Stoopid chicken processing questions

[GypsyQ]

Hello,
I'm new to the forums and also new to processing chickens, as in about to do it for the first time.

I have a couple of questions that I am obviously not wording correctly for search engines:

I have 3 roos who need to go. All of the instructions on killing and processing talk about scalding before plucking. Is this a requirement or a recommendation?

Also, is there a difference in the results if you decapitate vs. cutting arteries? Being new to this, I can't believe that I would be able to quickly and efficiently cut only the arteries. I think one swift blow would be kindest in my case.

Any other tips are greatly appreciated.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Scalding is a recommendation, a strong recommendation, if you are plucking the chicken. The feathers come out so much easier that way. If your fingers are still young, strong, and flexible you can eventually get it plucked without scalding, but it’s not real quick or easy.

When I was a kid and had strong fingers, Mom would tell me to get a chicken for supper. After I took the head off, she would give me a fairly small pot of boiling water. I poured that over the chicken, not dunked the chicken in it. I’m sure this post will offend some purists that heat the water to a very specific temperature and time the dunk very precisely, and no doubt their way is “better”, but just do the best you can.

Another option may be to skin them instead of plucking. I find with cockerels about 20 to 22 weeks old, the connective tissue males it a little harder to skin, but no scalding required. Younger than that, they skin pretty easily.

Don’t get too hung up on the way you dispatch the chicken. To me the important thing is that you find a way that you can do the job and do it right without flinching. You want to assure you kill it, not injure it, and you don’t want to hurt yourself.

The way I do it, I take a chopping block that has some nails in it to hold the chickens head, then use a hatchet to take the head off. I used to use an axe but I’m older and can handle a hatchet better. Not all chickens’ heads and necks are the same size. If you drive some long nails to form a Vee maybe ¾” wide at the bottom and no more than 2” wide at the top, you can fit practically any chicken’s head in that. You’re not pulling so hard you are trying to take the chicken’s head off, just gently stretch it out. They are surprisingly calm.

 

[GypsyQ]

Thank you. That makes a lot of sense.