Butchering chickens

[cstocks]

You might want to leave the slaughtering to the pros. Otherwise, you might end up with <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.miketheheadlesschicken.org/Mike%20Story.htm> this</A> on your hands! /w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif

 

[wroughtn_harv]

We just got through processing twenty two broilers. If you grab the feet and one wing the head will lay on the block nice and still until the arrival of the ax head.

I killed them four at a time. I'd put the bodies upside down in five gallon buckets so I didn't have the mess everywhere. I also dug a twelve inch by eight foot hole with my auger attachment for burying the unwanted parts.

We dipped them in boiling water and removed enough of the feathers to facilitate easy skinning.

 

[Egon]

Chris:
Thats the way we used to do turkeys only the brain was pierced with a small knife. Two people holding on to the wings and another two plucking as fast as they could while the feathers were loose. Pliers to pull out the wing feathers.
Egon

 

[thumbtrap]

My parents had a hobby farm when we were little. I suspect more for instilling work ethic than for any edible benefits. I guess about the time they were getting out of it, they butchered all the chickens. My sister was about 3 or 4 at the time. A headless chicken took off running about, (as dad would say, "Hence the expression"). My sister also took off running, absolutely terrified, and managed to run in the exact same erratic pattern at the chicken, giving the apearance that it was chasing her. It managed to follow her for 2 or 3 zags. At the time (being an older brother) it was absolutely hysterically funny.

 

[dourobob]

Here is an interesting link about mobile chicken processing - Joel Salatin has written a few excellent books about sustainable farming. He is a visionary <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.ibiblio.org/farming-connection/grazing/pastpoul/resource.htm>http://www.ibiblio.org/farming-connection/grazing/pastpoul/resource.htm</A>

Enjoy
Bob

 

[duckboy]

Dad always raised as much food as he could....he liked chicken. He thought it would be good to put a few in the freezer. When they were ready to 'process', we did 98 fryers in 2 days. I was the CC, Chief Chopper, my X was the CP,Chief Plucker, and Dad was the SCP, Senior Chief Packer.
I think this was on the list of why my wife left me........
And it took a couple of weeks to be able to have chicken for dinner.


PR

 

[butzkeg]

I found haning them by their feet, and then cutting off the heads works well. Dress them, then dip 'em in boiling water, then pluck and you're done.

If you remove feathers/skin prior to cleaning the insides, it may not seem as bad because they start looking like a whole fryer from the store. When you're done, it looks like a packaged chicken, only fresher and it tastes great (after cooked of course /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif).

 

[jdrotert]

Boondox,
I wanted to just skin my chickens, but mom said the meat will get freezer burn. Do you see this at all? Do you leave them whole or cut in pieces?

 

[Taz]

I went through this a couple of years ago with 60 broilers. Searched high and low. The only place I could find in Southern, NH was just off Route 111 in Salem. I think their name was Badario. I just did a Yahoo people search and it came up empty. A call to a local Blue Seal will get their number I'm sure.

Good Luck

 

[justractors]

My parents used to raise chickens prior to my Dad's death in 1993. Usually one bunch in the spring and another in the fall.
My Dad had his own butcher shop equipment that we used for the rabbits, pigs, and cattle but refused to do the chickens.
He would take them to a processer about 35 miles away and they would "do the dirty work", wrap them, and quick freeze them for 65 cents a chicken.
Bill