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

[fisherlady]

Way to go tommysgirl!

Reminds me to ask- how do you folks remove the neck? That had been very hard for me to put the knife blade anywhere easy. I've even broken the (plastic) handles of kitchen shears.

Any advice?

the neck usually bends up (when the chicken is alive and holding up his head)... it still arches that way when you are processing. I remove the head, and hold the end of the neck in my left hand and bend it sharply downward, holding it firmly to cause tension on the spine. With a large, thick bladed knife I slice through the neck (about 1/3 the thickness of the neck) near where it joins into the body, this cuts through the soft tissue to the spinal process. Sometimes I am lucky enough to open it up right where two vertebrae meet, if so you can cut the ligaments which hold them together and then through the other side of the soft tissue. If you open it up to a solid vertebrae you can angle the blade slightly toward the body of the bird and should get between 2 vertebrae within a 1/4 inch or so (the vertebrae on chickens aren't very big)
The vertebrae are very irregular in shape, so it isn't quite as simple as cutting through the leg joint to remove the feet, but it is a very similar process. And even though I have done plenty of them I still have some which cause me fits... at which time I prefer Tomtommom's method... I twist the heck out of it till it gives!

 

[ronott1]

Way to go tommysgirl!

Reminds me to ask- how do you folks remove the neck? That had been very hard for me to put the knife blade anywhere easy. I've even broken the (plastic) handles of kitchen shears.

Any advice?

Cut along the wind pipe and peal the skin off from around the neck. Pull the trachea up and remove the crop and pull it all out from the neck. Use a sturdy butcher knife to cut the neck at the body cavity. You then do the gutting.

 

[fisherlady]

Here are some pics I got of one of our processing times...



move the skin back to get a clear view of the area and pull sharply down on neck...

keep tension and cut through the soft tissue till spine exposed.

knife will cut through ligaments, continue downward pressure to help separate the vertebrae as you cut, it helps make access to the ligaments easier.

. you can then bend it up the other way to cut through the soft tissue on the underside to complete the removal.

 

[RockerHen]

Lets play a rousing game of spot the cornish cross!

little guy/gal is like a football player next to the other one, a leghorn/marans cross I hatched of the same age. If it ends up being a hen and surviving long enough to lay eggs, I might try to cross my thai or marans rooster over it to make more meaties. If it's a rooster, no big loss, it'll still be tasty, that's what I got it for! TSC had two bins, one with these and one with older actual white rock chicks. They were telling people that these were also white rocks, but you could tell the difference just by leg size, the day old cornish cross had thicker legs and were beefier than the week old rocks!

 

[fisherlady]

I wish our local TSC carried just white rocks... they have the cross, but I want some heritage type WRs to add to the coop. I would have bought 6 and split them between two broodies who just hatched out their eggs Friday... would have been perfect.

 

[chicken junky]

I bet!  Do you all go to powwows and such?  They look so very interesting that I would love to see one in person. 

I haven't found any yet but I am looking so my son can know where he came from. At the least we will go to the reservation or to north Carolina cuz I am part Cherokee and I have already been to see them. Hope to visit Poland and Ireland as well. when I was a kid we went to powwow in Colorado and also where some family are who have ancestors headdress got to try on was pretty neat.

 

[chicken junky]

Lets play a rousing game of spot the cornish cross! little guy/gal is like a football player next to the other one, a leghorn/marans cross I hatched of the same age. If it ends up being a hen and surviving long enough to lay eggs, I might try to cross my thai or marans rooster over it to make more meaties. If it's a rooster, no big loss, it'll still be tasty, that's what I got it for! TSC had two bins, one with these and one with older actual white rock chicks. They were telling people that these were also white rocks, but you could tell the difference just by leg size, the day old cornish cross had thicker legs and were beefier than the week old rocks!

looks like it's been taking steroids

 

[Beekissed]

Here are some pics I got of one of our processing times...



move the skin back to get a clear view of the area and pull sharply down on neck...

keep tension and cut through the soft tissue till spine exposed.

knife will cut through ligaments, continue downward pressure to help separate the vertebrae as you cut, it helps make access to the ligaments easier.

. you can then bend it up the other way to cut through the soft tissue on the underside to complete the removal.

Great pictorial!!!

One little tip I can offer ...when you get your knife blade on those ligaments between the vertebrae, wiggle it a little to get it in between the closely set bones and it can help you get past the little processes and facets in that area~the "wings" on the vertebrae that are closely set and hard to get your knife blade past.

Lets play a rousing game of spot the cornish cross!

little guy/gal is like a football player next to the other one, a leghorn/marans cross I hatched of the same age. If it ends up being a hen and surviving long enough to lay eggs, I might try to cross my thai or marans rooster over it to make more meaties. If it's a rooster, no big loss, it'll still be tasty, that's what I got it for! TSC had two bins, one with these and one with older actual white rock chicks. They were telling people that these were also white rocks, but you could tell the difference just by leg size, the day old cornish cross had thicker legs and were beefier than the week old rocks!

LOVE this pic! So sweet and speaks of spring. So many times on here I've read of the pet crowd who went to TSC and bought "white rocks" all the while thinking they were Plymouth White Rocks and the store did nothing to correct the confusion. Maybe the employees don't even know the difference, but someone needs to be educating them. This confusion causes the pet crowd to be stuck with a chicken that they can't manage with their others and they won't kill it and eat it.

 

[Tomtommom]

So many times on here I've read of the pet crowd who went to TSC and bought "white rocks" all the while thinking they were Plymouth White Rocks and the store did nothing to correct the confusion. Maybe the employees don't even know the difference, but someone needs to be educating them. This confusion causes the pet crowd to be stuck with a chicken that they can't manage with their others and they won't kill it and eat it.

Between them telling folks that their 'pullets are straight run' (say what?), lousy customer service and just terribly knowledge on chickens in general...

But, they keep you laughing atleast.

 

[Audio51]

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

@paridisefarm2009 ...I am just starting to read this thread and wanted to see your video on killing/processing, but it says it doesn't exist. Is there another place I can view it? I tried searching by name on YouTube, but nothing came up.