I've killed plenty of ducks and game birds so I employed some of what I know into the killing of 8 roosters today. These are some things I employed that may be of some help to others. Any input from you guys to help me speed up the processing of birds would be welcome. The butcher process took me right at 1.5 hours from start to finish.
1) I used heavy duty shears to decapitate the roosters. I got the shears (fiskars pruning shears) from Lowes. They have a serrated blade that quickly snips the head off and won't slip. Its quick and less messy than a hatchet or a knife.
2) If the bird has excessive pin feathers I skin them. I only had to do 2 of them this way. If excessive pin feathers are on wings or the butt then I will cut those off too. I like wings so I will only do that if its real bad.
3) I like to pluck as many of the easy feathers as I can, dip the bird in scalding water, then finish getting the majority of feathers off of the bird. This is the most time consuming thing and if there is any advice to make plucking faster then please do tell.
4) After plucking, I like to cut the legs off with the shears and then make an incision below the rib cage to pull the entrails out. Because roos are bony I always cut up the chest a little to make more room for my big hand to grab the entrails.
5) I like my birds real clean, so once I get em gutted, I take them to the water hose and use high pressure water to blast the cavity out and get the lungs and anything else in there out.
6) Finally I take them in the house and under the faucet I get the rest of the pin feathers out and then I put them in ice water until the next day.
Any tips on efficiency would be appreciated. I don't enjoy doing it and would love to decrease the time spent doing it. Thanks.
1) I used heavy duty shears to decapitate the roosters. I got the shears (fiskars pruning shears) from Lowes. They have a serrated blade that quickly snips the head off and won't slip. Its quick and less messy than a hatchet or a knife.
2) If the bird has excessive pin feathers I skin them. I only had to do 2 of them this way. If excessive pin feathers are on wings or the butt then I will cut those off too. I like wings so I will only do that if its real bad.
3) I like to pluck as many of the easy feathers as I can, dip the bird in scalding water, then finish getting the majority of feathers off of the bird. This is the most time consuming thing and if there is any advice to make plucking faster then please do tell.
4) After plucking, I like to cut the legs off with the shears and then make an incision below the rib cage to pull the entrails out. Because roos are bony I always cut up the chest a little to make more room for my big hand to grab the entrails.
5) I like my birds real clean, so once I get em gutted, I take them to the water hose and use high pressure water to blast the cavity out and get the lungs and anything else in there out.
6) Finally I take them in the house and under the faucet I get the rest of the pin feathers out and then I put them in ice water until the next day.
Any tips on efficiency would be appreciated. I don't enjoy doing it and would love to decrease the time spent doing it. Thanks.