Chicken prices

[oosik]

True story. My father was an avid duck hunter. He hated plucking ducks but always did the job. Fortunately, I was quite young and never allowed to assist. One day, he and his hunting buddy got a brilliant idea. Put the ducks( about four at a time) into Mom's Maytag wringer wash machine. Lots of water - a little soap. Away we go ...........

You can only imagine the mess this made. It's the ONLY time I can ever remember Mom getting mad at Dad. Dad and his hunting friend spent the better part of the remainder of the day cleaning and unclogging the Maytag.

I laugh when I think about it now. At the time - I was in the other room and infrequently peaked into the wash room. I knew enough to stay out of the adults way.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

Not intending to stray too far afield, but I have a duck plucking story too. My Dad was an avid duck hunter; we lived in the boonies in NW Oklahoma, and there was artesian well about half a mile from the house. The the only way to get there was to walk. One Winter day, Dad bundled up, grabbed his old Winchester Model 12 and headed out for the arresian well. He came back later, carrying his zipped up coat which was full of ducks. He said when he got there, the pond was frozen over except for a small area, in which was so thick with ducks, they were crawling all over each other. He pot shot them, and killed so many he couldn't carry them all home. I went back with him; we gathered up the last of the ducks and took them home.

He called my Grandfather and Grandmother, who lived about 20 miles away; they came over, and we spent the rest of the day plucking ducks...all of us. I don't know how many ducks were there, but it was way more than I wanted. I didn't like duck any way.

 

[MossRoad]

I saw a TV show about a business out east (I think) that you could take your ducks to after hunting and they'd pluck and process them for you. They had a neat roller machine where the operator would hold the duck up and it would pluck them. I gotta look for that clip. Can't remember if it was Larry the Cable Guy only in America or Mike Rowe or some show like that.

 

[oosik]

2lane - strange isn't it. I really love a properly roasted duck. MUCH prefer duck over chicken.............

 

[2LaneCruzer]

2lane - strange isn't it. I really love a properly roasted duck. MUCH prefer duck over chicken.............

Well, when Mom cooked them, they turned out too greasy for me. Oddly enough, she actually fried the breast of some of the smaller ducks, like Teal if I remember correctly, and they weren't too bad.

But then, my Dad was a cotton picking finger licking chicken plucker...(FUNNY, but not very PC. I saw this performance on TV when it was originally broadcast...a Loooong time ago. It was funny then, and funny now.)

 

[MossRoad]

Cotton pickin finger lickin chicken plucker!!!

I remember that. :laughing:

 

[jmc]

Many years ago I attempted to make home made chicken soup with no recipe. Never done it before. I plopped in a bunch of chicken scraps and pieces in water, some spices, veggies, etc... boiled it down. Served it to the family. Kids said it tasted like water. Wife asked if I put any chicken bullion or starter or broth in it? Huh? :laughing:

So I saved that recipe in my cook book and called it Chicken Water Soup. Right behind it is now a recipe for Chicken Water Soup Improved.

Some cooking expert said that boxed broth is just bullion that they hydrated for you and charged a lot more. Not being a fan of that bullion aftertaste, I tried something call "Better Than Bullion". And it is. Still, we call it "Better Than Nothing".

 

[JethroB]

Years ago some older fellows told me their funny story of trying to run ducks down the chicken plant processing lines. Said it was a disaster. They didn't consider that ducks float. They had some great misadventure stories.

 

[bigtiller]

Speaking of the cost of chicken...Campbell's sure must get their money's worth out of one when making their noodle soup...!

Don't know if true or not, but I heard that is where laying chickens go after egg production drops.

It is true, or at least it was in the 60's. I worked at a chicken farm for 2 summers then. They had 9 buildings, each were about 36'x 400' six of them were for egg layers. When the birds got old and egg production in one building slowed, we loaded them into semi truck-trailers and down the road they went to Campbell's Soup.

 

[MossRoad]