This is one of 4 or 5 weekends a year I dread. Processing chickens. We just got the scalder, plucker, and everything else set up, and I am enjoying a few moments of peace with a cup of coffee while the scalder heats up. Does anybody else dread this task the way I do? Sometimes I think I'm the only sane person around. My wife and kids love processing day. Not me.
Another Chicken Processing Day
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I hate processing them too. We had 50 cornish cross this year and we do about 4-6 at a time. And we don't have a plucker....good luck
Husband cuts off the heads in a cone, I cut out the guts, we both pluck. We dunk them in hot water also before plucking. Then they go in the fridge for a few days then freezer.
But worth it. We sell them for $4 a lb and they are big ( 6-7 lbs) . I made chicken and dumplings out of one a couple days ago, red beans and rice with the leftover meat on the carcass yesterday, dogs got the scraps, and today I still have 2 large pieces of breast I am going to cook with. So 3 meals per chicken, not bad
Husband cuts off the heads in a cone, I cut out the guts, we both pluck. We dunk them in hot water also before plucking. Then they go in the fridge for a few days then freezer.
But worth it. We sell them for $4 a lb and they are big ( 6-7 lbs) . I made chicken and dumplings out of one a couple days ago, red beans and rice with the leftover meat on the carcass yesterday, dogs got the scraps, and today I still have 2 large pieces of breast I am going to cook with. So 3 meals per chicken, not bad
We usually do cornish cross too. Today we have about 100 to kill. We have done the ranger birds in the past, and I prefer them because they are much much cleaner and more robust. But all our birds are sold already, and everyone wants cornish cross. I'd rather have venison myself. I better get going...
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that's a ton of chickens to do in one day, I couldn't do that. I think the most we ever did was 12 and then I had lack of fridge space to put them in for a few days. They taste better if you dont put them in the freezer right away I think. How do you deal with that? Or do you sell them right away unfrozen?
The worst thing to me was the smell. we used to use a 55 gallon drum for ours, dip em, strip them, gut them. yeech.
Since I do them on my own, I keep it to 20ish a day or less. I tend to grow some of them big for roasters. They dress out around 12-16 lbs. I ended up with close to 750 lbs of chicken last fall. No more needed for a year or two.
The breasts alone, weighed three lbs. I raise my chickens on pure grains and grass with lots of exercise from day 3 and they stay clean and white. I butcher when outdoor temperatures match fridge temps so that I can age them without the fridge.
The breasts alone, weighed three lbs. I raise my chickens on pure grains and grass with lots of exercise from day 3 and they stay clean and white. I butcher when outdoor temperatures match fridge temps so that I can age them without the fridge.
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We did 25 last month. Favorite cousin and her daughter helped so it didn't take long. I put them in ice chests for a few days, then piece them, rewash them and then use food saver bags for them. Time to do some turkeys soon.
Help sure sounds good. I part them up and vacuum pack as well.
I am good at bagging a whole chicken and getting the air out. I label the first bag and bag again removing the air once more. The whole roasters keep very well double bagged this way.
I have the ice chest option as well for doing up layer roosters.
I am good at bagging a whole chicken and getting the air out. I label the first bag and bag again removing the air once more. The whole roasters keep very well double bagged this way.
I have the ice chest option as well for doing up layer roosters.
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Ice chests are great in the winter. I keep three handy in the garage, and use them like a fridge in the winter. Our fridge is not terribly big. We didn't have a fridge in the farmhouse before we moved here...would visit for a week at a time and just used an ice chest.
A cousin here is making $$$ raising and butchering and selling whole cornish birds. She sells for an average of $35 to $40 a bird. That's alot of money. They bought 150 and butcher 25 at a time to sell. I don't know people who would pay that much for a bird.
A cousin here is making $$$ raising and butchering and selling whole cornish birds. She sells for an average of $35 to $40 a bird. That's alot of money. They bought 150 and butcher 25 at a time to sell. I don't know people who would pay that much for a bird.
We use shrink bags for ours. Put them in the bag, stick in the straw, zip tie bag, dunk it in 180 degree water. It shrinks tight around the bird, you remove the straw and tighten the zip tie one more time and put the sticker on. Works great, and there really seems to be zero air space. We refrigerate them for about 24 hours or so before freezing. My wife even found someone who wanted to buy the feet for making broth. She is finishing the feet cleaning as I write this. I have to say the whole "process" is a lot more enjoyable on a crisp October day than on a hot July day, for sure.
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I am stupid sometimes....yes ice chests is a great idea, we have lots of large ones and they stay cold really well for the market
I think I am going to do that next year
I have never processed chickens. I know it is something I need to learn how to do, but I dread it.
Don't feel bad, goshengirl, we do it regularly, and I still dread it too. Mostly the killing part of it. I'd like to rig up some sort of CO2 box, so I could put the birds in there and make them gently go to sleep permanently. But for now, it's all killing cones and gore. The saddest part to me is that if the cornish cross birds aren't processed within 8 weeks or so, their hearts will just give out before long. They were bred just for FAST meat production, and not for long-term health. BUT, everyone wants that big plump breast meat, which is why 99.99% of all chicken eaten in America is cornish cross. Me, I prefer dark meat anyway.
Cornish can live a whole lot longer then 8 weeks. They need to free range from no more than 2 weeks of age, and live like regular free range chickens. I always keep back 2 hens from butchering. My former, Amish neighbors couldn't believe I never lost a cx. They gave true free range a try and kicked them out in the yard. They never lost another bird for health reasons.
Gertie is going on four years now and lays a whopping 2 eggs a week like clockwork. She is mated with a layer x rooster who's mamma is Big Bertha, another cx with lots of longevity.
I now get big hybrid layers that are true layer/meat birds. My roosters are big and agile.
Bomber looks like a cx but fights and flies like a game bird.
Gertie is going on four years now and lays a whopping 2 eggs a week like clockwork. She is mated with a layer x rooster who's mamma is Big Bertha, another cx with lots of longevity.
I now get big hybrid layers that are true layer/meat birds. My roosters are big and agile.
Bomber looks like a cx but fights and flies like a game bird.
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Great idea, Clem. I've never tried free ranging them. Usually in a big indoor run in the milkhouse, and they eat so much...even sit in their food pan, fall asleep, wake up eating and eating....
Our son tried the "gassing" method using an ice chest with a hole in the side to put the gas in (for rabbits), and then just decided it was a whole lot more work and $, so stopped that. With chickens, he would just break their neck with his hands, and by swinging them. Over quick, but doesn't work well with my hands and my swing. Just prefer hanging by their feet (turkeys, too), waiting till the blood has rushed to their head, they black out, and then cut their neck with a surgical type blade.
Our son tried the "gassing" method using an ice chest with a hole in the side to put the gas in (for rabbits), and then just decided it was a whole lot more work and $, so stopped that. With chickens, he would just break their neck with his hands, and by swinging them. Over quick, but doesn't work well with my hands and my swing. Just prefer hanging by their feet (turkeys, too), waiting till the blood has rushed to their head, they black out, and then cut their neck with a surgical type blade.
Most people wouldn't want them to stick around like I do.
The eight weeks and getter done isn't just for the customers. The people raising them have a bottom line and time constraints as well. They want the fast turn around to make a living. I just want to eat well and don't care if it's a slower process.
There are draw backs to honk'in big chickens. Chicken wings the size of turkey wings aren't exactly appetizer size material.
The eight weeks and getter done isn't just for the customers. The people raising them have a bottom line and time constraints as well. They want the fast turn around to make a living. I just want to eat well and don't care if it's a slower process.
There are draw backs to honk'in big chickens. Chicken wings the size of turkey wings aren't exactly appetizer size material.
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I hate it too. Hogs, deer are the worst, chicken are bad, fish are bad too, rabbit are the best of the group.
Never done beef, we sent it out.
Why not butcher them like game birds...It is quick, easy, no feathers, The only thing to lose is the wings and neck. Takes 7 to 10 seconds and you have breast and legs, totally clean, no skin, no feathers.
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Sourdough, that would be a great idea in my opinion. Unfortunately no one wants to buy a chicken like that though. People are pretty specific about how they want their birds processed. Some want the neck and giblets inside the bird, some want it all separate. Some want the birds parted out, some want whole. Some folks will pay extra for the feet. If I just wanted meat for myself, chickens would be one of my last choices. Four-legged animals require lots of work too, but its not the fiddly kind of work chickens require. Somewhere around the early/middle 1900's people shifted from eating beef, pork, and lamb, to eating beef, pork, and chicken. Personally, I think that was a mistake.
