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

[Coralietg]

Do you have a water bath canner? It's the perfect size for scalding. Add a little dishsoap to the water and get it to boiling. Then dunk and swirl in the water. Pull tail and wing feathers first, they are the hardest to get out.

We don't have one. And for people living in south Louisiana, we don't have a turkey fryer either! We have a huge stainless steel crawfish pot, but no burner. Other half wants to buy a small wood burning stove to put the pot on, I wanted something cheaper.

 

[Coralietg]

Water doesn't have to be boiling hot btw. I think 140-160F is warm enough. So it is possible to boil a pot and take it to where you are working, it's fine if it cools off some... Or put a pot where you are working and carry a kettle to fill it. Probably safer that way.

I use an old dinged up stock pot for my scalding. When the water isn't so hot, you can dunk them, try and pull a wing feather, dunk them again, until it pulls out easier. If your water is really hot, it's harder to not cook the skin, and pulling a feather can be hard because it's too hot to touch.

Just my two cents and limited experience.

You know, I said this to him. That we could boil water on the stove and bring it outside. We are only going to be doing 3-4 chickens each time, so we don't need tons of hot water going at once.

Your story is really great. We are becoming so removed from our food that it really takes some time to get back to the point where it is normal to process and eat food that we raised.

I am inspired!

Thank You

Thank you! We've had laying chickens for nearly 6 years now, but this is our first time with meat chickens. I just want healthy meat for my kids, that had a happy life in the fresh air, isn't bacteria ridden and pumped with saline. My nearly 6 year old daughter has said she wants to help with plucking, I'm proud of her.

 

[katbriar]

I've used a cooler to hold the scalding water I take outside from the house. Works well.

The water stays hotter longer, there are no hot pot edges to watch out for, and if you've got help to pluck several birds a once, you've got room to scald several at a time.

 

[ronott1]

Thank you! We've had laying chickens for nearly 6 years now, but this is our first time with meat chickens. I just want healthy meat for my kids, that had a happy life in the fresh air, isn't bacteria ridden and pumped with saline. My nearly 6 year old daughter has said she wants to help with plucking, I'm proud of her.

My DW commented yesterday on the Costco roasted chickens. She said she was going to buy one and then read the ingredients. She did not like that they were injected. I told her that most of the chicken sold were injected. Not to mention what they are fed.

We ate one of our own this weekend and will be making soup tonight.

Much healthier!

 

[MamaKitty913]

Ronott1 They tasted great Chicken and Dumplings!
For scalding 6 birds I got a big old soup pot heated it to 160 degress carried it outside and put our propane grill on low (it kept the water at about 150 - 155 through out with no adjustments) put the bird in counted to 50 while swishing them in the water check feathers they came off easily at about 45 seconds. Just remember these are fresh birds not like store bought they are WARM but warmer after the scald, and the skin comes off easy, feathers were not hard to pluck dry or after the scaled. Took about 3 minutes to pluck, no problems. Placed the scalded bird on an outside table with a cutting board on top and gutted them. Honestly, it was very interesting identifying the organs. Finding out who was REALLY a boy or a girl. Then we took an old big cooler put a big contractor trash bag in it with Ice water to let them sit as we did the other birds. We reused some Tidy Cat containers for extra water to clean our disposable scaples (which I really don't recommend using disposable scaples, they don't stay sharp. Next time I will get a real scaple from the medical supply store, in fact i am getting 2. one for the killing cuts, and a separate one for the butchering when they are sharp they work GREAT). We did roast one and BBQ one fresh but put another on to brine/age and that was YUMMY! They are tough if you don't let them age! Once again the people of BYC are spot on! Focus on the learning and the benefits of raising what you eat YOU CAN DO IT, and to coin a phrase Git' her done!

Youlll feel better about it when you don't have to clean up all that poop and add some BBQ sauce or dumplings and enjoy! It feels way better on the other side of your first kill day, trust me. While not "easy" it is a learning experience that I for one am glad I participated in. And as I have learned the fantasy far exceeded the reality of doing this, I kept picturing all kinds of bad stuff happening and while not "pretty" and "neat" It was clean and tasty. And one must look at Beekissed if she can do all those birds by her self surely the rest of us can do 2 or 3 of the birds ourselves?

 

[Tomtommom]

We don't have one. And for people living in south Louisiana, we don't have a turkey fryer either! We have a huge stainless steel crawfish pot, but no burner. Other half wants to buy a small wood burning stove to put the pot on, I wanted something cheaper.

http://weblife.org/capturing_heat/capturing_heat_files/tmp190-21.jpg

Cinderblock rocket stove.. if he really wishes to go that way. Seems like a lot of work when you can just carry a pot outside.

I actually processed mine in the kitchen... I don't clean very often, so it gives me a good reason to clean the kitchen well

Mind you, I've only processed a bird at a time, never multiples... I am really slow still. We have a porcelain double sink, put pot in one side, pluck bird in the other side (put a bag in bottom, for easy cleanup). Lift pot out, put on back porch, fill sink with icewater, gut bird, rinse under tap, dunk in icewater. Our house is pretty tiny, so I have to make do with what space we have. Eventually I will put a processing area outdoors.

You know, I said this to him. That we could boil water on the stove and bring it outside. We are only going to be doing 3-4 chickens each time, so we don't need tons of hot water going at once.

Thank you! We've had laying chickens for nearly 6 years now, but this is our first time with meat chickens. I just want healthy meat for my kids, that had a happy life in the fresh air, isn't bacteria ridden and pumped with saline. My nearly 6 year old daughter has said she wants to help with plucking, I'm proud of her.

I always feel so ripped off when you have all that saline dripping out of your bird.. you can still brine a bird, but I don't wanna pay for that brine dangit

On a side note, wet chicken smells worse than wet dog.

I've used a cooler to hold the scalding water I take outside from the house. Works well.

The water stays hotter longer, there are no hot pot edges to watch out for, and if you've got help to pluck several birds a once, you've got room to scald several at a time.

That's a great idea. Thanks!

My DW commented yesterday on the Costco roasted chickens. She said she was going to buy one and then read the ingredients. She did not like that they were injected. I told her that most of the chicken sold were injected. Not to mention what they are fed.

We ate one of our own this weekend and will be making soup tonight.

Much healthier!

I used to work at a restaurant where we sold A LOT of fried chicken (2000+ pieces a week!).... it just makes you realize how much chicken this country consumes.. and the prices we get it for (as a restaurant)...

People have grown so used to cheap, companies have to produce cheap, cut corners everywhere. We get what we pay for. Such a vicious cycle! I am glad to slow down, produce my own and work hard for my meal. It makes you appreciate life more, really. I hate working for money, it's so abstract... working for a meal brings a much greater sense of accomplishment.

 

[MamaKitty913]

"People have grown so used to cheap, companies have to produce cheap, cut corners everywhere. We get what we pay for. Such a vicious cycle! I am glad to slow down, produce my own and work hard for my meal. It makes you appreciate life more, really. I hate working for money, it's so abstract... working for a meal brings a much greater sense of accomplishment."
I totally agree! It made me realize what I did not even stop to think about, such as .99 cent chicken legs I thought Great it's on sale and bought it... now I'm like WoW the poor chicken farmer must get 4 cents a # for that... I had realized it for farmers planting things as I had grown up in MidWest where talk of corn prices was common (and FarmAid brought it to the attention of the nation), but I had probably not allowed myself to think like this about meat before. Funny how knowledge can be "ignored" when its "on sale"

 

[katbriar]

I am glad to slow down, produce my own and work hard for my meal. It makes you appreciate life more, really. I hate working for money, it's so abstract... working for a meal brings a much greater sense of accomplishment.

Exactly- I appreciate (and like) working for my meal.

Although when it was a several hundred pound cow elk it made me really think about how I was going to get her home!

 

[dutchbunny83]

I'm 700 posts behind on this thread, there's no way I can read everything, hope you all are doing well!!!

Haven't processed in awhile.
Unfortunately have to do my favorite ducks today. Of course the loudest ones are my favorite ones I got attached to- the White Pekins.
They QUACK all night long though for no reason, louder than any tom turkey or roo we've had, so they've got to go since we're in town.

Has anyone used wax to pluck before?
Read an article on it curious if anyone had success with it?

 

[Happy Chooks]

Quote: And turkeys are injected too.

We had a fresh (as in DH killed it the day before) turkey for Thanksgiving that a friend raised. That sucker cooked so darn fast I couldn't believe it.