My dad used to do it, I just plucked. More efficient humane ways than we used:

Here is a link that might be useful: Joel Salatin Polyface chicken processing

Hey,

yeah, I became aware of Joel by reading "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Micheal Pollan and have read a few of Joel's books.

I use a home-made kill cone. I also have a 20 gallon electric scalder and a small drum plucker. A friend is making 2 Whiz Bang pluckers. I have two 3/4 hp motors and he's gonna trade me one plucker for one of the motors. I also have a two bay SS sink in the barn. Three people can move fairly quickly. We started at 1:30 pm and were cleaning up by 5:30. 4 hours for 3 people to do 38 birds isn't bad for small timers, I think.

Not sure what size your hens were, NCHFP says fill jars "loosely" for raw pack. I assume you've seen this?

I've gotta buy a PC - I freeze all our meat (storebought, we don't raise any) but after a week's power outage last Oct canned food looks better - and PCs are cheaper than generators. Though a generator would allow us to have running water, maybe heat, and keep the fridge running too...

Here is a link that might be useful: NCHFP Poultry Canning info

My grandfather's job and WW II kept my grandparents moving frequently. One time when they needed to move, my thrifty grandfather had my mother's pet chicken, Gertrude, canned. Seventy years later she is still bitter about it.

Here's the results of the work - 5 cans of chicken (2 failed to seal) 14 cans of broth. I sectioned the birds into breasts, thighs, wings, and legs. I then cut off all I could of the fat and skinned all the pieces but the wings (which I also took the tips off). Those pieces got canned. I then boiled the backs and skins with onions, celery, peppercorns, bay leaves, and salt to make the broth. After I strained the broth twice, I loaded up my second canner. The chicken was just getting done when I finally got the broth done. I traded canners and let the chicken canner cool while I loaded the third canner I just scored for $15 off CL.

With this long canning times for meat, I was pretty thankful I had the second and third canner. They really sped things up! I have a fourth one found for $10, too...

Here's the pieces before they went into the jar. They're kinda ragged because I'm still not too good at disassembling a bird. I imagine they'll look better as I get better at it -

...and my work area. I just bought a Work Sharp Knife and Tool Sharpener and WOW! I sharpened both the chef's knife and the cleaver in the pic and couldn't believe how great it was to work with a truly sharp knife. Of course, not being used to working with a truly sharp knife also meant that I cut through a thigh faster than I expected and knicked my finger! The cleaver comes in handy when splitting the chicken breast and tipping the wings.

Isn't that Work Sharp great! I debated on it for a long time given the price since I wanted it primarily for tools but it has more than paid for itself on the kitchen knives alone.

And I have hoes, shovels, pruners and hedge clippers that can slice butter. :)

Dave

I just ordered that knife sharpener from Amazon. Thanks for the tip.

Around here (Boston Metrowest) I pay $10 or $15 per knife to have them sharpened. That's $120 each time I bring the block in - which I do once a year. Now if this will only sharpen my daughters skates!

Holy schnikes! $10-15 per blade?!? That guy's making out like a bandit. It took me less than 5 minutes to run the blade through both bands - including changing the bands. If you do all the blades with the sharpening band, change to the honing band, and do them again, I doubt you'd have 2-3 minutes per blade. At 3 minutes a blade, that's $200-300 an hour! I'd do it for that...

As far as I can tell, it'll sharpen anything with a blade.

Wow, here I pay $1 per inch at Sur la Table, I bring my Santuko knives in once a year, I think that's expensive but I don't trust DH to sharpen those.

Can the Work Sharp handle Santuko - or chainsaw blades/chains? Heck, around here, it's cheaper to buy a new one than it is to get someone who knows what he's doing to sharpen it.