Eight weeks from cradle to grave. That's it. That's how long it takes to raise a Cornish Cross Meat Bird for slaughter. Saturday was butchering day. Our sons came in to help with the annual process. We were trying to figure out how many years we've done this and can't put our finger on it. Our best guess is 15 years. Each year we purchase day old chicks and raise them for slaughter and eat on these birds all year long. In the past we've raised as many as 100 at a time. This year, it's only Tricia and me at home so we raised 32.
Each day we made sure that they had access to feed and fresh water. We also gave them an all you can eat grass and bug buffet by pushing the chicken tractor to fresh grass two times a day. The night before the butchering, I pushed the tractor near the butchering stations I set up. I stopped feeding them at noon the day before butchering so that their digestive system would be emptied. This makes gutting them a cleaner process. I got the whetstone out and steel and sharpened all the knives. A sharp knife certainly makes the butchering process easier.
| The Final Countdown |
The first station is the "killing cones." We use traffic cones that were abandoned on the side of the road and then screwed to two 2 x 4's. The live birds are turned upside down in the cones with the head poking out. The rubber cones hold them tight. Buckets are placed beneath each cone to collect the blood.
| Killing Cones |
Benjamin runs the Killing Cone station. After he's positioned the birds in place, he uses a sharp knife to slice the bird's artery on the side of its head.
| One slice |
The bird's heart will pump all the blood out of the bird and it will die. We aim for the least stressful death possible. This only takes a couple of minutes and the bird is pronounced dead.
| A bloody job |
Russ runs the scalding station. We use our crawfish boiling pot that's been filled with water. A propane burner heats the water. A thermometer in the pot is monitored so that it stays between 145 and 150 Fahrenheit. The temperature has to be just right. If it is too cool, the feathers won't come off. If it is too hot, it will cook the bird. We add some dishwashing liquid to the water. It is a surfactant and enables the feathers to come off a little easier. We usually dunk the bird in and out of the water for about two minutes. We make sure we dunk all the way down so that you get the joint of the let wet. The test for making sure the bird is ready for plucking is to try to pull a tail feather out and try to pull a big wing feather out. When each pulls off easily, you're ready for plucking.
| Russ' Plucking Station |
Teamwork makes the dream work. Sometimes, when Benjamin is waiting for his four birds to die, he assists Russ in scalding.
Next up is the plucking. Years ago we built this plucker. It has rubber fingers mounted on the sides and on a disk on the bottom. A washing machine motor powers this contraption. You turn it on and the bottom spins. Toss the bird in and spray it with water and while it spins, the rubber fingers take all the feathers off. It's quite a time saver.
| The plucker |
The de-feathered bird is given to me. I pull the head of the chicken off and cut the feet off. Then I remove the gland on the top of the bird's tail, cut the neck and pull the crop and the windpipe out and make a cut across the bird's belly near the vent.
| No head, no feet |
Tricia runs the evisceration station. She's quite the surgeon. She reaches in the bird's cavity and pulls out the intestines, liver, gizzard, heart, crop and windpipe. It all pulls out connected. She cuts a U-shaped cut around the vent and the bird is gutted. The liver, gizzard and heart are cut out and placed in iced containers for further processing later. The gall bladder is carefully cut off the liver, being careful not to cut into the organ. All the guts are put in a bucket. She reaches in the bird and removes the lungs from along the back bone and, if a male, removes the testicles. The gutted carcass is washed out good with a hose.
| The surgeon in her OR |
The birds then are cooled down. They are thrown in tubs of cool water. Keeping them submerged protects them from flies. It also brings their body temperature down. Toward the end of the process, we dump out the water and refill with cool, fresh water.
| The chilling station |
This whole process goes faster than you think. We always say we're going to time it and always forget. Finally, we look in the tractor and there's just one left. The last of the Mohicans.
Tomorrow, I'll show you Part II of this process. It is a smooth operation that we've tried to perfect each year. There's something to be said about processing your own birds in the backyard. It's good to know what you are eating and what went into your birds. No medications. No hormones. No antibiotics. Join us tomorrow as we continue...
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