Processing Day Support Group ~ HELP us through the Emotions PLEASE!

[ronott1]

Hey Sally
I went through this last year. New farm new life. We moved onto a farm which had a HUGE chicken shed. Well we got all excited and had to fill the ****** thing. We had 100 mixed breed chickens and 8 turkeys. Well as you can imagine we ended up with half of them being roosters and after about 6 months of feeding them we decided enough was enough. The hens were getting jumped every time they tried to eat and we were spending a fortune on feed. So my husband and I decided to be brave while my parents were visiting and try one of the roosters for the pot. It was a horrible experience which ended up with me in floods of tears and my husband trying to console me while the rooster managed to flap its way down the bank of the creek. Hubby retrieved it and I plucked it (still crying but felt I had to "man" up) we bought it in and gagging tried our hand at gutting. My mum bless her took over. We cooked the thing and it was tough as old boots. We put it down to all that flapping though but left it at that.
I facebooked my experience (minus the me sobbing and the whole creek part) only for my old shop foreman to laugh at me and said there is no way I could ever become a proper farmer. Me being me saw this as a huge insult and had to prove him wrong. I put my one year old in her crib, threw a movie on for my four year old and stormed out to the chicken shed. Grabbed a rooster bagged his head and did the deed. I took it inside skinned him and put it in the pot. needless to say I was very proud of myself yet a little stressed and nauseated! Again the rooster tasted bloody awful tho. We did get rid of all our roosters but didn't eat them.

We did however do the extra Toms and they turned out to taste just fine sooooo we ordered 30 meat hens and went halves with them with some family. That started off horrific too with the whole plucking and gutting part but once we learnt to scald them I became chief plucker!! These birds however were not named and we did not spend any time hanging out with them. Just went in fed them and came out again. If I did watch them for any time I would think to myself don't like them they are food. and then turn to our pet chickens for the company that I love from having chickens.

Its hard but all I can say is distance yourself as much as you can from the meat birds and have special birds in your layers

:0)

Cockerels need to be eaten by 4 months old to be tender. Older ones need to:

1. Rest for 48 hours in the fridge
2. brined
3. moisture cooked. I cook mine in a Pressure cooker. They can also be braised.

At four months many will be close to 3 pounds dressed or smaller. That does not matter. The monsters at the store are not natural.

It is funny that you look at them as dinner. The ones that were going to be processed were like that for me. One thing I did was pick them up every once in a while and feel how much meat they had on them.

 

[Sally Sunshine]

They are relaxed once I tell them God is going to take them to chicken heaven
You only need to scald them less than a minute you have to make sure the water is the proper temp I do 154 and it is perfect so it don't cook the bird if you over scald the skin rips Before I scald them I wash them with soap and water and smoosh out any poop in there area I like to scald and pluck a clean bird ,maybe its just me But I have this whole procedure I go through
When I gut them I keep the neck of course and the gizzard the rest I toss to the crows and vultures that come around . I make great stock from the feet, backs ,necks
I have a few other videos on you tube I think you can find if you search my name jean Montle I will probably post others also
I did Make the plucker my self But next time I am defiantly making a tub style one Because It kills my arms to hold the birds and pluck it , its easy But its a Lotta work . especially when I had to do 42 birds , Took me a span of 3 weeks because I had to work on them on my days off and my days would run in to 12 hours to do 10 birds from start to finish up in the house getting them all packaged or cut up , But let me tell you my freezer is full now

If you can remember us, can you please let us know if you make a video of making it or images and directions? Besides the actual killing part this is the next thing that holds me back, the cleaning the feathers! It did look a bit messy and tiring on the arms in the vid, but still cool! I said DH its a drill lol

Quote: do you cook them and grind them? I assume no intestines though right? that would be crop busters even cooked I am thinking

Quote: do you sell your chickens? and I assume you bought a special labeler? I wont be selling but it sure would be cool to have labels for gifting some!

 

[Sally Sunshine]

Can someone tell me when a hen pretty much stops laying her eggs. If the meat is still good to eat or is it tough?
Thanks in advance

I also have wondered this!

Plus we have an old hen "freeloader Rosie" an old RIR

 

[Wax Myrtle]

RIGOR MORTIS.... This I didn't know, or maybe didn't want to know! ​

[COLOR=008080]"If you cook a bird that's been freshly killed it will very likely be extremely tough, as the muscles have not had time to relax after hardening in rigor mortis. That usually begins about 20 minutes after death, so if you're extremely fast you can cool and freeze a chicken before rigor mortis sets in. However more than likely your bird will have already started to toughen up by the time you get to chill it.[/COLOR]​

[COLOR=008080]Meat needs to be stored for around 48 hours to give time for the muscles to relax again. Naturally in Australia this means refrigeration. You can either put the bird in the freezer right after that time or, having frozen it at once, let it stand in the fridge for one to two days until it's softened. "[/COLOR]


[COLOR=000000]Now when I buy chicken its already well beyond this stage and no brining is necessary or have I been making chicken wrong all along?[/COLOR]

You certainly *could* re-brine store bought, but I wouldn't bother, for reasons you've discovered already. I brine my own for two reasons - I actually prefer the flavor of "overcooked" chicken, but I don't like a dry bird. Brining gives me leeway to get the flavor I prefer. And yes, commercially produced chicken will have already been "rested" before it higits the store.

[IMG]http://serve.mysmiley.net/sign/sign0092.gif[/IMG]

Cockerels need to be eaten by 4 months old to be tender. Older ones need to:

1. Rest for 48 hours in the fridge
2. brined
3. moisture cooked. I cook mine in a Pressure cooker. They can also be braised.

At four months many will be close to 3 pounds dressed or smaller. That does not matter. The monsters at the store are not natural.

It is funny that you look at them as dinner. The ones that were going to be processed were like that for me. One thing I did was pick them up every once in a while and feel how much meat they had on them.

Glad I'm not the only one to do this. Makes me feel a little less like the witch in Hansel & Gretel. Lol. Man, after reading this thread I'm starting to get hungry for home grown birds. Freezer is bare as of a month ago, CX are only game hen size yet and the heritage types are still in a brooder.... Sigh.

 

[Sally Sunshine]

Quote: Oh DO NOT TOSS THE FF! No no no!!

I stopped all that crap! I only do the hot water no strain method now!

I only do mash now, its cheaper and it makes awesome FF! Plus if your trying to "break down" foods for healthier consumption it just makes sense to me to have it mashed already not whole and be wasted!.

Anyways.....

take half of what you have in that bucket and put it in another bucket

add 1 cup of ACV with mother HOT WATER and ADD enough feed to make a thick pancake mix, let it sit (and it will rise from that moment and FF with hot water!)
let it sit for 2 days covered with cheese cloth or a towel MUST HAVE AIR no lid. I don't stir it after that either, I let it sit! Then I take what I need off the top (not stiring) and replace what I took with more hot water and more feed stir good and let it sit till it puffs up the next day for feeding! Its so easy and I am so glad I figured this way out! I had such terrible time with straining and whole grains, now its certainly boozy! and keep two buckets going, using one and leaving a tad in to make the next batch while the other sits until the next day!

 

[Sally Sunshine]

HOT water from the spigot! and its all true too

Poo has a lot less stench, I only clean coops every two weeks now!
brooders can hold chicks longer because they don't smell
eggs are HUGE one day I will start weighing them!
Chicks feather faster!

and on and on and on

 

[Sally Sunshine]

you will get a kick out of this I was playing around and thought I'd have some fun I posted this on my face book and some responses were there was something wrong with me.. BAHAHHHHH

I said Oh no this chicken is in labor with a breach baby is there a chicken doctor in the house ?
Well I thought it was funny

LOL gotta have fun while you do it right?

 

[Wax Myrtle]

I also have wondered this! 

Plus we have an old hen "freeloader Rosie" an old RIR

I would think that anyone not laying (or broody) by this time of year is probably pretty much over her laying days. Old hens (fowl) have the best flavor, bar none. The meat can be made tender with slooooow cooking, not boiling. It will always be a little "stringy" though. Check the sticky threads in this forum for an article about cooking heritage fowl. I'm on a phone and stickies don't show up, or I'd link. Fowl will make the best broth you will have ever had in your life, and the meat is wonderful in soup, stew, chicken n dumplings, chicken bog (if you're a South Carolinian) Brunswick Stew, etc. Just don't expect to roast, grill, bake, etc fowl or you'll end up with a bird shaped hockey puck.

 

[Wax Myrtle]

HOT water from the spigot!  and its all true too

Poo has a lot less stench, I only clean coops every two weeks now!
brooders can hold chicks longer because they don't smell
eggs are HUGE  one day I will start weighing them!
Chicks feather faster!

and on and on and on

I used FF for a while, then my ferment got stalled due to some life issues. When I started back up, I started just offering wet feed. TBH, I'm finding I get almost all the benefits of ff without having to actually ferment... Not all - they obviously don't get the probios, but I still have decreased feed bills, firmer stools, big eggs, and my broiler pen needs less maintenance.

 

[paridisefarm2009]

This is my plucker I made from countless hours or searching for ideas or a cheap way , it is good for a few birds But Like I said you really need a tub style for a lot and I am going to build one My arms are still soar from doing all my birds I did make a few changes to this plucker this year I cut out that front piece of wood so it would be easier to hold the bird I added a few feather shields

When I Built this last year I was trying many different things and finally came up with this , it isn't the greatest looking thing But for me it works better than hand plucking I pluck a bird in about 2 minutes
OK This time I did sell some of my birds 10$ each because this meat bird process is not cheap from start to finish its well over 300$ the past 2 years I was stupid and gave them away But no more freebies its bad enough the people I give the eggs to don't even give me a few bucks My freezer now