Minimalist Poultry Processing Equipment

[Beekissed]

You can cut the bottom out of a 2 gal. bleach jug and invert it, nail it to a tree, cut the spout off and...voila'! A killing cone. Mine is great and I'll never do another bird without one. They seem to have just the right shape to hold a bird without it being too cramped or in an unnatural bind at the shoulders.

When you do this, the top of the bird's head is facing the tree, which leaves the neck nicely exposed. I just grasp the head lightly, exert mild pressure downward on the bottom of the beak with my thumb and apply a sharp knife to the throat. I try not to cut clear into the spinal column, as this seems to make more muscle spasms.

I skin the bird, which is so much easier than scalding or plucking.

Good luck and let us know how it all went for you!

 

[()relics]

I learned from an "old timer" to cut a corner out of the bottom of a feed bag, or any bag. Put the live chicken into the bag, reach through the hole that you've made, grab the birds head and pull it through the hole , works very well with turkeys too . I do this inside the pen with several birds, then carry them,already "sacked up" out to the processing area. Its rather easy to dispatch them, which ever method you choose, with their heads sticking out of a bag and them being unable to move/flap/stand..I them use the "killing bags" for clean-up bags after the process is done....This method REALLY works well with Big Strong tom turkeys....No more wing battering for me.

 

[patandchickens]

Its rather easy to dispatch them, which ever method you choose, with their heads sticking out of a bag and them being unable to move/flap/stand..I them use the "killing bags" for clean-up bags after the process is done....This method REALLY works well with Big Strong tom turkeys....No more wing battering for me.

Gotta agree! I did that with the oversized BBB turkeys this fall, the tom was probably 45+ lbs live weight. The feedsack "straightjacket" seemed to calm them once it was on, too. Certainly easier to make than a huge-turkey sized cone!

A warning to anyone wanting to try this with chickens, however - do not use anything stretchy like old t-shirts or baby onesies. I made both of those mistakes (you'd think I'd learn ) - because they're knit, the chicken can flail and flap just about as much as if he weren't in anything at all, which is not so good because it can damage the carcass and bruise the meat. So you'd want to use some sort of fairly stiff and *non* stretchy bag.

Pat

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

How many of you compost the innards?

we DONT just because we have all these over-interested dogs. but many folks do and if you kind of 'layer' them between straw it makes them compost faster.. as i've heard it.

us - you got it. burn pile.

Tanks - as far as letting the meat rest - this is what i've heard from all the Meaties over on BYC and from Harvey Ussery so thats what we do. Brunty Farms over at BYC has a great technical explanation for the whole thing. for us its almost easier b/c we do our butchering in batches. so the first day is the Axe Day, then it gives me a couple days to get caught up with everything i didnt get done, then i can part 'em up and get them into the freezer or whatnot.

and of course the next time i'll get to use my spiffy new canner for all that lovely broth! when we do our older hens we'll probably cook them in a crock pot on extremely low for a very long time. the older ladies in my church use retired layers to make a hot chicken sandwich like this...its heavenly.

 

[DrakeMaiden]

When you do this, the top of the bird's head is facing the tree, which leaves the neck nicely exposed. I just grasp the head lightly, exert mild pressure downward on the bottom of the beak with my thumb and apply a sharp knife to the throat. I try not to cut clear into the spinal column, as this seems to make more muscle spasms.

Thank you Bee. This is what I was looking for the most -- some guidance on the most critical moment. That really gives me a better feel for how it should happen. Many thanks for that.

I need to catch up on what others have written here, but . . . someone actually told me last night that NO ONE EATS ROOSTERS. Um, ok, is that true? I would assume at the very least you could get some good broth out of it. These roosters are just about 6 months old and someone else had advised me they would still be tender.

 

[DrakeMaiden]

I learned from an "old timer" to cut a corner out of the bottom of a feed bag, or any bag. Put the live chicken into the bag, reach through the hole that you've made, grab the birds head and pull it through the hole , works very well with turkeys too . I do this inside the pen with several birds, then carry them,already "sacked up" out to the processing area. Its rather easy to dispatch them, which ever method you choose, with their heads sticking out of a bag and them being unable to move/flap/stand..I them use the "killing bags" for clean-up bags after the process is done....This method REALLY works well with Big Strong tom turkeys....No more wing battering for me.

Ha ha ha . . . you actually made me laugh there for a minute. I guess that brings new meaning to bagging a bird, huh? That is a very practical tip about using feed bags. Thank you for your tip!

 

[noobiechickenlady]

That's odd, some of the cornish "hens" you get in the grocery are actually roos.

I think somebody was pulling something out of their behind.

I'm totally using the bleach bottle idea. All I get are paper feed bags now, so I'm not sure how they would hold up.

 

[DrakeMaiden]

More good tips. Thank you OFG. I meant to say that I also did not know about letting the birds rest a day or so.

I'm wondering if I should dig a small hole where I plan to start a new compost pile and compost the parts that don't get eaten underneath . . . layered with straw, of course. Or would you just put it at the base of the compost pile and figure that was good enough?

 

[DrakeMaiden]

I think somebody was pulling something out of their behind.

LOL My thoughts exactly.

 

[Wolf-Kim]

All we use to process our birds is a block of wood, a meat cleaver, a clothes line, a sharp knife, a large pot, and some hay baling twine.

We use to try to improvise killing cones, but we've found it's easier to just use a two man system. I'll usually have the bird's legs in one hand and then the joint of their wings in another. I'll lay it down onto the block, Adam will grab the head with one hand and chop with the other. Then I'll just restrain the bird(hang on to those wings tight) until it's done with it's death throes. After it's done with the throes, we put both feet through a baling twine noose from the clothes line and let it hang while we do the other birds.

While we're dispatching, we'll have a large pot boiling in the kitchen. Once it begins to boil, we put some dish soap in it and take it outside. There we dip the birds in for a few seconds and then pluck them. The dish soap helps with the smell, best to do it on a day with a slight breeze. At this point, I'll be plucking while Adam does the evisceration. All he uses for evisceration is a small sharp knife to open the body cavity and then to seperate the heart and gizzard(we fry them and eat those) and then toss the rest of the innards to the rest of the flock, use it to bait traps, or other purposes.

While some say it's easier to skin, Adam and I have both agreed that it's much more worth it(for us) to pluck. But it's all about personal preference.

Don't worry, you'll do fine. Just remember to let the birds age in the fridge 1-2 days. We usually brine ours, but this also helps you get over eating something you just killed. Some people make the mistake of eating a bird, they killed just a coupe hours before and it just creeps them out to the point they just can't enjoy it.