Processing Equipment

[aclee]

Not the big stuff like tables and chairs, but the small stuff...the lung scraper, bags, buckets, knives, cones...what does everyone use? Any thing I can make myself is a bonus! I beleive we are renting a plucker, and I ended up not getting the large long triple stainless steel sink (darn the husband) and got this instead
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0007U9CVG/ref=oss_product

We camp a lot too, and you can set this up a variety of ways...so hopefully it will work out ok. Still trying to figure out how to set up the processing...

 

[schmism]

how many birds are you doing?

for less than 25 at a time it MIGHT work. my 7' long stainless counter still got crowded between 3 people processing and 10 chickens sitting on it waiting there turn....

 

[Dogfish]

If you do them in batches of 4, that would likely handle one station, the gutting.

You might consider getting a few of the 6 or 8 foot plastic banquet tables. They are a bit low for hours of processing, but you could set them on blocks.

Another solution would be to set up or build a few pairs of saw horses. Rip a 4x8 sheet of osb/plywood in half so you have two 2x8 sheets. Use two 2x4's to stiffen the 2x8 sheets. Cover with Reynolds butcher paper (plastic backed), and you will have a fair amount of working space for minimal investment.

 

[aclee]

Yeah we're planning to buy at least one, maybe 2 of the plastic tables, and I think you can make them taller with PVC? Anyone know?

We'll have 5 people working on it, and I figure one will wrangle them into the cones and cut them, then another person will scald and put them into the plucker, then that leave 3 people to do the rest of the processing...Maybe one for head and feet, one to take the guts out and maybe my husband to break the chickens down and put them into the water with ice.

We have 38 chickens to do in all, but I expect that we'll do it assembly line, not kill them all, scald them all, pluck them all...etc.

I'm hoping it goes as smoothly as I have it in my head, but I think we really need more counter space...

I am thinking about having a large trash can full of cold water and ice in between the plucking and the next station so the birds can hang out in it till they are ready for evicerating..does that sound reasonable, or will that make rigor set in quicker? How long does each bird in the plucker take? long enough to head/foot and eviscerate the one in front of it, or should we expect to get backed up?

 

[Brunty_Farms]

You want to rest them for a while before you start to piece them out. The meat fibers are like rubber bands just after you kill and if you cut them it will toughen up the meat. If you look really close after cutting the meat just after processing you can see the meat fibers still moving..... freaked me out the first time I seen it. I would honestly age them for at least 24 hours before cutting them up. However if your tight on space at least age them for about 4-5 hours before cutting them.... then age them another 24 hours before eating or freezing.

But if you add at least one more table that set up will work fine. I like the racks on the left that you can put gutted birds on and then rinse them off. That way the blood water and everything else falls right through.

Good luck...

 

[aclee]

Great info, thanks Jeff! I was watching a video by the guys at Polyface farm and it looked like they did it right away, so I had never heard about letting the meat rest before parting it up.

Thanks for the heads up on the fibers moving. I think I'm emotionally pretty ready for this, but that might have really thrown me for a loop!

 

[Peruvian]

It doesn't really have to be that difficult. Here's our setup. Just some saw horses, an old sink, a piece of marble from the old counter top and a hose. The turkey fryer is borrowed from a friend to use as a scalder. The cones are milk jugs nailed to a board. I built the plucker. 2 or 3 sharp knives, a cooler, maybe some rubber gloves. Oh and a radio. Don't forget the radio.

 

[aclee]

great looking set up. The problem with ours is the whole set up has to be very portable since we're not processing on our own property...I don't think (who knows!) so it has to fit in a trailer and be able to be relocated and set up somewhere else. It looks like yours is pretty portable though...I like the sink

 

[pattgal]

Quote:
the radio is the most important part, HA! Love it.