The Boucherie (Butchering) - Chicken Edition 2020

In Yesterday's Post we went over the fact that a sharp knife is critical and crucial for butchering.  In French, butchering is called the "boucherie" (BOO - SHREE) and on a beautiful Saturday morning, it was the thing on our agenda to get done.  We'll show you the process we've perfected over the years.  We're always looking for more efficient ways and improve every year.

WARNING: IF YOU DON'T LIKE TO SEE BLOOD AND ANIMALS DYING, DON'T PROCEED FURTHER INTO THIS POST.

Saturday morning it was 27 degrees.  Chilly, for sure.  The evening before I had set up all of our "stations" in the butchering process.  Tricia, Russ and Benjamin and me were the Slaughterhouse four, and we started the process after morning chores at approximately 9AM. In the photo below (from right to left) you can see:

1. The Killing Cones Station,
2. The Scalding Station,
3. The Plucking Station,
4. Decapitation (Defooting) Station,
5. Evisceration Station,
6. The Chilling Station.

We'll go through each one in detail further below:

The chickens in the chicken tractor have been rolled right up to the butchering spot.  The chicken tractor has kept them safe from predators and weather over the last 8 weeks.  Each day it is rolled one length forward so they are on fresh grass.  Now, they've rolled to their final stop.

1. The Killing Cones:  We have some roadside cones that we've re-purposed into killing cones.  The bird is placed head-first into the cone.  The neck is pulled through the hole in the bottom, and the jugular vein in the neck is cut.  The chicken's heart will pump all of the blood out of the chicken.  We capture all the blood in buckets in order to compost in the garden.  The rubber cones squeeze the birds and hold them firmly during this process.  In a few minutes, the birds have bled out and are pronounced dead.  The boys normally do the killing.

We have four cones mounted between two 2x4's and this enables us to kill four at a time.

2. The Scalding Station:    We have a butane burner with a crawfish boiling pot on top that is full of water.  We have a thermometer attached that we constantly monitor.  It must be at 145 degrees.  Any cooler and the feathers won't come off.  Any warmer and you'll cook the bird.  I have a bit of dishwashing liquid added to the water, and I dunk the birds 20 dunks, completely submerging the bird up to the feet.  When I pull it out the twentieth time, I pull out a wing feather.  If is comes out easily, it's ready for plucking.  If not, I dunk a few more times.  The boys normally do all the scalding.

3.    The Plucking Station:    Some friends and I built this plucker years ago.  It really makes this job easier.  You simply turn it on.  There is a plate at the bottom that rotates.  Numerous rubber fingers pull the feathers off the bird as I spray it with water.  I count to 25 and then cut off the plucker.  If you don't leave it in long enough, there will be feathers remaining.  If you leave it in for too long, you will break the legs and/or wings.  I usually do the plucking.

4. Decapitation / De-footing Station: I pull the head off rather than cutting it.  Cutting the head off exposes sharp bones which puncture the ziploc bag you store them in.  Most times I handle the decapitation and de-footing.

Then I cut the feet off.  Heads and feet go in a bucket for garden compost.

Then I begin lining up the birds at the evisceration station.  I'll make a cut in the abdomen from which the guts will be pulled and I'll make a cut in the neck and loosen the crop.  I'll also cut two glands off of the tail.  They are certainly some nice looking birds!

5.    Evisceration Station:    Tricia is the expert eviscerator.  With surgical precision, she guts the bird.  From the lower left you can see the crop, the heart, the liver, the gallbladder, the gizzard and intestines all pulled out.

The gallbladder is carefully cut off of the liver so as not to burst the gallbladder.  We save the livers, hearts, and gizzards for eating.

6.    The Chilling Station:   The birds are then submerged into a tub of clean water.  Normally, we have ice in it, but it was right at freezing.  The water tubs chill the birds as they are hot.  The birds go through rigor mortis.  Submerging them also keeps flies at bay.  We allow them to chill for about four hours.

Here are the hard workers at Our Maker's Acres Family Farm.  From left to right, Benjamin, Russ, and Patricia.  They are all carrying knives.  This crew gets it done.  Teamwork personified.  We got it all done.

Fifty Cornish Cross Meat Birds butchered.  We started at 9 and finished at noon.  We are tired!  Tomorrow, join us again.  We'll show you some more including gizzard, heart and liver processing, as well as the cut up and freezing process.  We'll even share our total pounds, average weight per bird, and cost data (total and per bird).