Processing big birds

[AA Maple]

I hang them and use tree loppers. Quick easy no drama.

I had considered those tree clippers but I still can't picture how you wrestle this size bird upside down. As I said, just a 10 pound Cornish X was a two man job to hold and chop.

 

[Free Spirit]

What we do is cut a small hole in the corner of one of those plastic type feed bags (Purina, Nutrena, etc.) Stick their head out of it and straddle them on the ground. My husband strokes their head until they basically fall asleep, then he slits their throat and bleeds them out. Takes just a few minutes, but they do flap pretty vigorously, but that is why you straddle them and basically sit on them, so they don't bruise the meat and/or get away. The bag contains the wings. We then use a hack saw to get the head off, and dry pluck them. It's actually pretty easy to do. We have never used hot water, just pluck the feathers , chop off the feet, and clean out the guts, rinse them good and let them cool in icy salt water for a couple hours, then put them in a pan, cover with a bag and leave them in the frig for 4 days to let the rigor mortis come out. They taste divine!!

This is exactly how we do it too (word for word as the quote above from LovedMyAlydar). Very easy and efficient. Once you have the birds in a pen, just walk up to them slowly, slip the feed bag over their heads and guide the head through the hole in the corner of the bag. Once you finished slitting the throat and the wings quit flapping then you can immediately hang upside down by their feet to bleed out completely, remove the bag, and begin plucking.

We did use a little hot water but only poured it only over the wings because the larger feathers came out easier that way. If you begin plucking immediately after bleeding and while the body is still warm dry plucking is the best way to go. But you can pour hot water over difficult areas to loosen them up a little if needed.

 

[donrae]

I had considered those tree clippers but I still can't picture how you wrestle this size bird upside down. As I said, just a 10 pound Cornish X was a two man job to hold and chop.

You just need something sturdy enough to hang them from, and some type of pulley. We used a rope over a strong tree branch. Get the rope around the feet and you can easily hoist them in the air, doesn't matter if they're 10lbs or 50lbs. Then tie the rope off so they hang. One person can hold the head and the other can cut/lop, or one person can do it at that point. You can use a gambrel (is that the right word? Like you use to hang a deer from?) mounted to a ceiling joist if you're in a garage, etc. Or build a frame of 2x4s, the bucket on a tractor, a bolt with a ring on the end mounted high on a barn wall, there's lots of things you can hang a bird from high enough to work comfortably.

I like the feed sack idea for turkeys, have to keep that in mind.

 

[AA Maple]

You just need something sturdy enough to hang them from, and some type of pulley. We used a rope over a strong tree branch. Get the rope around the feet and you can easily hoist them in the air, doesn't matter if they're 10lbs or 50lbs. Then tie the rope off so they hang. One person can hold the head and the other can cut/lop, or one person can do it at that point. You can use a gambrel (is that the right word? Like you use to hang a deer from?) mounted to a ceiling joist if you're in a garage, etc. Or build a frame of 2x4s, the bucket on a tractor, a bolt with a ring on the end mounted high on a barn wall, there's lots of things you can hang a bird from high enough to work comfortably.

I like the feed sack idea for turkeys, have to keep that in mind.

Neighbor has a gambrel for hanging deer/moose and I suspect a quick loop around the legs and pully might just work. That in conjunction with a feed bag might just get it done.

Thanks for all the great ideas, gang!

 

[neverbdone]

I hang a block from my tree. One end of the rope i tie a loop. I pull the rope through the loop to make a slip knot. I pick up the bird and DH slips the loop over the birds feet and then hoists up the bird. I put a rubber garbage can with a heavy duty liner under the bird. This is where all feathers and garbage goes. I use the loppers and follow by cutting the skin with sizzors a s DH lowere it down so all bleeding goes into the can.

Sorry Mods if this is in the wrong place.

 

[AA Maple]

OK, so to update we sort of did a hybrid of ideas.

First I screwed a 2X4 to the side of my woodshed protruding a couple feet to use as a hanging post.

Next I have a couple outdoor propane burners that we use for cooking maple candy plus a few 6 gallon stainless pots plus a few large food grade plastic barrels.

We boiled up 10 gallons of water and threw that + about 4 gallons of cold water in a large food-grade plastic barrel.

Turkeys were quite manageable when the feed bag was put over them like a straight jacket. Lassoing their feet just wasn't happening so I had a friend sit on the bagged bird and used some tree lopers to snip their necks. It didn't sever the head completely but was enough to dispatch them quickly and get a good bleed out. Once they stopped kicking we tied the legs up with a rope and hung for about 10 minutes.

We attempted to do some plucking while the first one was hanging and it simply wasn't happening to my satisfaction. A lot of feathers would leave 1/8" of root in the skin and the largest wing feathers were just not budging. SO we dunked the birds for about 2 minutes in the hot water and then plucking was a breeze. I had constructed a hand held plucker with rubber fingers on a 6" pipe end cap on a spindle (spun with a handheld drill), so between that and some hand work plucking went quick and smooth after the hot water bath.

Evisceration also went smoothly. Quite a large area for a man's hand to root around in, and of course the chickens were nearby to fight over the lungs and other unidentifiable bits of scrap that I throw them while butchering.

Heart + liver weighed almost 11oz for each bird (Mmmmm, giblet gravy).

We weighed the smaller one at 38 pounds dressed! Two more will be processed next weekend and hopefully cooked fresh for thanksgiving.

All in all I've very much enjoyed raising turkeys and the meat yield is impressive!



For size reference this is a 21 cu-ft freezer and the two chickens at the top of the picture are about 9.5 pounds each.

 

[Free Spirit]

Congratulations on a successful operation ! Easier than you thought, huh?

. 38 lbs ! Wow, what a large dress out. That will take a while to roast. There is only me and my hubby so my largest dressed at 27 lbs. Lots of leftovers, sandwiches, soups, and casseroles for us for quite a while.

You did everything perfectly. Scalding does make plucking so much easier with the only risk being "possible" skin tearing while plucking, but when the water temps are just right it's a non issue.

In case it helps you when you do this again and want to retry dry plucking. Dry plucking works well when the bird is still warm after dispatching. It makes a difference when you use a twisting motion and pulling against the grain at the same time. Don't grab too many feathers, just a few at a time and work quickly. Wing feathers should be done first one at a time with the twisting motion as the wings cool off the quickest. I never worry about the wing tips and just cut them off because there is not much meat on them anyway.

I dispatched 3 this year. I scalded the first two and dry plucked the last one. Now that I got the hang of it I like the dry plucking much better. There were are few feather shafts that came out easily with tweezers while running cold water over the bird to cool it down after processing.

 

[AA Maple]

Congratulations on a successful operation ! Easier than you thought, huh?

. 38 lbs ! Wow, what a large dress out. That will take a while to roast. There is only me and my hubby so my largest dressed at 27 lbs. Lots of leftovers, sandwiches, soups, and casseroles for us for quite a while.

You did everything perfectly. Scalding does make plucking so much easier with the only risk being "possible" skin tearing while plucking, but when the water temps are just right it's a non issue.

In case it helps you when you do this again and want to retry dry plucking. Dry plucking works well when the bird is still warm after dispatching. It makes a difference when you use a twisting motion and pulling against the grain at the same time. Don't grab too many feathers, just a few at a time and work quickly. Wing feathers should be done first one at a time with the twisting motion as the wings cool off the quickest. I never worry about the wing tips and just cut them off because there is not much meat on them anyway.

I dispatched 3 this year. I scalded the first two and dry plucked the last one. Now that I got the hang of it I like the dry plucking much better. There were are few feather shafts that came out easily with tweezers while running cold water over the bird to cool it down after processing.

Really we were lucky to get turkeys at all this year. My guy ordered 200 and only got 50 delivered! His second order he got none at all. Apparently the bird flu really turned everything upside down this year. Next season I'd like to start a month later so that we have more manageable sized birds to serve fresh for Thanksgiving. I do Thanksgiving with friends who have a big gathering but even with 20 adults and some children 40 pound bird is probably too much.

We did try to pluck as soon as he stopped kicking as he was hanging. Might re-visit that, but the scalding was really nice by comparison and also washed away some of the muck on his belly. I did learn my lesson about too hot water with some ducks earlier this year (thinking hotter was better). 150-155 seems ideal and I have a thermometer that's accurate to a tenth of a degree precision which eliminates guesswork.

 

[maplebendfarmmn]

I usually will grab the turkey then immediately turn it upside down and tuck it against my body to carry it to be slaughtered. This has worked well for us so far even though I'm not very big or strong. It may help to have someone get a hold of the wings while you grab the feet to pick him up. We don't wrap them in anything, just hang them by their feet from a rafter in the barn making sure they can't beat their wings on anything. I slit the throat and actually duck down and hold the head while they bleed out. I rarely get hit with the wings and we don't get as much blood splattered everywhere. Either that or slit the throat and get out of the way quickly! This has worked well for us, hopefully you'll find what works for you. There are a lot of good suggestions on here.

 

[AA Maple]

I usually will grab the turkey then immediately turn it upside down and tuck it against my body

With a bird that dresses out to 40 pounds!?!?