2016 Meat Bird Butchering Saturday (Part 1)

We raised 26 Cornish Cross Meat Birds this year as well as 23 Red Rangers Meat Birds.  We aim for the birds to reach a weight of 6 pounds live weight as that yields a 3.5 pound carcass.  In our opinion that is the perfect size.  Our Cornish Cross Meat Birds matured at different rates this year, with 13 of them reaching the desired weight in 8 weeks and the remaining 13 hitting six pounds at 9 weeks.  The Red Rangers will continue growing for another 3-4 weeks until they hit the 6 pound mark.

Over the course of the past two Saturdays, we processed the Cornish Cross birds and put them in the freezer.  In this post, we’ll explain and show how we did it.  On the Friday night prior to processing, we didn’t feed the birds scheduled for the knife the next morning.  This makes butchering cleaner since most of the food will have worked its way through their digestive systems.  We moved the birds to be butchered out of the chicken tractor and into the cattle trailer with water for them to drink.  Then we set up all the stations for Butchering and we got things underway Saturday Morning once normal chores were complete.  I also used a whet stone and sharpening steel to get the knives razor sharp.  That is a very important step.  You must have sharp knives.  

Station 1: The Killing Cones Station

We have some traffic cones with the tops cut out that are mounted to some 2 x 4s facing downward with buckets under each one to catch the blood. 

Killing Cones

Then we place the birds in the cones, pulling the neck downward and applying a quick slice to the artery on the neck.  The chicken’s heart pumps all of the blood out of the body and the chicken quickly and humanely dies.  It is not pretty, but it is pretty darn difficult to eat a live chicken.

Bird bleeding out

Station 2: The Scalding Station

I have my propane-powered crawfish boiling pot set up and I fill up the pot about ¾ of the way full and turn on the fire.  I add a drop or three of Dawn dish washing liquid to the water as that aids the feather removal process.  I have a thermometer in the water and closely monitor the temperature.  I am aiming for exactly 145 degrees.  That is the perfect temperature to scald the bird and not cook him.  The person at this station must keep a very close eye on the temp.

145 degrees F

Once the ideal temp is reached, the birds are carried from the killing cones, grabbed by the feet and dunked repeatedly for about 2 minutes.

Into the scalding water...

The bird is submerged all the way to the feet and then pulled all the way out and then repeated.

And back out of the scalding water (rinse, wash, repeat)...

Station 3: The Plucking Station

You can tell that the bird is ready for plucking when the long feathers easily pull off of the wings.  Then the plucking begins.  Due to the small amount of the birds processed, we didn’t use the Whiz Bang Chicken Plucker to remove the feathers.  We did it the old fashioned way – by hand!  We simply pull all the feathers off, saving the feathers in big tubs.  We generally make pillows once we’re done.  (Just joking of course, I compost all the blood, guts, and feathers!)

How Chicken Plucking was done before the Industrial Revolution

Station 4: The Head & Feet Removal Station

Once plucked clean, the birds are moved to a bench near the evisceration station where their heads will be pulled off for composting and their feet will be cut off for eating.  The heads are pulled off rather than cut off so as not to have a sharp bone on the neck that could puncture the freezer bag, causing freezer burn. 

All lined up

Station 5: The Evisceration Station

With no head and feet the birds are ready to be gutted.  A small slit is made at the neck area and the crop and windpipe is loosened.  Then another slit is made right above the vent (chicken butt) and enlarged so that you can put your hand into the carcass, reaching way up until you can feel the heart.  Grabbing the heart and pulling downward, the crop, windpipe, heart, liver, gizzard and intestines will all come out attached in one handful.

Blood & Guts

At that point you simply cut around the vent to remove the entire digestive tract with intact organs, putting the gizzard, heart and livers in separate iced containers.  You can reach back into the carcass along the backbone between the ribcage and pull out the chicken’s lungs.

Lungs

You can reach back into the cavity and (if the bird was a boy) remove the parts, well, that made him a boy.

The Family Jewels

At this painful juncture we’ll pause and pick up Part II of this macabre journal in a day or two where we'll continue the activities on Butchering Saturday until the birds go into the freezer.