The Old Folks Home

[ronott1]

Who me?


I actually didn't realize how many chickens you still had given all the Marek's problems until I read your interview. Yeah you do have a lot of chickens!

I gather the only REALLY important thing about butchering is to make sure you don't cut into the digestive tract AT ALL. Some people do a rinse in chlorine water just in case. As far as plucking vs skinning, if you aren't going to roast it I've heard skinning is WAY easier and faster than scalding and ripping the feathers off. Makes sense to me.

Skinning can be harder than you think with older birds. You might need to use pliers to pull the skin off if you have weak hands

 

[microchick]

Thanks for the tip, Ron. I'll make sure I have the vice grips ready as Yeah, hands and grip are pretty much shot but better than the smell of scalded feathers.

That really is the strange thing. Last summer I remember standing out counting beaks and DH asked me casually if one was ready to die....again. I told him no, then thoughtfully said, Why aren't the Amish birds dying? I bred a lot because I thought 2/3rds of them would die like the others did but they aren't dying!

Truth. I really expected to have big losses from those birds and never did which was my big clue that I was dealing with a strain of Marek's that is endemic to this area. Stranger yet is that of the original hens, I've only lost three or four. BUT I've lost all the roosters and all the second and third generations except for one lone little cross bred hen. It's going to take somebody more educated in virology than I am to figure it out.

The only Amish birds I've lost were three that were hatched and brooded by original flock Buff Orpingtons.

So that's how I wound up with so many birds. Nobody died once I started incubator hatching my own birds and developed a line of birds from local stock that proved to be resistant.

Plus I avoided counting them until this spring.......my bad.

 

[ronott1]

Thanks for the tip, Ron. I'll make sure I have the vice grips ready as Yeah, hands and grip are pretty much shot but better than the smell of scalded feathers.

That really is the strange thing. Last summer I remember standing out counting beaks and DH asked me casually if one was ready to die....again. I told him no, then thoughtfully said, Why aren't the Amish birds dying? I bred a lot because I thought 2/3rds of them would die like the others did but they aren't dying!

Truth. I really expected to have big losses from those birds and never did which was my big clue that I was dealing with a strain of Marek's that is endemic to this area. Stranger yet is that of the original hens, I've only lost three or four. BUT I've lost all the roosters and all the second and third generations except for one lone little cross bred hen. It's going to take somebody more educated in virology than I am to figure it out.

The only Amish birds I've lost were three that were hatched and brooded by original flock Buff Orpingtons.

So that's how I wound up with so many birds. Nobody died once I started incubator hatching my own birds and developed a line of birds from local stock that proved to be resistant.

Plus I avoided counting them until this spring.......my bad.

Adding a bit of dish washing liquid(dawn) into the scalding water helps with the smell

 

[drumstick diva]

My brain has turned to mush, so I'm no help.

 

[bruceha2000]

I think you need to hang or otherwise afix the bird and make appropriate cuts (wherever that is exactly) and peel the skin off. And I'd be using vice grips too. I've never had a great grip. In fact I saw DW's (then) surviving uncle a few weeks before he died. At 97 he still had a better grip than I've ever had.

 

[microchick]

I hear ya.

Need to figure out how to afix them to something while skinning. I watched a vid on YT that showed a really easy way to skin that I may try. I remember helping my mom pluck birds when I was about 8 years old. I can still smell those wet feathers to this day.

 

[CapricornFarm]

I hate drywalling after putting up over 100 sheets in our house. The idiot...errrr gentleman who built the house put up foam insulation and because it was white must have figured it would double as wallboard....not. We still have some to do to get the upstairs finished but neither of us are anxious to do it anytime soon especially since the attic is storage at this point.

The weather here sucks. Not that hot. In fact, below average temps for this time of the year. Highs in the 70s and lows in the low 50s upper 40s. But they are calling for rain and storms everyday for the next week! Just heard somebody on one of our local HAM radio bands who is a weather spotter say that the next three nights there is supposed to be severe weather here.

Told DH watch! When it stops raining, the temps will go to 90 and we'll be praying for rain to happen.

We are at the 90s and wishing for rain.

 

[Alaskan]

My kids like to skin them... they do the work now.

As to hand strength... my mom has the strongest fingers I have ever encountered! But she used to play hours of piano. Fingers of steel!

 

[Alaskan]

I just asked my head butcher... he said that as long as you have a sharp knife it takes no hand strength at all.

A super sharp little knife, like a skinning knife, works well. Just slide it between the skin and the body as you peal the skin back.

 

[drumstick diva]

Alaskan, at first I read that wrong thought you said "I just asked my head barber."
I was afraid he intended to do some scalping