Preparing Food For Your Farm

Chicken butchering day is always quite an event here on the Farm. It can be a touchy subject for a society that is so far removed from knowing where their food comes from. For me, I normally can’t sleep the night before just the excitement of turning something you raised into delicious meals that can feed your family for a year words can’t explain that feeling of accomplishment. We normally butcher between 30 to 50 birds at a time.

If you’ve hadn’t read the previous blog go back and read those before continuing. We’ve addressed what breeds this post is strictly about how to butcher birds on the homestead.

Killing Cones

These are cones that the birds go into headfirst. The cone keeps the birds snugged not allowing their wings to flap. You will need to pull their head down through the hole in the bottom then slice their jugular with a sharp knife. You can buy killing cones from Amazon, eBay, Myer Hatchery, local farm supply stores, or any business that sells farm supplies.

A large to XL cone should work just fine. You will need to attach the killing cones to some type of structure, a tree, something you don’t mind getting a little bloody. Place a bucket with soapy water in it to catch the blood which will minimize the mess.

After a bird is dispatched allow the bird a minute to bleed out. During this time the bird will flop around. Don’t panic it is not alive, it’s only the bird's nervous system going through its final stages.

Next, you will need to scald the bird in hot water 145degrees is perfect!! Anything any hotter you will tear the skin in the plucking and any colder the feathers will not release when plucking. Now you could go out and buy a chicken scalded that will self regulate its temperature at 145 degrees. Eventually, that is what we will do but for now, we use a retired crawfish pot and a turkey fryer attracted to a propane tank. There a lot more “babysitting” doing it this method, but it’s works for now. A thermometer is very helpful so you can monitor the temperature of the water. It will be obvious the water is cooling down if the feathers aren’t plucking easily. You will dunk and swirl the bird in the scalder a minute, two minutes tops. It’s important you allow the hot water to work its magic. After you dunked 10 birds in and out the scalder the water will naturally evaporate or spillover, remember if you add water, you’ll need to wait for the water in the fryer to get back up to temp before adding another bird. Make sure you’re communicating with the team, there’s no sense in having 3 birds in the killing cone waiting when someone forgot to add water now it’s going to take the water 10 to 15 minutes to heat back up. Commutation is key! If this happens, give your team a chance to catch up on their chicken butchering or a cigarette break.

Chicken Plucker

If you plan on butchering chickens every year invest in a chicken plucker! It’s worth the money!! It’s amazing how fast this machine can clean a chicken while collecting feathers in a chute at the bottom. It keeps the mess in one area instead of having feathers spread all over the yard.

If money is tight considered getting some of your buddies together that raise meat birds and go in together on a plucker. A good plucker will run you $300 to $500 bucks. If four people put on $75- $150 per person problem solved! On top of that when you’re not using it. Rent it out for $25-$50 bucks. In a season it could pay for itself!

Butchering Set Up

After the birds are plucked, it’s time for evisceration. And you need a butchering table to get that done on. We wanted something tall!! If you don’t get anything out of this blog make sure you get A TALL TABLE!! You could be standing at the table anywhere from 3 to 5 hours if you’re bent over for that long you will regret it the next morning! Wear comfortable shoes something that you can stand in all day.

Large Coolers/Stock Tanks

After the birds have lost their heads, feet, and insides, it’s time for them to rest in a cold water bath. We have a few 140 something quart coolers that work perfectly.

Drying The Birds

You can buy drying racks or make your own! After all, your birds have had their cold bath remove them from the cooler and allow the water to drain. Once drained it’s time to package. We buy shrink wrap bags on Amazon in packs of 50 and 100. They are pretty simple to use you put the bird in and dip it in hot water to shrink the bag around the bird. Not only does this make your birds look professionally done, the bags help protect against freezer burn up to a year.

Composting

We don’t throw ANYTHING away! All the guts and chicken parts that do not get turned to food are placed in our compost pile. If your compost pile has the proper Carbon/Nitrogen balance there will be no smell and everything will be composted in a month. You’ll have some of the richest dirt on the planet! Now it does take the feathers longer to break down but eventually, everything will be turned into rich dirt.

Butcher chickens can seem a bit intimidating your first time, but it’s really not. With YouTube and books like Joel Salatin “pasture porter profits”, anyone can do it. Make a day out if! Invite some friends over. Instead of paying them, give them a chicken. It’s a fun way to make memories and introduce people to farming. Who knows maybe inviting that one person over gives them the confidence to raise their own chickens.