To Process or to Pay?

[jamieneenah]

HI;

I need to reserve a spot with the processor at least 2 weeks old, so I need to make the decision very soon if I am going to do this myself or send them out.


Base cost with the processor to process and bag a bird (and leave it unfrozen) is: $3.10. I'd prefer to save the feet, liver, heart, gizzards and neck, but that add .95 cents per bird to the cost. So if I get my birds processed and keep the above mentioned guts, I will pay $4.05 per bird. (more if any of my birds make it over 7 pounds). At 85 birds, I would be talking about around $360 worth of processing fees, plus the time & expenses of transporting them and going to get them. (processor is about a hour away.


So for $400, I could purchase quite a few supplies for home processing.

I am just looking for some opinions here, would you spend the $400 on processing or would you buy yourself some equipment / supplies and do it yourself? If you were going to buy the stuff to do it yourself, what kind of supplies would you buy with the $400. (I assume creating a plucker would be high on the list).

Jamie

 

[agnes_day]

i would do 40 at a time, over a couple of weekends...you dont even need that much equipment. i have a rope, stump and axe, older son to do the killing (

) a dollar tree butcher knife, an old ice chest with ice and some metal bowls. works fine! plucking isnt fun but you dont need a plucker, just a comfortable place to sit and someone to talk to while you pluck!

 

[jamieneenah]

Quote:
How long does it take you to pluck 40 birds? Do you scald them first?

Thanks
Jamie

 

[agnes_day]

oh no, now i have never done 40 at a time before!

i did 3, and it took me about half an hour...yes, i dipped mine in scalding water with a squirt of dish soap in it, then in ice and then plucked.

its easy for me to say to you to do 40....but i think i would be like this:

 

[jamieneenah]

Quote:
So it took you about 10 minutes per bird, half hour total? That sounds about right from what I have read. Plus setup / clean up time. So 40 birds might take 2 people 4 hours or so, does that sound about right?

Jamie

 

[jaku]

Wow, I wouldn't pay that for sure. At least if you bought the stuff, you would get more than one use out of it, whereas, you'll be paying the processor every time. I'd build a whizbang plucker, then just some misc. stuff, like fillet knives, aprons, elbow length gloves, etc. Next year build a good scalder with the money you'll save.

 

[agnes_day]

are you supposed to wear gloves??
oops!

i am still learning too!

 

[bheila]

That is a ridiculous price to pay. You could do all of your birds in one day with a few friends helping you and that's without a whizbang plucker.

 

[countrybum]

I pay $5 a bird and the guy picks them up and delivers them when processed. He also catched them and brings his own cages. I truly prefer that over processing myself and everything you mentioned, except the feet are left with the bird and it does not matter what the weight of the bird is, I am charged the same for all of them.

 

[FrenchHen]

Can you rent any of the equipment in your area? The plucker would be the most valuable because that's the most time consuming step.