Be Ye Separate

Busy Barnyards

Blessings!

   This past couple weeks has been so very busy that I'm often surprised that I have time for anything else:P In fact, I woke up this morning with my arms aching something awful. As usual, I never think about the day before (or even several days before) to figure out why. Well, today I know why without even thinking about it...24 chickens! :P

   I have other news on our baby count in the barn but this post isn't about that. This post is about being a chicken plucker:)

   Our dear friends CaraDD and her family were having a mass butchering day yesterday. We had planned on helping beforehand but it didn't look like they would need us. Then things changed a little and her sweet husband phoned and said they could use some extra hands and we excitedly agreed:)

   This wasnt my first time of butchering but it was the first time I'd be involved in HOW the butchering was done. Actually I didn't end up doing ANY of the butchering but I did get to see how it was done and I'm thinking it's a cleaner way of doing it that we've always done it and we'll be doing it with out own (which will be another post entirely:P)

   The whole thing went in an assembly line sort of way. Mrs. D would calm the chicken. As soon as chicken was calm and still she would turn it head down into what they call a killing cone. This cone was made by a friend of theirs to Mr. D's specs. Anyway, then Mr. D would cut the artery on both sides of the neck. Very little thrashing, which means less mess, no broken bones, no bruised meat and very little trauma. It went so smoothly.

   As soon as chicken bleeds out, Mrs. D would then take it out of the cone and hang it on the fence to finish up (hardly any blood at this point) and returns to the pen to grab another chicken to calm. She was our chicken whisperer:)

   Once the chickens had hung long enough (about 10 minutes or so), Mrs. D would measure the temperature of the scalding water and when it was at around 140*F she would dip the chicken in it making sure to douse it completely for approximately 45 seconds. Once the chicken was good and wet she would then lay it on the plucking table where me, Miss Sarah, and another couple (friends of theirs) were waiting. Mrs. D switched around on her jobs as we didn't want to get too backed up on chickens so she would become a plucker too:)

   Once the chickens are scalded the feathers come out really easily. The pin feathers, on the other hand, can be a problem. We noticed that some of them had yellow skin and some had white. Some had more pin feathers than others. And SOME had areas that had no feathers at all...EVER! No follicles for the feathers to grow from. I had never seen that but it made it a little quicker when we came across those:)

   Once the chicken was plucked as clean as it could be, Mrs. D would rinse them real well and place them in a tub of ice water to keep them fresh until the gutter could do his work.

   The gutter happened to be their landlord (these were HIS chickens, we'll be going back to do theirs and ours in the next couple weeks). Anyway, he would gut and clean the chicken and package it with a foodsaver type machine. Industrial rather than the little kitchen table type I have:) And then throw that into the freezer or icebox and on to the next.

   It was quite the production and efficient. It went smoothly and everyone had a hand in it. The smaller children would catch up the chickens and hand them to mom, mom calmed and loaded, dad cut and waited, mom hung and dipped, hands plucked and mom rinsed, landlord cleaned and packaged and so it went. Many hands made light work:)

   Now today...my arms feel like I was weightlifting:P At least I can still itch my nose8^D Miss Mary-Ann hurt her arm and was in a splint so she was the offical photographer which I"ll post after we get them off the camera and onto the computer:)

   Today? We are waiting for two more does to kid and our barn will be filled and our season over:)

   Praying each of you has a safe and blessed Sabbath!

God be with thee!

Sister Lori

Untitled Comment

{ 11:25, Sunday, July 6, 2008 } { Posted by Kitty }

I can remember as a child my dad making us help him kill our chickens. Back then you grabbed them and would wring their necks. Around and around and around. Then they would hop all around the yard untill they would die. As a child, it was funny, as an adult, not so much.
I raise chickens here but only for the eggs. I can't ever bring myself to kill and eat them. Every three years or so I give or sell my hens to an older gentleman and start over with chicks. I really should get over that and put my hens in my own freezer.
Cant wait to see the pictures............Kitty