Processing Silkie Roos

[Mosey2003]

Usually on smaller birds you can manage to get a hand in just by cutting the skin on either side up to the ribs. And of course, you can cut all the way up, too if necessary or if you want to. There is actually a small gap between the front and back ribs that if you get your knife in the right spot, it cuts through clean, but I think that would be pretty difficult to do well with the guts still inside, so agree on using the shears.

They sell tools for cleaning lungs, yep. They call them lung scrapers, if you're searching.

Typically with quail people will cut the backbone out, like you'd do when you spatchcock a bird, and then open them up from the back.

I don't see why you couldn't scald and pluck the same as a hard feathered chicken, the feathers must still have quill ends where they attach. Might be a bit harder to get ahold of. Might be a bit easier, too. Hard telling without having done it.

 

[BirdsBeesTrees]

So we processed the 8 silkie Roosters today. Dry pluck was pretty difficult. After dipping in boiling water for a minute they plucked extremely easily. The feathers were very sticky so I was shaking my gloves a lot. The bonus was no pin feathers at all and just two had some fine hairs. Everything went really well and went a lot quicker than processing our Cornish cross chickens.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

 

[Parront]

So we processed the 8 silkie Roosters today. Dry pluck was pretty difficult. After dipping in boiling water for a minute they plucked extremely easily. The feathers were very sticky so I was shaking my gloves a lot. The bonus was no pin feathers at all and just two had some fine hairs. Everything went really well and went a lot quicker than processing our Cornish cross chickens.

Thanks for the update! Just wondering -- how big is a silkie dressed out?

 

[Mosey2003]

So we processed the 8 silkie Roosters today. Dry pluck was pretty difficult. After dipping in boiling water for a minute they plucked extremely easily. The feathers were very sticky so I was shaking my gloves a lot. The bonus was no pin feathers at all and just two had some fine hairs. Everything went really well and went a lot quicker than processing our Cornish cross chickens.

It's nice to have running water with a screen underneath, to wash the feathers off and catch them. I keep meaning to get one of those spatter shield mesh jobs to set over the sink basin for it.

 

[Ridgerunner]

It's nice to have running water with a screen underneath, to wash the feathers off and catch them. I keep meaning to get one of those spatter shield mesh jobs to set over the sink basin for it.

Make one using window screen or 1/4" hardware cloth.

 

[Mosey2003]

Make one using window screen or 1/4" hardware cloth.

I could, but I'm lazy and splatter shields are cheap

 

[BirdsBeesTrees]

Thanks for the update! Just wondering -- how big is a silkie dressed out?

I forgot to weigh them but they were the size of a leghorn.

 

[Parront]

I forgot to weigh them but they were the size of a leghorn.

That's not bad, my Brown Leghorn cockerels were 1.5 to 2 pounds, depending on how annoying they were. Bigger than a cornish game hen from the store, but not as meaty -- they were a little gangley! Half of one on the grill per person was worth eating, though! Not sure if I would grill black chicken -- how would you know when it was burnt?

 

[Parront]

I could, but I'm lazy and splatter shields are cheap

I bought a nice thing at Ikea that fits over a sink. It is a screen shaped bowl, its great! It was pretty cheap, and I like it for washing almost everything.