Chicken Processing
Well, we did it. We processed our broilers Tuesday. What a way to celebrate Independence Day--by becoming a little more independent of the industrial food supply.
Friends--a family of five--came and helped. This is the same family that processed their broilers a couple of weeks ago, using our men and initiating our Whizbang chicken plucker.
The whole process went much faster as a result of having 11 people working. We were done in well under 2 hours--I really think it was less than 1.5 hours--for 27 birds. That includes cleaning up and getting the birds in the freezer. Truth to tell, I didn't help a lot with the actual processing: I ended up being gopher, photographer, etc., most of the time. I included myself in the 11. I also included 3yo son, who actually did help hose off the birds just before their being bagged. (Cute story about that; see link below.)
Speaking of bags, we thought we'd ordered the large bags from Stromberg's, but didn't find out until Monday that we received small ones. From the looks of them, the birds would never fit, but we tried anyway, and had no problem. The birds dressed out between 3.5 and 4.5 pounds, I guess. We only weighed a few on the kitchen scales, and the two that I heard the weights on were 3 lbs, 14 oz, and 4 lbs, 2 oz.
Also, after processing seven birds a few weeks ago without a Whizbang plucker, and doing these this week and our friends' a couple of weeks ago with it, I highly recommend the plucker. It works great and makes the whole thing go waaaaaaaay faster. I sure don't want to do it again without the plucker. Fantastic invention! (http://store.cumberlandbooks.com/chickenplucker.html)
Anyway, here is a link to more specifics about the day, written by one of our dearest blessings, our 15yo daughter: Reformed TN Girl
Mary Susan
Friends--a family of five--came and helped. This is the same family that processed their broilers a couple of weeks ago, using our men and initiating our Whizbang chicken plucker.
The whole process went much faster as a result of having 11 people working. We were done in well under 2 hours--I really think it was less than 1.5 hours--for 27 birds. That includes cleaning up and getting the birds in the freezer. Truth to tell, I didn't help a lot with the actual processing: I ended up being gopher, photographer, etc., most of the time. I included myself in the 11. I also included 3yo son, who actually did help hose off the birds just before their being bagged. (Cute story about that; see link below.)
Speaking of bags, we thought we'd ordered the large bags from Stromberg's, but didn't find out until Monday that we received small ones. From the looks of them, the birds would never fit, but we tried anyway, and had no problem. The birds dressed out between 3.5 and 4.5 pounds, I guess. We only weighed a few on the kitchen scales, and the two that I heard the weights on were 3 lbs, 14 oz, and 4 lbs, 2 oz.
Also, after processing seven birds a few weeks ago without a Whizbang plucker, and doing these this week and our friends' a couple of weeks ago with it, I highly recommend the plucker. It works great and makes the whole thing go waaaaaaaay faster. I sure don't want to do it again without the plucker. Fantastic invention! (http://store.cumberlandbooks.com/chickenplucker.html)
Anyway, here is a link to more specifics about the day, written by one of our dearest blessings, our 15yo daughter: Reformed TN Girl
Mary Susan
posted by The Bradshaws at 4:01 PM
1 Comments:
It is always nice to have others to help you when you butcher chickens. I always look forward to the fellowship. It makes an otherwise tiring job enjoyable.
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