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| Hey all,
Got a shot at butchering and canning chicken earlier this week. We have 8300 hens on the farm and the barns need to be cleaned out every year. The 3600 bird barn is going out this week. Monday, we butchered 9 hens. First time I made an honest effort at eviscerating a bird. What a mess. Still, I learned. After killing and cleaning them, we took them up to the house and cooled them in ice water for several hours. We then cut them at all the joints and stuffed one hen into one quart jar, meat on bones. We couldn't get the back to fit, but got the breast, wings, thighs, and drumsticks into the jars. I will later make broth out of the backs. Two jars didn't seal, so I got a chance at eating chicken and dumplings. delicious! Pressure canning really helps tenderize the meat. Of course I want more canned chicken in the house. So last night I sequestered 38 hens and called up a couple neighbors to see if they want to help. As I said, I never eviscerated a hen, but I have killed many. I usually left the gutting to others. Those two really taught me a lot and i probably eviscerated 10-15 of my own They each left with 15 & 16 and I got 7. I was hoping for 14, so maybe I'll need to butcher once more... Man, canned hen is good! |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| 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
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- Posted by farmerboybill 4 SW WI (My Page) on Sat, Oct 13, 12 at 9:13
| 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. |
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| 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
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| 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. |
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- Posted by farmerboybill 4 SW WI (My Page) on Sun, Oct 14, 12 at 19:42
| 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... |
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- Posted by farmerboybill (My Page) on Mon, Oct 15, 12 at 7:46
| 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 - |
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- Posted by farmerboybill (My Page) on Mon, Oct 15, 12 at 7:56
| ...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. |
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| 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 |
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| 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! |
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- Posted by farmerboybill (My Page) on Mon, Oct 15, 12 at 19:46
| 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. |
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| 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. |
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