Ugh!

[mommissan]

Okay, just butchered my fourth rooster and what a mess! Everything went fine until I went to scald him. The pot was too small, and the scald temp was a bit cool, then cooled off considerably after I started to dip him. I spent more than an hour plucking him!

He's a 20 week old silkie mix (a beauty that will be missed). Just some advice to those new to plucking.... make sure your scald water is hot enough for long enough! He's all cleaned up and sitting in the fridge. What next? Brine? For how long? What ratio of salt to water?

I'm still learning myself.

 

[AngelaClassAct]

Let him rest, so he isn't so stiff.

 

[Oregon Blues]

Live and learn. It won't take you nearly as long the next time, and now you know you need a bigger pot to scald, so you will be more prepared.

You want to let him rest in the fridge until the legs wiggle easily. Then just treat like you treat any other chicken. Whatever you'd normally do: Freeze, cook, marinate, brine only of you like brined meat; I don't brine because I don't want the additional salt.

 

[Mac in Wisco]

The first few times I did 2 or 3 birds at a time, I also used a small pot that just fit a bird. There isn't enough water there to hold the heat for long once I started dunking birds. When we started doing larger batches, I switched to a very large crawdad boil pot and was impressed by how long it would hold the heat. It had nothing to do with the pot, but the very large quantity of water.

I had bought a large propane burner and a 30 gallon boil pot and was curious as to how long it would take the burner to boil thirty gallons of water. It took about 45 minutes and when I was done fooling around I turned off the burner, put the lid on the pot, and walked away. The next morning, close to 12 hours later, I walked past that pot and could feel the warmth coming from it. I stuck a thermometer in it and it was still 130 degrees.

Use a bigger pot!

 

[mommissan]

Thanks everybody. A bigger pot DEFINITELY next time! I used the same pot for the previous 3, but forgot that they were only 12 weeks old, and about a pound and a half each. DUH

This one was more than three and a half pounds dressed.

The skin and flesh is a greenish greyish color due to the silkie mix. Kids want to eat him, but hubby requested McDonalds the night I cook him. Who said kids are fussy eaters?