Tips/Tricks/Best Equipment for Newbie Harvester

[Dee Dub]

Looking to start harvesting my excess roosters. I was exposed to mass butchers as a child on my grandparents' farm. Everything was done the old fashioned way...heads came off via ax, scalding water was toted from the old farm kitchen, plucking was done by hand. It was quite traumatic for me as a child...I am an empath & it pierced my heart & soul to see the decapitated heads still moving their beaks & the decapitated bodies flap around the barnyard. I understand, now, especially as someone with a medical background, that that was all residual electrical impulses...but no one explained that to me as a kid & it has had a lasting impression.

I will be new to harvesting on my own, but am committed to learning. I have watched many youtube videos, but would love even more insight. If you harvest, please share your favorite tools & techniques. As I am dealing with small numbers, I will likely use cervical dislocation. I am more interested in how you scald for plucking, whether you pluck by hand or use a machine. If you have things that work very well for use, please share your experience so I can learn more.

Thanks in advance to anyone willing to engage in an open conversation about what can be a difficult thing to talk about.

 

[aart]

Read thru the meat bird forum here, lots of advice about slaughtering there.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I will likely use cervical dislocation.

We all have our own histories. My main suggestion is to find a way you can if you can do it at all. Some people can't. You don't want to flinch or close your eyes at the wrong time, that can injure you or the chicken, which you do not want. Is there any possibility of getting someone else do the killing part and you do the rest? Some people have that solution.

I am more interested in how you scald for plucking, whether you pluck by hand or use a machine.

I used to pluck but now I skin them. You can find how warm the water needs to be and how long to soak them, but I wasn't that precise. I'd heat the water somewhere below boiling and dunk the bird until I could easily pull the wing feathers out. Then it was ready for plucking. The problem with getting the water too hot is that the skin will tear when you pluck so you don't have a pretty carcass. Since I cut it into serving pieces as I butcher that's not a problem for me, I just want to get the feathers off. To some people no torn skin is urgently important. When I plucked I always hand plucked. A plucker is expensive to buy. You may be able to rent one but I did not consider it important enough for just a few. If I were doing a lot at one time I might reconsider.

To scald you need a pot big enough to dunk the bird, holding onto the feet. And you need to heat the water and keep it warm. I used a propane burner which was kind of slow and a bit of a fire hazard the way I did it. Some people have nice set-ups with turkey cookers or such. Some heat the water on the kitchen stove and carry it outside. One guy turns his water heater up really high and uses that water. So you need to find some way to heat it.

Not sure how old your boys are. If you catch them when they are molting you get a lot of feathers growing in, makes for a real ugly carcass or a lot of work cleaning it. That might be a juvenile molt or a fall molt.

If yours are relatively young cockerels skinning isn't that hard. Somewhere in puberty the hormones cause connective tissue to grow and hold the skin to the body. That can vary a bit by age as they mature at different rates, but probably around 16 weeks is when I start to notice it. If they are mature roosters they are extremely hard to skin.

When butchering a sharp knife is very important. I use a hunting/skinning knife with a replaceable blade so it is always sharp. And I use poultry shears for any cut involving cartilage or bone to keep the knife sharp. And have water available. I have a hose with a spray head and am constantly washing things off.