Processing Day II: skinning advice needed

[Steve_of_sandspoultry]

LOL I like that Antlers.

 

[Buster52]

DONE!!!

Got up about 6 this morning, did all my other chores, locked the dogs up (they are protectors, and I don't want them to think it is okay to kill chickens), and then got right to it.

It was soooooo easy! I followed the steps in the video except I cut off the wings at the first joint as suggested here by Steve and others, and deviated in a couple of other places. For instance, after pulling the skin away from the torso and cutting the skin in half, I just pulled the upper half up over the neck and off, and wasn't nearly as fussy about cutting the bottom half off as the lady in the video was.

DW came out to watch, and after I eviscerated the first one, she took over that job from me. As I watched her expert hands do the job, I was reminded that she has handled a lot more chicken carcasses in her life than I have. She also suggested we do as Steve suggested and cut them up and fillet some of them in the future, without even reading these posts or knowing what was said in this thread (not this time, though... nothing on these little Leghorns). So, division of labor, from now on. I kill and skin/pluck, she does the rest.

We have agreed this is the preferred method. There is less setup and equipment needed, and it can be done at the drop of a hat in case of emergency. Plus it is just faster. I didn't time it, but could tell it was just so much faster than when I plucked my first batch. I have no intention now of ever getting an automated chicken plucking machine.

We do plan to pluck a percentage of our birds, and with turkeys it is a non-negotiable item. Wife just likes the look and taste of a turkey with it's skin on. I do boil turkey sometimes (which is sacrilege in my wife's view), and I might consider skinning for those, but mostly we will stick with plucking turkeys.

We will also pluck a few of our meat chickens, mostly for when company comes over and we know they like the skin on. Plus, it gives us more options in the cooking department to have a few with skin.

What did I learn? I learned that this is the easiest, fastest method for processing a chicken cheaply.

Thanks for all the advice, folks. I now feel like a real pro, what with processing all of 6 chickens in my career.

For folks who are planning to process meat birds for the first time, let me just say it is much much much easier than you think, especially if you skin them.

I also want to once again thank my buddy Al who walked me through my first batch a month or so ago. Having a mentor on site to walk and talk you through the process the first time makes a great deal of difference, I think.

Anyway, thank you! I love it!

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

yay! great job!! arent you happy with yourself?



and good for the wife for helping. i'm on 'gut' and hubby is the axe man ...it totally works this way. and yes she probably has cut up more chickens in her day. we found that once is 'meat' and not 'someone you know from the hen yard' its easier to deal with. yay for her!

we actually found that plucking turkeys to be MUCH easier - not sure why... maybe b/c its cooler weather or maybe b/c we all dream of that heavenly, perfectly, roasted bird....

but

we also skinned one of our BBW's, removed the breasts, then ground the rest. it was easy and fun and good eatin

great work!! woot!!!

 

[halo]

Well, this is interesting. Sure takes me several baby steps closer to trying to process a few roosters myself.

Im wondering would the eviscerating be easier, if after skinning the bird, you could just cut him down the breast bone, open it up, and scoop out the innards? If you're not planning on cooking the bird as a roaster, wouldnt this be an easy way to finish it up? Has anyone done this.

I can do this...I can do this....I can do this....

 

[The Gotfeather]

Wow, thanks heaps for this post Buster52! I sincerely apologise for my earlier posting, my mouth/slash fingers get away from my brain on this internet thing.

I haven't processed anything for nearly a year now but as we may have surplus rossters soon I will definitely check out this thread again. Skinning is so much easier from what I saw.

The other excellent part was the division of labour both in the video and in your case. In the family situation if one person goes and does the dirty work and the chicken arrives in kitchen all nice and clean and ready to cook some family members are missing out on that vital connection. Will show that video to my wife later today.

Thanks again.

 

[Burbs]

Quote:
With game birds we usually skin as mentioned above, then fillet the breast meat, cut the wings and leg quarters off and never mess with the innards. All that is left is the back and rib cage. Unless you are making stock they aren't of much use anyway.

Don't do this with chickens though. My favorite parts are the neck, heart and gizzard.

 

[chickabator]

the water hose trick does work wonders when skinning them. I posted that on here a few months ago. there was an old mountain man told dh how to do it. it is so funny to watch too.

 

[halo]

Quote:
With game birds we usually skin as mentioned above, then fillet the breast meat, cut the wings and leg quarters off and never mess with the innards. All that is left is the back and rib cage. Unless you are making stock they aren't of much use anyway.

Don't do this with chickens though. My favorite parts are the neck, heart and gizzard.

I feed my dogs raw chicken parts, so Im thinking this would be perfect for them, back and rib cage included, so thats why Im wondering if I could just basically skin it, split it in two and scrape out the innards that way. Id then end up with 2 chicken halves, basically.

Doesnt seem like rocket science, does it?

But Im still a bit squeemish...

 

[Buster52]

Quote:
No need to apologize. It is a valid position for one to take and I understand it completely. There are many right ways to do things. Heck, I've spoken to hospital nutritionists who think I'm taking things to extremes.

One of the other benefits of skinning that occurred to me today is the lack of extensive preparation time in an emergency, like when you have an injured bird that isn't going to make it and you need to dispatch it at an inopportune time. No need to get the hot water ready or assemble a bunch of equipment or anything. Just knives, cutting board, and whatever you need to do the kill. Even folks who prefer plucking should probably learn to do it for at least cases like that.

 

[New adventure]

I'm waiting for an answer to halo's idea about just halving the carcass. Seems way too easy and maybe there's a reason not to do that, but I'm also working up to doing the deed for the first time and need all the advice available.
This thread comes at a very good time!