Processing Question

[Frosty]

I use a galvanized pot too, just make sure you have good ventilation. Heating galvanized can give off toxic fumes. Turkey fryers aren't be big enough for dipping a turkey unles the turkeys are young... They are made so there isn't much excess room with a featherless turkey. You might also run into problems with the water cooling too quickly since you won't be able to put that much water in. We tried the dry pluck method once and it didn't work that well. Maybe because it was about 8 degrees out at the time? I'd like to try it again some day. I hang the birds by the feet from a horizontal rail or a tree branch and cut the heads off. Try to make sure they are close to anything that they can hit while flapping, they can break a wing. It's easier to have two people lifting them to hang them and yes they might put up a fight. Try not to chase them first, and try to keep them as calm as possible. If their adrenalin goes up it can make them tougher.

Why are you a little afraid of the tom?

 

[Pyrates4Poultry]

Wow, I've never heard of doing it this way. I am raising a dozen turkeys (we are now down to just 6, 4 girls which we will keep and two more toms left to slaughter.) all birds are 6 mos. We watched videos on using killing cones and just couldnt bring ourselves to do it that way. We are raising BBB's and BBW's and the toms are over 50lbs each. I weigh 106 and hobble my birds before slaughter, straddle their backs and slit their throats. The only problem I've run into is trying to lift a 50 pound bird up over my head to get their feet in the noose to bleed out. Thinking of some sort of pulley system for that part.

 

[ScottnLydia]

Harbor Freight has a pulley and gambrel for animals (allegidly) up to 600 pounds for somewhere around $12 to $15. Works great on sheep and the turks for me. You would need a winch for anything heavier than 100 pounds or so.

~S

 

[yinepu]

Try to make sure they are close to anything that they can hit while flapping, they can break a wing.

I bind their wings with vet-wrap.. keeps them from flapping and breaking them

Harbor Freight has a pulley and gambrel for animals (allegidly) up to 600 pounds for somewhere around $12 to $15. Works great on sheep and the turks for me. You would need a winch for anything heavier than 100 pounds or so.

~S

X2
lol.. tying the rope to the 4-wheeler helps with hoisting too!

 

[frank53061]

Hello Virginia, Forget the scalding, dry pluck!!! What I do is to put a ladder up on the pole barn, tie both legs together, toss the other end of the rope over a high rung on the ladder and secure. Take a sharp knife in one hand and the head in the other. Just below the head stick the knife between the jugler and the neck bone and pull out. After some flopping start pulling a few feathers at a time from the tail to the neck - dry pluck. It goes fast. Much faster than a chicken. Then gut out, cut head off and than feet one at a time and you are ready to cook. It takes about a half hour. Good luck. JOHN

Thanks this is some good information I will need to do the same here soon and I have a 10 gallon pot that I don't think will work and don't want to buy a giant pot just to scald a Turkey.
I do all the cooking and my wife would skin me if I bought something like that and then not have any place to store it LOL.
If I were to cook numerous Turkeys at a time it would be worth buying a Turkey Deep fryer and using the pot to scald.

 

[FROMWHITEDOGHILL]

An old hot water tank...cut in half with a propane heater under it works great......I do most of the work...killing, scalding...and most of the butchering outside then go to the kitchen sink for final clean-up.

 

[Celie]

Thanks this is some good information I will need to do the same here soon and I have a 10 gallon pot that I don't think will work and don't want to buy a giant pot just to scald a Turkey.
I do all the cooking and my wife would skin me if I bought something like that and then not have any place to store it LOL.
If I were to cook numerous Turkeys at a time it would be worth buying a Turkey Deep fryer and using the pot to scald.

Most people in the south have a large seafood boiling pot with a propane burner, and they are a much better size, being bigger than a turkey fryer. Turkey fryers I have seen are only big enough for a small 12 pounder after it has been plucked and all. I sometimes use an old very large ice chest and fill it with water I have heated on the stove with 4 large stock pots, that are big enough to use for large roosters it stew or make chicken stock for cooking or pasta for a crowd. I can fit several heritage 30 to 45 pound turkeys or 3 really big 60 to 80 pound BB turkeys in first and then pour the water. It usually fits well and just enough room to submerge the birds. If I am pucking by myself, I use a smaller one to fit one turkey at a time. This is usually the case, because my husband would rather take a wooping rather than have to pluck a bird, but he will if I ask him to.

I cannot lift these big birds manually, by myself, so I use a tractor, which my husband will gladly help with, as long as he does not have to kill or pluck it. I would need to use a pulley, if I did not have a tractor, since I am 4'10" and getting very, very old!

We need an old lady smiley face!

By the way, if you attach a garden hose to the drain spicket of your hot water heater( isn't that redundant, if the water was hot, you wouldn't need a heater, so why call it a HOT water heater?), you can use that water and not need a stock pot or burner. I have a street safety cone, someone gave me to cut down and make a turkey killing cone out of, but I still would need help lifting the big birds.
A turkey fryer or seafood boiling pot also makes a great turkey boiler. You use seafood boiling seasoning just like you are going to boil shellfish and use your cleaned and plucked turkey instead of the shellfish. Yum

It's an easy way to feed a lot of people, too!
Well enough out of me, sometimes I don't know when to stop talking

!

 

[Debbi]

Just wondering. Do you put the turkeys in cold water in the fridge for a day or so before cooking them, or can you eat them fresh killed? I know with chickens, they taste much better if "aged" a bit in the fridge. I can see right now I'll be getting a pulley for butchering. Have a big Walnut tree in the front yard, with a high enough horizontal limb. It's worked in the past for deer, now it will be the turkey tree. Will have to find a good sized dunk pot, or maybe just the excuse I need to get one of those copper wash tubs! It's just me here, and I couldn't get either of my kids to help even if they were here! May get the neighbor boy to come down and help out, he's a country kid!

 

[ScottnLydia]

Hey Debbi,

Whenever I harvest a turkey, when it's plucked and gutted, it goes into a cooler filled with salted ice water. We're talking 2 or 3 cups of salt, 2 bags of ice, and enough water to cover the bird. This will not only totally chill it to stop bacteria, but draw out any remaining blood and pre-brine it as well. I leave it in this solution with the cooler closed for 6 or so hours, or until the ice is all melted. Some leave it overnight, but I think that is a little long. The point here is that it has to be cold!

The bird then goes into the fridge wrapped in a brining bag (or something similar) so it won't dry out for 4 to 5 days 'rest'. This allows it to go through the rigor mortis cycle and also allows enzymes in the muscles to start tenderizing the meat. I would never eat anything the day it was killed except for organ meat. Some do, to them I say bon appetitto! I have always found un-aged meat to be tougher and somewhat 'bloody' tasting.

Good luck with the neighbor kid, and don't forget to make soup from the carcass when you're done (that's my favorite part!)

~S

 

[MarineCorpFarmr]

Very good info from all yall. Ive processed dozens of chickens now, but i haven't processed our bbb tom yet. With all the info yall have posted it should go smoothly Ill post pics if the wifey can stand to snap them while I process the big guy out.