Processing multiple birds

[Alwayswantchics]

Gonna cull my older flock in March, when my new girls start laying. What is the best way to do this fast? Kill, pluck , gut, cut each one seperate or kill all togetherness, then pluck, then gut, and then seperate? This will only be the second time I will kill anyc of my birds.

 

[DianeS]

I do it in small groups. One time I got in over my head with too many birds I had partway done that I HAD to finish. My hands hurt at the end of that. So now I take maybe 3 at a time through the whole process, then repeat with another group.

 

[Alwayswantchics]

I get that, but should I kill them together then process or kill and process them one by one.

 

[PotterWatch]

We kill six at a time but we also have a tub plucker and at least two people. If I were doing things completely alone and by hand, I would kill them one at a time.

 

[SJ]

I use the small batch method as well. I select about 6 bird the night before buthering and seperate them to a cage with no access to food or water. By morning they should have empty crops and intestines which I find makes the processing go easier.

1.Come morning I start heating the scalding water. 5 minutes
(I use a canning pot ontop of a propane burning turkey deep frying stand)

2.After that I make 1 stringer for each bird. 1 minute per stringer
(A stringer is a length of butchers twine with a loop tied on both ends used to hang a chicken upside down by the ankles.)

3.Once I have stringers made I dispatch all the birds one after the other. 3-5 minutes per bird
(The scald water should now be hot.)

4.Going in the same order as they died so that each bird has ample time to bleed out I then scald, pluck (by hand), and "bathe" each plucked bird. 5-7 minutes per bird
(Bathing is when the PLUCKED bird is soaked in a tub or barrel filled with COLD water. The colder the water the better. This keeps the scalded skin from drying out while I pluck the other birds as well as assists in chilling the bird.)

5.From here on I finish one bird at a time. 7-10 minutes per bird
-Remove Head
-Remove Feet
-Cut the neck skin from base between the shoulders to the end of the neck.
-Loosen the crop and wind pipe from the skin and neck.(The neck skin should look like an apron or bib.)
-Gut the bird. (I start by cutting right under the tail at the tails base then working my way around the vent.)
-Rinse the whole bird inside and out.
-Bag
-Freeze

 

[SJ]

Oh yeah im doing this alone.

 

[PotterWatch]

If you are doing older layers and you've never plucked by hand before, I would recommend killing just one to start and seeing how long it takes you to get it on ice. I think the first bird I ever did took me about 20 minutes to pluck. Getting it properly scalded is key. Just like anything else, the more practice you get, the more efficient you will be.

 

[SJ]

Well said Potter.

 

[Alwayswantchics]

Appreciate all the advice. Thanks very much.