Backyard Chickens (and Other Birds)
[Were you a mod of backyard chickens on Reddit? Message me if you're interested in modding here.]
This is a community for people who keep chickens in their back yard. This includes pets, layers, and meaties at levels that are sub-industrial. Family farms and homesteads are included.
EDIT
The Fediverse is small. There probably aren't enough people here to make up a community for every type of bird that someone might keep so for now, everyone is welcome. Bring us your ducks and geese, turkeys and quail, Guineas and Peacocks, emus and parrots. The community will be focused on chickens but until there are enough of each bird community for their own community they will find care and comfort here.
/EDIT
There may be discussions of animal processing. This is part of chicken keeping. If you don't like it leave and block the community.
You may also be interested in:
RULES:
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All Lemmy.ca rules apply here.
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Everyone (see rules 4 and 98) is welcome.
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If you've seen a question 100 times answer it the 101st time or ignore it. Even better, write a complete, detailed answer and suggest that the mod(s) pin it to the community.
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There will be ZERO tolerance for shaming, brigading, harassment, or other nonsense of those who keep and process chickens. You will be permanently banned the first time.
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No, it's not a calcium deficiency. Wrinkled eggs are the result of insufficient or insufficiently viscous albumen. Tiny eggs and missing shells are misfires. They happen.
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If you post a picture that includes a dead animal or blood mark it NSFW. We're not going to tolerate the militant anti-hunting and anti-farming bullshit here but we're also not going to tolerate people rubbing their hunting and harvesting in people's faces. See rule 98. If you post blood, gore, or dead animals and don't mark it NSFW it will be removed and you might be banned.
[Did you actually think there were 98 rules?]
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If you present something as fact and are asked to provide proof or a source provide proof or a source. Proof must be from a reliable source. If you fail to provide proof or a source your post or comment may be removed.
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Don't be a dick. Yes, this is a catch-all rule.
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The mod(s) have the final say.
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That is the exact process that we use.
I use an 8" filet knife which I got as part of a field dressing kit which I touch it up with a 1000/4000 Japanese wet stone every 9 birds. 9 is as many birds as we can process through from live to fridge efficiently.
I place the birds in the cones with their bellies facing me, place my left index finger on the back of their head and my thumb on their beak, and make a single push stroke starting just anterior to their cheek bone while pulling slightly on the head.
Professional small abattoirs including the three we regularly use use metal poultry hangers.
The knife and hanger form an electrical circuit for an electric stunner which prevents the birds from flapping. I've read many people say with great authority that preventing the birds from flapping protects the meat. That is bullshit. I have eaten hundreds of birds killed both ways and no one could possibly perceive any difference. I believe that stunning the birds is more about expedience and efficiency in the abattoir since the birds can be taken down immediately and placed in the scalder.
Save for the electric stunning they remove the heads exactly the same way I do. The old gentleman who owned the first abattoir we used to the time to show me how to do it properly. They no longer process poultry.
I take the feet off with the same knife after scalding, plucking, and initial cooling. I find that the feet make the bird easier to handle and scalding the feet makes them easy to peel for people who want to eat them. Removing the feet with the knife is much faster than the process in the video.
I remove the feet, do the neck and crop, then the gutting all on the cleaning table.
So our flow is, cone, killed, then set on a table, scalded, plucked, then into a garbage can filled with ice and water. They rest there until I'm ready to start cleaning. They come out of the water into the cleaning table, feet, neck and crop, gut and clean up, then into a second garbage can filled with ice and water where they rest and cool until my wife bags them and puts them in the fridge.
The next day I do the cutting. We make some spatchcocks but mostly do boneless skinless breasts and thighs, wing parts, and legs. The bones, skin, and carcasses go into a roasting pan and get roasted then my wife adds water and puts them in the oven overnight to make bone broth.
Thanks for the feedback!
I'll have to give this technique a try. The guy in video writes that he takes the feet off because he thinks it's easier to handle in the plucker. I guess it's in the eye of the beholder.
I mentioned taking the feet off in the scalder to my wife just now. She said, "That's weird." I find them very slippery once they're plucked and we always handle them by the feet. Our plucker is quite a bit larger so that may contribute to the issue.
Decapitated is one of several acceptable killing methods in our province. It's very fast.