We butchered 54 Cornish X yesterday....

[sloper74]

We butchered 54 chickens yesterday and today I am resting. Finished at 8:30 last night, and I popped 2 fresh ones in the oven...yum.
Next year, we're making a mechanical plucker (my main job), this is the most tedious part. Also may divide up the batch into 2 shorter days vs. 1 very long day. As I was plucking my son says, "Mom you have an intestine stuck to your leg." "That's nice, honey, grab another chicken for daddy, we're almost done (our motto for the day)" We would yell out, "How many are left?" The kids would say, "low 20's, that's really 4 trips of 5 each...not so bad" (yeah, they can do math!). I never thought we would be done and there was a storm brewing overhead that, thankfully, that passed over us. What a mess, blood everywhere. We all scalded ourselves in the shower first thing as we came in the house. My husband and 9 year old son chopped heads, I scalded and plucked, and 2 friends eviscerated (the best job IMO). They are in our freezer now!
I can't believe we finished it.
Phew, thanks for letting me post. I just had to get it out of my system. I dreamed that the kids kept saying, "20 more." Then 5 minutes later, "23 more left" - It was more of a nightmare, the chickens were cloning themselves as we were chopping heads! But it's done, I went outside and there are none left.

 

[Motherhenandflock]

I bet you are pooped! We took 2 days to do 17!
Good job though!

 

[sloper74]

Yes, I am. I didn't realize how much of my back and arm muscles I was using until I woke up this morning.

We did it last year, learned a lot this year, and will continue to do it. Next year, better chicken tractor to move broilers around and a mechanical plucker. This year we bought a freezer and a crap pot for scalding. So it's a long-term project, every year we'll tweak something else. Definitely do it over 2 days next year!
Glad we did it, glad it's over!

 

[leghorns_rule]

WOW iv plucked turkeys iv shot but that maney chickens you desearve a pat on the back ( or a large roast chicken)

 

[justusnak]

54 in one day??!! WOW!! And I was whining when I had to do 5 in one day! LOL You poor thing....glad its over for you! Enjoy them this winter! yum, yum.

 

[sloper74]

thanks for the responses!

I think the key is good equipment and many helping hands! Good friends and conversation make even this nasty job fun.

 

[Dipsy Doodle Doo]

Congratulations!
I envy you the "good equipment and many helping hands".
Here, on butchering day, there are 2 hands and they are both mine, lol.

Lisa

 

[silkiechicken]

Wow... that's a lot of birds in one day!

 

[JacobsRewardFarm]

I've seen an interesting plucker on-line (got an e-mail in to the guy to check pricing) but I'm wondering what you use for scalding? I have 25 birds to do in about 8 weeks. Seems you'd need to have 2 batches of hot water going so that you could refill or clean one pot while the other stayed hot. Can you use a candy thermometer to make sure you're on track?

I was sold on the idea of skinning and then taking the breast meat and the leg quarters, but I sure hate the idea of losing that much other meat.

Is plucking worth it?

Cindy T.
Parker, TX

 

[hinkjc]

Congrats on getting the job done. This was our first year doing our own butchering and I am glad it's over too. We only did 15 the first time and 16 more 2 weeks later. Had to do it in between swim season and our dd meets.

We bought our plucker from Stromberg's - that's the best price we could find for a new one. We used a turkey fryer for the hot water. That worked great and yes, a candy or meat thermometer is good for checking your temps.

I think preparation is key and having a plan of how it is going to go. Once you get started, you can always tweak the plan to what works better, but set up your tables and everything else to make things go smoothly. That was what we did and it went smoothly.

Jody