Processing Setup

[SteeleFaithFarm]

Next year I am going to raise my first meat birds. I want to create a portable processing station that is convenient to setup and to use. I'm only going to raise 2 batches of meat birds of 25 each. It will just be me and my wife so we may split each batch in half and do the largest birds first then the rest the next weekend.so here is the setup idea I have. Please let me know if something is missing or there is a better way.

Station 1. A rack that has 2 killing cones on the left and 2 shackles on the right and a large stock pot on a propane turkey fryer base. The birds will be bled in the cones, dipped in the scalding tank then hung from the shackles for plucking. Once in the shackles the next 2 birds will be bled in the cones. After hand plucking is complete birds move to the "clean station".

Station 2. A processing table (plastic folding table) for evisceration with a sloop sink next to the take with a garden house hook up. A pot for feet and a pot for livers heart and other "doggie snacks". Inedible parts go into a trash can. Birds greet rinsed in the sink then go into ice water. After the birds cool down I will part up some of the birds to save room in the refrigerator.

Does this setup seem workable for 2 people for 25 birds a couple times a year? If it sounds good I will start building it and hopefully post some pictures of it.

Brad

 

[Life is Good!]

My husband and I finished our first batch of FR's in June. It was only he and I processing (although 13yo son did come out and 'help' with a few....). This is what we did and how we adapted our 'dance' when it became apparent changes needed to be made.

Set-up inside our barn/garage for shade and a concrete surface to work on (not grass).

1. Son or I caught 'contestant' and weighed him in the pen....if he was too small, son worked until found one with good weight (over 6#'s). As we've been weighing the chickens consistently throughout their lives, this was nothing of concern to the chickens.

2. Brought chicken to barn (this was new). Placed chicken in home-made cone attached to sawhorses over bucket. Brief prayer of thanksgiving said.

3. DH cut veins while I recorded weights and gender, got the materials ready and/or cleaned up table from last one.

4. We chose to skin, so cannot speak of that process.

5. Both of us working simultaneously on carcass. DH plucked the lower belly and started eviscorating. I trimmed off feet and wing-tips.

6. Working on one side each, we removed the feather 'jacket' together. (Yes, we have a plastic folding processing table purchased from Cabela's during a 50% off sale - watch for it, it was amazing to have!)

7. Weighed dressed bird, recorded weight. DH cleaned off table and prepped for next bird while I took carcass indoors to finish cleaning and bagging. Bird went into refrigerator bagged, tagged and ready to go to freezer after rigor passed (next day or so).

At some point, DH started the first step while I was in the kitchen preparing bird for packaging. This sped up the process very well, as usually by the time I had the bird in the fridge, he'd have the next bird on the table starting on step 5. With this process, we cut the time for each bird down to about 16min total time.

We only built the kill cone - 20" aluminum flashing from Menards, pattern obtained from here somewhere, attached to a chunk of 2x4" held to a pair of plastic folding sawhorses with clamps. The plastic processing table from Cabela's was a wonderful gift - the table was higher and we didn't strain our backs working (except when the clip holding the hose got away from one of us, causing the hose to fall to the ground!) We chose to put a 5 gallon bucket under the hose end of the table (and a 2"x6" laid flat on opposite end so it would drain better), and found if we used water sparingly, we could process 2 birds before we had to dump the bucket. As we're on a septic system, we avoided putting feathers down the drain as best we could, and simply poured the dirty water down a slop sink.

We found the birds would start to rigor after about 30min. So keep that in mind while thinking of your set-up. The plastic table was also a bit small for two birds simultaneously (we tried it), and we found the person needing the water was always on the 'high' end, getting the bird on the 'low' end wet! However, if one of you is plucking and the other is eviscorating, that might work for you.

Good luck! Don't think you need to build anything super fancy. We used materials we mostly had on hand and discovered it works great. Now, everything is stored away, but we have it all and will only take a few minutes to pull together when needed. (Got 7 baby cockerals and only need 1....so yes, it'll be used shortly again!)

 

[SteeleFaithFarm]

Thank you for that wonderful information. How many birds can you do comfortably at a time and how long does it take? It seems plucking takes the longest. I am not very mechanical so I won't be building an automatic plucker like I have seen in videos. I do have an idea though. This is a what if kind of idea.

What if I bought some plucking fingers and mounted them on a table and scrubbed the birds across it. Would that work?

 

[what did I do]

We, my husband and I butchered @50 CX this year. We did 4 to 8 at a time. We started at @ 6 in the morning and finished 4 cx by @8 and 8 CX by noon with a breakfast break in there.

Dh chopped the heads off and dunked them into hot water, we just heat water on the stove and dump it into a 5 gal bucket, we pluck, he cuts the feet off, I remove the insides, he does the gizzards, we put it all in different containers and take it into the house.

Our processing table us just plywood on sawhorses. We just use very sharp knives. Our setup isn't very fancy but it works. We butcher outside before flies become a problem. We do a final rinse inside and bag inside.

By doing it outside we don't have have a problem with using lots of water. We wash all the time while we are working. The chickens come and clean up anything that might get yucky when we let them out.

If your chickens free range don't let them out until you are done. They will drive you batty if they are under foot.

 

[what did I do]

Thank you for that wonderful information. How many birds can you do comfortably at a time and how long does it take? It seems plucking takes the longest. I am not very mechanical so I won't be building an automatic plucker like I have seen in videos. I do have an idea though. This is a what if kind of idea.
What if I bought some plucking fingers and mounted them on a table and scrubbed the birds across it. Would that work?

I cut my finger the day before we started processing so I used the type of gloves a Dr would use. I think the gloves helped remove the feathers. Plucking by hand isn't that big of a deal. I think it was less than 5 minutes per bird. We plucked outside on the grass. We tossed the feathers into a bucket and tossed them way out into the pasture several miles from the house - we didn't want to attract chicken eating animals to the house.

The birds went through water like this
Hot water, cold water, pluck, cold water, feet off, more water, insides out, cold water that was changed often, into the house, another good wash, into bags, into fridge.