sunny side up - sounds like by the time you have scalded your bird, mine is skinned and soaking and I am starting on the next one.

But ya, now and again I will pluck a few young ones for frying. Not often though, to much work and I hate the stink, that's why I just do a few at a time. Not as much stink.

This discussion is making me tired. I processed 6 birds Tuesday. Will do another 4 or 6 next Tuesday. Managing your flock, its that time of year.

 

[Liamm_1]

stink? where is the stink from?

 

[ChickieBooBoo]

Quote:
Were they from this years hatch?

 

[hensonly]

Quote:
why on earth would the coop need to be heated, especially in Florida??? Also, some people avoid plucking, they just skin the bird...not me, I love the nice crispy skin, but many folks don't eat it.

 

[tammyd57]

Quote:
Scalding chickens smells really bad.

 

[WoodlandWoman]

You can process any chicken at any time, of course. If you want eggs all winter, just add supplemental light for a few hours in the winter, when the shorter days can stop chickens from laying. Cheap LCD lighting that is extremely cheap to run works, too. Chickens don't need to be heated in the winter, so that's not something you need to do or spend money on. I'm only mentioning this because some people don't want to go without eggs for half the year.

I think the smell when scalding a chicken carcass for plucking has a lot to do with what's on the feathers. Dusty poop or other things that you wouldn't notice on the feathers hitting hot water could be really fragrant. In a not good way.

 

[Firefyter-Emt]

Mine were about three years old and had been forced over the winters to lay.

The stink... you know that nasty wet smell you find in the spring? It's kinda like that... but in a hot steam kind of way.

Just curious, if you are mainly taking the leg/thighs & fillet breast meat... could you leave the "internals" in place? Of you scalded them, feather plucked the legs and then removed them. You could easily peel back the skin and fillet the breast meat, right? That sounds like it would be super fast.. am I missing anything here? I am talking about older chickens ( 2 or 3 years old)

 

[Buttercup Chillin]

Quote:
Your not missing a thing. When I am after just the breast and legs and thighs, I leave the inerds intact. Unless I feel like cooking up the Giblets, liver and maybe heart for the dogs, 3 year old doesn't appeal to me. Now I don't always do this, because I like chicken soup from the bones. But ya. This is fast and the way I always deal with the ducks. I pretty much just skin the chickens and quail.

You could try plucking just the legs first. I would probably cut of the legs and dip them after I took the breast, then pluck the legs if I wanted skin on them. I would try it anyway, cause you wouldn't have to heat so much water.

Going to rain here Tuesday so I have to postpone, but I might try this. Just for the heck of it. But why would you want the skin on a 3 year old hen. Oh flavor. Sometimes I am a little slow.

So maybe we are talking you into some meatbirds of somekind in the Spring. Just teasing.

 

[maggiemooscluckers]

I just butchered 4 nine weeks old roos today. My first try at it! I opted to skin them since we don't eat the skin. I tried to follow the u-tube video put out by the Custer Family. I stuck to it pretty good considering I had to do it by memory. I didn't want the computer out with the "deed" going on. It really was pretty simple and by the second bird I had it down pretty well. I kept the heart, liver and gizzard for my dad (he likes them, yuck) filleted the breast and cut the thigh and leg in quarter sections . They are bagged and resting in the fridge awaiting the freezer in about 3 days. I simmered the backs, necks and wings for stock. I am really anxious to finish the other 14. I also struggled with the mindset of being able to kill my birds. I envisioned all kinds of gory things during the process. Last night was a sleepless event but this morning I just got up with a resolve to get it done. I just swallowed hard and kept moving once I caught the first bird. Didn't give myself a chance to back out and with great determination knew that I was doing what had to be done. Just before putting them into the cone I told them thanks and just did it.

 

[Bossroo]

Yesterday was Holloween !!!