Resting Meat Birds, To Cut or Not Cut, & Vacuum Sealing?

[AmyVoigt]

Thanks everyone. The responses I received eases my mind quite a bit. We have a crew of people coming to help so we will be sharing the birds with them as a reward. I am going to request that if they take any meat they should bring a cooler of ice to rest their birds before freezing. We have a couple of people who have experience working with butchering birds who will be helping my husband with the killing portion and another guy who owns his own meat processing business to help me with the cutting. I'll make sure to share with you all how it goes!

 

[Ebony Rose]

I sacrifice the skin and eliminate the need to pluck, and I cut the bird before freezing.

 

[3KillerBs]

Thanks everyone. The responses I received eases my mind quite a bit. We have a crew of people coming to help so we will be sharing the birds with them as a reward. I am going to request that if they take any meat they should bring a cooler of ice to rest their birds before freezing. We have a couple of people who have experience working with butchering birds who will be helping my husband with the killing portion and another guy who owns his own meat processing business to help me with the cutting. I'll make sure to share with you all how it goes!

Sounds like you're all set for success!

 

[tripletfeb]

@AmyVoigt How did the butchering go? How many birds did you do and how much meat did you get? I'm trying to convince hubby to do meat birds but he's hesitant

 

[AmyVoigt]

@AmyVoigt How did the butchering go? How many birds did you do and how much meat did you get? I'm trying to convince hubby to do meat birds but he's hesitant

It went better than expected! The first time in June, we did 24 Cornish Crosses and one Rhode Island rooster. It took us about one and a half hours to do all the birds. We were fortunate that I had a friend who knew how to gut out the birds and showed us how to do it. Biggest time saver - the chicken plucker. BEST INVESTMENT EVER; WORTH EVERY PENNY!!! We were able to pluck two birds in about 30 seconds. We had about 10 people doing various jobs and it went very smoothly.

On July 23rd, we did 27 Ranger Reds and another rooster from my laying flock. It took us about an hour and a half again. We added another killing cone so we had six total. This allowed us to always have an even number of birds for the plucker. I also purchased a commercial vacuum sealer as we had some issues with the Food Saver that we borrowed from my sister. The weight of the birds ranged from 5 to 6.5 pounds. I ended up selling most of it to friends and co-workers and we kept about four birds for ourselves and the two roosters as soup birds. We had so many people interested in buying whole chickens from us we decided to raise 60 more Cornish Crosses and just started raising the chicks yesterday. Over half of them are already spoken for and I will easily sell what we don't keep for ourselves.

We are fortunate that since we already run a dairy farm, the blood and guts of butchering chickens didn't bother us. Getting people willing to help by offering reduced or free chicken saved us time. Those who didn't want to see the killing were able to package the birds in the house so they didn't have to see any of it. We improved the process the second time around by adding the extra cone, making the bags for sealing ahead of time, and making large chunks of ice using ice cream pails ahead of time. In addition to the plucker, we also purchased the largest Igloo cooler available (150 quarts). We would put the packaged birds in that cooler under ice water for over 24 hours. The birds turned out great. We were able to easily fit all the birds in the cooler. We are debating getting another one for our batch of 60 or just borrowing some larger coolers from my in-laws. If you are able to raise meat birds and process them, I would recommend it.

 

[tripletfeb]

It went better than expected! The first time in June, we did 24 Cornish Crosses and one Rhode Island rooster. It took us about one and a half hours to do all the birds. We were fortunate that I had a friend who knew how to gut out the birds and showed us how to do it. Biggest time saver - the chicken plucker. BEST INVESTMENT EVER; WORTH EVERY PENNY!!! We were able to pluck two birds in about 30 seconds. We had about 10 people doing various jobs and it went very smoothly.

On July 23rd, we did 27 Ranger Reds and another rooster from my laying flock. It took us about an hour and a half again. We added another killing cone so we had six total. This allowed us to always have an even number of birds for the plucker. I also purchased a commercial vacuum sealer as we had some issues with the Food Saver that we borrowed from my sister. The weight of the birds ranged from 5 to 6.5 pounds. I ended up selling most of it to friends and co-workers and we kept about four birds for ourselves and the two roosters as soup birds. We had so many people interested in buying whole chickens from us we decided to raise 60 more Cornish Crosses and just started raising the chicks yesterday. Over half of them are already spoken for and I will easily sell what we don't keep for ourselves.

We are fortunate that since we already run a dairy farm, the blood and guts of butchering chickens didn't bother us. Getting people willing to help by offering reduced or free chicken saved us time. Those who didn't want to see the killing were able to package the birds in the house so they didn't have to see any of it. We improved the process the second time around by adding the extra cone, making the bags for sealing ahead of time, and making large chunks of ice using ice cream pails ahead of time. In addition to the plucker, we also purchased the largest Igloo cooler available (150 quarts). We would put the packaged birds in that cooler under ice water for over 24 hours. The birds turned out great. We were able to easily fit all the birds in the cooler. We are debating getting another one for our batch of 60 or just borrowing some larger coolers from my in-laws. If you are able to raise meat birds and process them, I would recommend it.

Thanks for the update!

 

[Molpet]

We had about 10 people

I was feeling really bad since it takes me that long to set up, tear down and clean the plucker.... but it's just me LOL

 

[CNJ]

I was feeling really bad since it takes me that long to set up, tear down and clean the plucker.... but it's just me LOL

I can't do more than 6 birds a day. That's my limit.................. I also, started using a smaller pot, so it takes less time to heat up between birds. I kill and heat two at a time, but de-feather them one by one in my plucker.

I can leave my pucker out for the next day if I need to do more. Its made of heavy duty plastic and all the electrical parts are water proof. I cover it with a thin ply wood after it dries to protect it from the UV rays.

My plucker is one size smaller than this review.....

 

[Molpet]

I can't do more than 6 birds a day. That's my limit.................. I also, started using a smaller pot, so it takes less time to heat up between birds. I kill and heat two at a time, but de-feather them one by one in my plucker.

I can leave my pucker out for the next day if I need to do more. Its made of heavy duty plastic and all the electrical parts are water proof. I cover it with a thin ply wood after it dries to protect it from the UV rays.

I have been leaving my yardbird plucker out, covered with a ex large black garbage bag.

 

[goldenyears]

You can rest the birds before or after bagging. The timing of the bagging doesn't matter.

You rest a bird to let rigor mortis pass. If you cook it before rigor sets in you'll be OK, but otherwise the meat can be really tough, practically inedible. There is no set time for rigor to pass but you want the bird cool enough that bacteria are not growing while it is aging. Some people rest for several days before freezing. The way you tell that rigor has passed is that you wiggle the meat. If the joints are stiff or the meat isn't really loose it's not ready.

You can rest the meat before or after freezing, but it's probably more convenient for most people to rest before freezing. It's out of the way. I rest after freezing but I have a system down for that. Resting first just gives you more freedom in your menu planning.


I also cut it up before freezing. That suits the way I cook it, it takes up less space in the freezer, and I save the other parts I don't eat to make broth. It is slower than keeping the carcass whole but it just suits me better. It can be cut up either before or after aging.

If you cut up the meat it may pack together more as you cool, actually slowing the cooling process. One problem some people have with processing large amounts of meat is that the meat in the middle of the stack can take a long time to cool, maybe longer than it should. You might warm up the rest of the freezer enough to thaw other things if you add a lot of warm meat.


One problem I have with vacuum sealers is that moisture can be pulled into the sealing area which can keep it from sealing. The way I get around this is to freeze the meat (or veggies) in the bag before I seal it. Be careful when you put the bag in the freezer so the sealing edge is fairly straight, not badly wrinkled or twisted. I wipe the frozen moisture off of the inside of the bag where it will seal and only do a couple at a time so they don't start to thaw and release moisture to mess up the sealing process. I don't know how others get around this moisture problem with vacuum sealing, maybe if they don't age in water the meat isn't that moist? You do not have to age in water, it just needs to be cool enough to stop bacteria from growing.

Getting that much meat in the freezer may be more than a one day process, though you want to get as much done as you can while you have that work force. Some people manage it in one day. You will have a learning curve your first time. Things you don't expect will surprise you. Things like how much meat that actually is. Will you have enough room to cool it and enough ice, if you are using ice. Some of us have been caught like that.

Good luck with it. It is a challenge but hang in there, you will get it done. It just doesn't all have to be done in one day.

Great info, thanks. We are on our fourth batch of strictly meat birds (regularly cull other Roos and some hens) and get a little better each time. We have relations who just want the bird feathered and gutted. We use an electric 18 gallon scalder and drum-style plucker. I built a small 8x12 covered processing area to keep out of the elements.