Processing Day Coming up QUICK

[BorealRanch]

Our broilers are ready to be processed! My husband and I will be processing 10-15 on Tuesday. We have only ever processed 5 turkeys (last year and it took ALL day) and don't have a plucker. Any tips/tricks to get it done quick and effiently without a plucker??
Also any favorite bags for storage out there?

 

[AlleysChicks]

Skin them. I’ve never butchered my own (yet) but if I did I’d skin them.

 

[Rlmp817]

Skinning is VERY easy. I recommend giving it a try.
We have culled 3 ducks and 2 roosters this year, and it made the process very quick.

 

[True Patriot]

Get everything ready the day before. Set it all up and go through a "dry" run with something as a chicken "stand in". (A football works) Go through the motions of every station. This will help find the things that are missing/problematic before the real day.

 

[cassie]

Our broilers are ready to be processed! My husband and I will be processing 10-15 on Tuesday. We have only ever processed 5 turkeys (last year and it took ALL day) and don't have a plucker. Any tips/tricks to get it done quick and effiently without a plucker??
Also any favorite bags for storage out there?

I don't like the way skinned poultry looks so that was never something I ever even thought about doing. If you get a good scald on them the feathers come right off very easily. I don't remember what the proper temperature is but it shouldn't be hard to look up. You want to scald until you can flick off the skin on the leg with your fingernail. A squirt or two of dish detergent in the scald water helps too.

I became the designated chicken processor through no fault of my own. Since it was just me I didn't try to process them all at once. I did three or so per day. Even at that rate, I got through the whole lot of 25 in about a week.

 

[ketojenn]

I can most of mine, so skinning is by far the most efficient for me. From kill to quarter takes less than 10 minutes per bird. I'm planning to do 6 tomorrow and should have them ready for the jars in no more than an hour total.

If we want to have roasters, the plan is to have my sons girlfriend up. She is the current chicken plucking champion in her family. lol

 

[Mosey2003]

Chickens should pluck easier than turkeys, I'd imagine. Scald water between 140-150, too hot and you'll be ripping the skin. Hang them by each leg kind of spread-eagled and it's easier to pluck.

If you skin, make sure you look up some YouTube videos, there's actually an easy way and a hard way. Whatever you do, don't try to start with the back (I found that out the hard way). Start with the skin over the point of the keel bone and pull upwards and downwards.

 

[iwltfum]

Our broilers are ready to be processed! My husband and I will be processing 10-15 on Tuesday. We have only ever processed 5 turkeys (last year and it took ALL day) and don't have a plucker. Any tips/tricks to get it done quick and effiently without a plucker??
Also any favorite bags for storage out there?

We skinned the first couple chickens we raised, that was few years ago. I have to say that a chicken without the skin is not worth it in my opinion. The skin is one of the most flavorful parts - not to mention that you loose some good wing bones (aka stock/broth making material) in the process. We have a plucker now because we raise 250+ birds a year these days, but before we got the plucker, we decided early on that plucking them by hand was worth it - albeit time consuming. Like the other replies have mentioned- scald the bird in hot water between 145-153F (this specific range of temperatures is important). Move it around while its in the scald water to get the water to penetrate the feathers (remember feathers are designed to repel water so you must agitate the water/bird to get a proper scald). Test a single, thick tail feather to make sure the feathers pop out easily. It might take a couple birds to figure out the perfect scald process. Then hang the bird by its feet and pull the feathers out in a downward motion (against the "grain", if you will). Once you get most of them off, pinch the remaining downy feathers off - all the feathers should come off easily. Keep a hose with spray nozzle handy to spray the bird occasionally while plucking - it helps keep the loose feathers from sticking to the bird and making it hard to see which ones still need to come out.

Cheers to your second butchering! After a few seasons, it will become second nature and you'll be able to show others how to do it like a pro. Expect to be butchering all day since it is your first time and you will be hand plucking. Also, two people makes the plucking go twice as fast (obviously), and that can be really helpful in terms of how long the day goes on. Take your time and have fun!

PS: the fastest hand pluckers (there are real competitions) can pluck a chicken in under 3 minutes. When my partner and I were practiced at it, it took the two of us about 5-10 minutes per bird to get it picked clean.

 

[BorealRanch]

We skinned the first couple chickens we raised, that was few years ago. I have to say that a chicken without the skin is not worth it in my opinion. The skin is one of the most flavorful parts - not to mention that you loose some good wing bones (aka stock/broth making material) in the process. We have a plucker now because we raise 250+ birds a year these days, but before we got the plucker, we decided early on that plucking them by hand was worth it - albeit time consuming. Like the other replies have mentioned- scald the bird in hot water between 145-153F (this specific range of temperatures is important). Move it around while its in the scald water to get the water to penetrate the feathers (remember feathers are designed to repel water so you must agitate the water/bird to get a proper scald). Test a single, thick tail feather to make sure the feathers pop out easily. It might take a couple birds to figure out the perfect scald process. Then hang the bird by its feet and pull the feathers out in a downward motion (against the "grain", if you will). Once you get most of them off, pinch the remaining downy feathers off - all the feathers should come off easily. Keep a hose with spray nozzle handy to spray the bird occasionally while plucking - it helps keep the loose feathers from sticking to the bird and making it hard to see which ones still need to come out.

Cheers to your second butchering! After a few seasons, it will become second nature and you'll be able to show others how to do it like a pro. Expect to be butchering all day since it is your first time and you will be hand plucking. Also, two people makes the plucking go twice as fast (obviously), and that can be really helpful in terms of how long the day goes on. Take your time and have fun!

PS: the fastest hand pluckers (there are real competitions) can pluck a chicken in under 3 minutes. When my partner and I were practiced at it, it took the two of us about 5-10 minutes per bird to get it picked clean.

Thank you! I never thought of hanging up to pluck!

 

[BorealRanch]

Processing Day moved to Thursday