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

[BullChick]

Thank you much.
It seems strange to be asking questions about processing when my chickens are so young, but my breed sets well, and I know that not every chick will be a pullet. But with 12 females one male now I know what I can expect next year.
When the time comes, I'll do a few and see how it goes.

Nothing strange about being prepared!

 

[AuntJamie]

Good, useful thread. Watching...

 

[sfgwife]

As of now. We have our first 20 birds in the coolers. Plus one that was on the dinner table. We had done two before this a few weeks ago. But boy howdy we are so stinkin tired!

The plucker has a hiccup of not havin enough power. So hubby made a quick hand job dooer. It was ok. But by bout bird ten i could pluck it nearly as fast as he could with the gadget lol!

One of the dogs waited ever so patiently for me to give her the kidneys while she "guarded" the special stuffs ice box. Lol! She also got a few feet out of the deal.

Hearts, livers and gizards are in their own bowl. The feet another waitin to go into the dehydrater tomorrow for the dogs.

Our sorry lazy boy dogs laid in the carport all afternoon... this may be a good thing though cause the wolfhound woulda fer sure been tryin counter surf for scooby snacks the whole time.

Overall we are good with today even with not bein exactly ready quite yet. Hubby lost one to heat yesterday and declared that today was the day cause he wasn't losin anymore of his hard work to stupidity. Esp since this week is suppose be mid to high eighties out.

We had camp day as the eighth of june. But most all of our birds weighted at least 7.5 lbs dressed. And that i way plenty big to feed us. Tonight one bird fed six people with very little leftover.

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

As of now. We have our first 20 birds in the coolers. Plus one that was on the dinner table. We had done two before this a few weeks ago. But boy howdy we are so stinkin tired!

The plucker has a hiccup of not havin enough power. So hubby made a quick hand job dooer. It was ok. But by bout bird ten i could pluck it nearly as fast as he could with the gadget lol!

One of the dogs waited ever so patiently for me to give her the kidneys while she "guarded" the special stuffs ice box. Lol! She also got a few feet out of the deal.

Hearts, livers and gizards are in their own bowl. The feet another waitin to go into the dehydrater tomorrow for the dogs.

Our sorry lazy boy dogs laid in the carport all afternoon... this may be a good thing though cause the wolfhound woulda fer sure been tryin counter surf for scooby snacks the whole time.

Overall we are good with today even with not bein exactly ready quite yet. Hubby lost one to heat yesterday and declared that today was the day cause he wasn't losin anymore of his hard work to stupidity. Esp since this week is suppose be mid to high eighties out.

We had camp day as the eighth of june. But most all of our birds weighted at least 7.5 lbs dressed. And that i way plenty big to feed us. Tonight one bird fed six people with very little leftover.

Congratulations!!!! That's a hard day's work! Good job!!!

I've actually just come in from finished culling my oldest "non-keeper" boys, 5 yesterday, 10 today. I work on my own, so it goes more slowly. And for some crazy reason I decided I wanted to dry pluck the first six today (they're Naked Necks). I've done it before, and sometimes it's not that much longer than scalding - but today it was, and hard on my hands. By #7, I was skinning them, but at least I have 6 with skin on and ready for roasting - the others will be divided into parts and either frozen or pressure canned. (I prefer skinning all around, but like the occasional roaster.)

- Ant Farm

 

[AnneInTheBurbs]

Congratulations!!!! That's a hard day's work! Good job!!!

I've actually just come in from finished culling my oldest "non-keeper" boys, 5 yesterday, 10 today. I work on my own, so it goes more slowly. And for some crazy reason I decided I wanted to dry pluck the first six today (they're Naked Necks). I've done it before, and sometimes it's not that much longer than scalding - but today it was, and hard on my hands. By #7, I was skinning them, but at least I have 6 with skin on and ready for roasting - the others will be divided into parts and either frozen or pressure canned. (I prefer skinning all around, but like the occasional roaster.)

- Ant Farm

How long have you been doing this? You sound like an old pro. I have my first 15 meat chickens right now and I am almost half way through to butchering time. It will be just me, unless I can wrangle a friend, which seems unlikely. I am going to be going by you tube viedoes, since I don't know anyone who can show me in person. Any tips?

 

[sfgwife]

Thanks! It was mostly myself and our 20 yo son... hubby was either workin on hand plucker or keepin the smoker fed and happy. Son did the hard part then scald and i did the pluckin and cleanin. We ended up skinnin three because the guys would forget the scald water and it would be too hot. :/. Those poor things look so pittiful lol! But they are done and life is good and we have our bellies full of a wonderful sunday dinner and shared with family.

 

[itsasmallfarm]

we raised meat chickens once, my dad did the hard part. not sure if i could do it in a traditional sense, but overall i felt really bad for the Cornish cross, they where just so lazy, they wanted to do nothing at all, just sit and eat. not much of a life if you ask me.

but for the butchering process any body use a .22lr or .410 to the head then just let them bleed out. just sounds so much easier to me then cutting them to bleed out.

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

How long have you been doing this? You sound like an old pro. I have my first 15 meat chickens right now and I am almost half way through to butchering time. It will be just me, unless I can wrangle a friend, which seems unlikely. I am going to be going by you tube viedoes, since I don't know anyone who can show me in person. Any tips?

Only two years - a lot of it you learn by doing. A lot of it I got from this thread combined with videos and blogs. I over prepared. I would recommend doing just a couple the first day - more than that when working alone can be tiring even when one is experienced. I actually had a post in this thread back in 2015 where I posted what I learned. I will say that I used to slice the neck and let them bleed out - it was hard on me, even though I had experience. I decapitate with a Husky tube cutter now - very fast, so the emotional component is now reduced SO much (at least for me).

Thanks! It was mostly myself and our 20 yo son... hubby was either workin on hand plucker or keepin the smoker fed and happy. Son did the hard part then scald and i did the pluckin and cleanin. We ended up skinnin three because the guys would forget the scald water and it would be too hot. :/. Those poor things look so pittiful lol! But they are done and life is good and we have our bellies full of a wonderful sunday dinner and shared with family.

Actually, you can separate the parts of the skinned ones into legs, thighs (which can be bone out or not), wings, and the breasts (including the tenderloin bit). I taught myself to do that thanks to Google and several food blogs and videos. I like roast chicken, sure, but it's nice to have my own boneless skinless chicken breasts in the freezer as well. (I've also canned them.)

we raised meat chickens once, my dad did the hard part. not sure if i could do it in a traditional sense, but overall i felt really bad for the Cornish cross, they where just so lazy, they wanted to do nothing at all, just sit and eat. not much of a life if you ask me.

but for the butchering process any body use a .22lr or .410 to the head then just let them bleed out. just sounds so much easier to me then cutting them to bleed out.

Depends on your situation. In the city, I don't think it would be advisable for me to fire a gun repeatedly - especially since it's so easy to just decapitate them with a quick snip of the tube cutters.

- Ant Farm

 

[sfgwife]

Tomorrow or tues i will do that. But today i am done. Tomorrow may be a day of epsom salt baths and my heatin pad. Degenerative disc disease in neck and back are such the life. :/. By the time we were cleanin up all the things my hound had his helper vest on and was bein my support to keep me upright.

 

[sfgwife]

we raised meat chickens once, my dad did the hard part. not sure if i could do it in a traditional sense, but overall i felt really bad for the Cornish cross, they where just so lazy, they wanted to do nothing at all, just sit and eat. not much of a life if you ask me.

but for the butchering process any body use a .22lr or .410 to the head then just let them bleed out. just sounds so much easier to me then cutting them to bleed out.

Buwwets are expensive. The hard part i could do just to cut and bleed out.. today though... the birds were too large for the makeshift cones we had so their heads wouldn't go down them all the way. so beheadding it was. I was just so afraid i would miss and that i couldn't do.