Where did you get your "processing" tools?

[Tala]

I got a gallon milk jug from my MIL - that's the only thing special I got and it was free. We don't use much milk so I only ever have half gallons.

I used a 5gal bucket to dunk in hot water, would have been nicer if I hadn't broken my meat thermometer like a week before I killed the roo - - - but it came out OK anyway. Bucket was free from the Wal-Mart bakery and I already had it on hand.

I have a couple of Buck knives that I use all the time in the kitchen for cutting up store-bought chickens so I was already prepared to chop up a homegrown one with it. I've had the knives for years and use them almost every day.

I have a pair of scissors that were sold in a tool catalog. They're wickedly awesome, strong and sharp and come apart for easy cleaning. I wish I had bought a second pair so that I wouldn't always be looking for them (are they in the toolbox today or by the kitchen sink?) but point is that I already had them and they weren't purchased specially for dispatching chickens.

I didn't really have any problems with lungs or guts being stuck in. In fact the lungs came out with a perfect imprint of the bones (ribs?) and my dog gobbled them up like they were mana from heaven.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

I thought of another thing that is essential for processing, it's a hose with a trigger spray attatchment. Figure out a way to keep it hooked to the edge of the table so you're not always bending down to the ground to reach it.

Of course you could be really groovy & rig up an outdoor sink at your processing station, with a hose attatched to the faucet & a way for the water to drain away from where you're standing. That reminds me, I should post a request for an unwanted sink from my local FreeCycle.

 

[Lil Chickie Mama]

Quote:
Oh, isn't freecycle great! The setup I saw for the lung scraper hose thing had a sink assembly. It was pretty cool, but I don't think my DH would let me have something like that as it would be an eyesore when not in use. I ended up putting two nails on the side of the pallet table to hold up the hose gun thingy (real technical right?) and that worked great! There I was, killin' chickens in the backyard with my pink hose and all! What a sight, at least my DH had a good laugh.

 

[fasbendera]

Turkey Fryer - Scalding
2 - 6' Sams Club banquet Tables - Plucking, gutting, cutting, packaging
4 - plastic tubs with handles - gut, feather & feet bucket
garbage can - under the killing cones
heavy duty garbage bags - lines tubs and garbage can
someting to raise up table - we use boards so you don't get sore back
finger makes a great lung scraper but I might try a melon baller next year.

We have a table for cleaning and then we have the sterile table and no bird touches it unless it is completely clean inside and out.

I have two ice cram buckets, bottle of dish soap and a jug of bleach out there and the tables are washed off repeatedly during processing just to keep it clean. Finished our fourth year and this year was the best we have the layout of the processing line down to a science now.

We have access to a chicken plucker so we are lucky.

 

[patandchickens]

You'd be surprised, you probably have all (or almost all) the stuff you need on hand. Just cuz a catalog sells something doesn't mean you need it

I use a stump with two nails in it, or a Biodegradeable Recycled Killing Cone (i.e. a pizza box duct-taped into the right shape, hung from an old piece of very thick wire). And either the old beat-up hatchet in the garage, or my kitchen knife.

Four cats provide plentiful buckets (that cat litter is sold in), and I pluck over the muck-bucket I use for cleaning the coop. When I scald, it's in a stained old aluminum jelly kettle, over a hotplate that we recieved as a wedding gift and have never used for anything anyhow.

You don't need a special knife, IMHO, just a normal cooking knife is fine, but it does need to be SHARP. If you don't have a good kitchen knife and/or don't sharpen it, this is a good occasion to remedy that

I find the lungs come out quite cleanly if you can pry your fingertips back in behind them when you are first reaching in to grab and remove the innards. The kidneys are more of a nuisance, I use a combination of fingertips and scraping with the handle end of an old spoon that went into a garbage disposal once and is no longer much good for meals.

I cool the carcasses in old picnic coolers and then the fridge.

I think the most expensive part of my processing meat birds is that I tend to order out pizza afterwards b/c I really no longer feel like cooking that day

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[Dragonfly Ranch]

Shhhh!! Don't tell the construction site - but we borrowed one of the orange caution cones and used it for a killing cone. Clamped it between two saw horses and lined one of those large plastic buckets with the white rope handles with a black garbage bag and it did a nice job of catching all the blood. Husband used a razor blade type box knife to do the neck cutting thing - I'm a wimp I can't do it or watch.

Used the turkey fryer set up for boiling water and scalding the birds. I plucked them and he gutted - Still a wimp and had to cover the heads while I plucked

v But we got them done.

Sandee

 

[jaku]

DON'T spend $30 for a lung scraper- gut a tomato huller for $2. Works great. I cut my birds up with a fillet knife. I make my cones myself because I sell them- someone posted a tutorial on here not too long ago on how to build them though.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

Quote:
Quick! Let's make some more of these, I bet we could sell them!

I think the most expensive part of my processing meat birds is that I tend to order out pizza afterwards b/c I really no longer feel like cooking that day

Now I'm even more motivated to sell those Special Kidney Scraper Tools so I can afford take-out pizza after my butchering sessions!​