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Starting Member
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 2/25/2010 11:51:12 AM
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| Hi! I am a 4-H member and I have been raising chickens for a while now. We usually get our broilers around the end of March and raise them until our county fair in the beginning of August. Right after the fair we slaughter them ourselves for our buyers. We usually feed them broiler mash from our near by feed mill. We keep them in a movable pen on the ground and move them about every other week. If it gets hot you should offer shade so they do not get stressed. By fair time our birds are usually around 10 pounds.
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Starting Member
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 6/6/2010 12:09:55 PM
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| I have raised Cornish Rocks for the freezer every year for almost five years. I do all of my own. I use a knife to sever the jugular as they hang upside down in a killing cone. I let them "drain" into a pan and then remove them. I dip them in hot water to remove the feathers...rubber kitchen gloves actually help a ton with this step and then I remove the inards. The first couple I did where a little squimish of my belly but then it just goes along. After they are cleaned out, I spray them out with water removing anything left. I drain them and then vacuum pack them prior to putting them in the freezer. It takes me about 15 minutes per bird now. I am killing one, removing it, killing another and then leaving it until I finish with the first. This process isn't as bad as what you think and most butchers around charge between 3 and 8 cents per pounds. I am around the Binghamton/Ithaca Area and I would say average price is about 5 cents per pound.
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Starting Member
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 8/4/2010 7:10:34 AM
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| Do any of you skin your chickens instead of Plucking. I thought that might be a good thing because i am not ready to purchase the plucking equipement and scalder.
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Senior Member
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: Yesterday @ 7:53:01 AM
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| Last year, I decided to butcher some cockerels that we had from a batch that a couple of hens hatched out. They were dark birds with white skin and when I tried to pluck them, they were left with some dark discoloration under the skin. I thought they would dress out better if I skinned them, but I ended up having to pluck a bunch of feathers in order to get a good hold on the skin to pull it off. It was a lot of work to skin them, too, and took much more time than just plucking them. There really isn't much equipment involved in butchering chickens - a big pot for the water to scald them and a heat source to keep the water hot and a good, sharp knife. Anything else is optional.
Karen http://www.facebook.com/MrsKsCreations
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Junior Member
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 5/18/2012 11:33:22 AM
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Figured I would chime in here :) I did my first bird about a month ago. To kill it I put two nails in a stump about an inch apart. I put the chickens neck between the nails and pulled the feet out while the nails held the head.
One quick swing with a sharp hatchet took the chickens head off. I held it out away from me while it bled out and did a few twitches. I have to admit before I swung the hatchet I did hesitate for a second. But my hand went faster than my brain did so it was over before I could really dwell on it.
As for plucking it was really easy. I had boiling water with some dish soap in it (Found the instructions on the net) and after dunking I was able to easily pull all the feathers off. Wing tips were the only "hard" part.
Visit the Cameron Family Farm at: http://www.cameronfamilyfarm.com/
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Starting Member
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Last Login: 1/18/2011 1:09:25 AM
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Starting Member
Group: Banned Members
Last Login: 11/13/2010 8:19:28 AM
Posts: 35,
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I found that it's a better tase when you don't do the old, hack hack thing.
I had 50 birds to do. So I made kill cones from coffee cans (plastic). I would stick the bird in the can, head poke'n threw a hole, then with a "zip click" box cutter, I'd slit the artery in the neck. the birds just doze off.. no fighting or fussing. much better meat. by the time the chicken even knows it most of the blood is gone and it's the blood that caries the adreniline (sp?) that gives meat a bad taste. holding a bird down on a stump, try'n to grasp both wings ect all this makes the animal excited and that produces bad meat.
I no longer pluck, I skin them out.
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