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]

 

[MossRoad]

Both of our kids went to college at Purdue. So for 9 years I was driving down there at all sorts of odd hours here and there. One foggy night, I was driving past the Tyson chicken plant in Logansport. It was around 2-3a.m. Several dozen semis hauling empty chicken trailers were leaving the plant, heading off into the dark, scary fog.... if only those chickens knew what was coming.

It was the makings of a Steven King novel. :laughing:

 

[2LaneCruzer]

And then there's Ricky Nelson..."I like a lot, boy!"

 

[Jstpssng]

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.

This one? .Butte City Outfitters provide fowl plucking service | News | appeal-democrat.com It's an old article dated 2009, they may not still be in business

 

[/pine]

Chicken Truck ~ John Anderson - YouTube

 

[JethroB]

Both of our kids went to college at Purdue. So for 9 years I was driving down there at all sorts of odd hours here and there. One foggy night, I was driving past the Tyson chicken plant in Logansport. It was around 2-3a.m. Several dozen semis hauling empty chicken trailers were leaving the plant, heading off into the dark, scary fog.... if only those chickens knew what was coming.

It was the makings of a Steven King novel. :laughing:

Don't ever get caught beside or close behind one of those trailers loaded with chickens. The chickens can 'squirt' several feet. You can smell them 1/2 mile before you catch up to one.

I believe Campbell's got out of the live chicken and turkey business by the early 90's. My employer of 22 years bought one of their plants (Banquet Frozen Dinners) in 1989.

 

[TnAndy]

Both of our kids went to college at Purdue. So for 9 years I was driving down there at all sorts of odd hours here and there. One foggy night, I was driving past the Tyson chicken plant in Logansport. It was around 2-3a.m. Several dozen semis hauling empty chicken trailers were leaving the plant, heading off into the dark, scary fog.... if only those chickens knew what was coming.

It was the makings of a Steven King novel. :laughing:

Guy down the road from us raises broilers on contract for somebody. He tells me they send him one tractor trailer load of day old chicks ( he has something like 6 big houses), 6 weeks later, they send 30 tractor trailers to pick up the live birds for the processing plant.

 

[GeneV]

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.

I've actually seen them whizbang type plucker machines made out of washing machines, actually. But yeh, that doesn't work to well with ducks. People serious about plucking ducks tend to use wax. You melt the wax in a big pot, dunk the duck in it, and peel the wax off. Too much work for me.

 

[Wakey]

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.

Classic!!!

 

[Diggin It]

Wonder if they use wringer washers to make those chicken patties for sandwiches.

 

[Frankenkubota]

A friend was in the industrial bar code business, process control etc etc. Did lots of business with the cigarette manufacturers.

He got a call to try to apply bar codes to chickens as they were being processed. For whatever reason he asked me to come along.

I've seen some big time industrial facilities but this was wild. Chickens everywhere. Thousands....maybe millions? On overhead conveyors, above you, below you. Hundreds of folks all dressed in white cutting them up by hand. It was amazing but.....we tried ink jets and laser marking but never did figure out how to bar code chicken parts.

Funny, in one of the other posts the comment was made about driving to Purdue and passing Tyson. Those are both big names and i assume competitors in the chicken business.