Chicken Processing

We processed our first batch of birds this season! 16 chickens, and one turkey. It was my first experience with killing any sort of animal bigger than a mosquito, so needless to say I was a bit squeamish during the first few birds. By the end of the day the whole process became rather interesting. I'll spare you the more gruesome pictures, so no need to be nervous while scrolling down. There will be some blood and chicken parts in regards to the "before & after" aspect, but nothing you haven't seen in the meat section of your grocer.

We set up the processing station at the back side of the barn. In the future we will have a legit setup with a concrete slab and a roof over everything to keep the rain and sun out, but for now (since it's our first at-home processing) we needed a place with electricity and water; a.k.a. the barn. Taking a bird from the field to the table is comprised of three steps:

1) The Kill

There are different schools of thought about how to dispatch a bird. Anything from a simple chop to the neck, to electrically shocking the birds to stun them. We practice the simplest and most humane way with the use of "kill-cones" to allow the bird to bleed out as quickly and painlessly as possible. With the use of this technique, the bird is asleep in six seconds. For our setup, we used traffic cones and widened the opening at the top to accommodate the size of the bird being processed. (i.e.-different cones for chickens vs. turkeys vs. geese, et cetera.) Here is our setup pictured to the left. It's important to catch the runoff so that Aslan doesn't acquire a taste for chickens, but mostly because it is very rich in nutrients and can be put into our gardens to help fertilize.

2) Feather Plucking


Plucking the feathers by hand is a difficult, time consuming, irritating process. Luckily with a bit of ingenuity, we were able to put together a "Whiz-Bang Chicken Plucker™." The plucker comes in a kit consisting of an electric motor, reduction gear, and all the rubber fingers necessary. The rest is up to the builder to decide the design best fit for the operation. It was rather fun building the machine with Whitt and I must say it turned out beautifully. I'll be posting an entry all about how we built the plucker for those who are interested, but for now you get to see it in action! Here is a picture of the plucker.

The actual plucking process is comprised of two steps. First, we dunk the bird into hot soapy water (146˚F). The soap helps the water penetrate the feathers and reach the skin ultimately loosening the feathers. After the dunk, it's into the plucker they go! The plucker can handle up to four birds, depending on their size. The sides of the machine are stationary while the base spins, causing the plucking action to occur. The feathers all come off and head down a shoot where they are collected for compost. Check out the videos below to see the whole process in real-time!

3) Evisceration

Now, here's where things get interesting. After plucking, the heads and feet are removed. This was my job. We saved the feet to make chicken stock, the heads we composted. From there the birds go into a cool water bath to bring the temperature down. Out of the cool water bath the necks are removed as well as the internals. Mia and Martha took care of this process. We saved the necks to be added to the chicken stock, and Mia and Martha delicately located and removed the chicken livers to make paté hors d'oevures. After the bird has been completely eviscorated, into an ice bath they go for 24 hours. The ice bath cools the birds and gets them ready for packaging and freezing.

Mia and Martha at work!

Mia removing the entrails.

Martha doing the final inspection before placing the
birds in the white cooler full of ice behind her.

And there you have it! For more pictures (including the more graphic pictures) of this or any other happenings on the farm, feel free to visit our blog photo album here!