Butchering a Chicken

We started out by cutting a hole in the bottom of a deep rectangle bucket we had and lowered the chicken's head through it. We put the lid on to keep the feet in. Tom took a piece of heavy string and tied a stick on one end and a loop on the other. We slid it over the chicken head and made the string taut by pulling on it. Laying the bucket on it's side on the back of our wagon, he took off the head at which time I could let loose the string immediately and let it drop in a bucket we had directly below and I never had to look. Letting the chicken bleed out by turning it upside down in the ground bucket for a minute or two, then moving it to the hanging rack. Tom made one by nailing wood to the pines, nails there to hang the birds upside down, and a bent piece of soffit hung at an angle to drain any remaining blood. This didn't take long. We were doing three at a time. Most were roosters. I didn't realize we had that many! The next step was to go to the set up for the plucking and cleaning. You can see how we have the tables set up. The white table on the left was where we would pluck, swiping all feathers off the table into the bucket below (it is covered when not in use because there were bees!) The table to the front was used for cleaning the insides, again, a sweeping of the hand to the left into the bucket kept it clean.Bringing the bird over, you dip them into ice water until they are thoroughly wet, then right into 145 degree water. This is what that great find from the Steam Engine flea market earlier this year is being used for.No more than 30 seconds in the hot water, or you ruin the skin. It will actually rip as you are trying to defeather.

Then off to the table to pluck and clean. We found it easier to do the wing and under the wing first before the skin started to cool. Before you clean the insides, be sure to get all the little hairs left behind that can't be plucked. We found using a small hand torch quickly over the bird removes that unwanted hair. And I do mean quickly, 2 or 3 seconds! Cut the feet off go from there. Tom found it easier to swipe the inside with his hand then use the knife for freeing the neck, rather than take a knife and pick and poke and possibly damage the meat with a small knife. Then we took the water hose and sprayed the inside to clear out all the small, missed stuff.

We had a cooler with cold water and ice waiting to put the birds in. We would put 6 into the cooler and then bring them up to the house to finish cleaning. We weighed most of the birds in at about 8 - 9 lbs. give or take a few depending on how accurate the scale really was. All I know is that they barely fit in a 2 1/2 gallon Ziploc bag for the freezer. Be sure to tie legs and wings in if you plan on putting them in a crock pot later because otheriwse the legs spread and stay that way!