Cornish Cross Spring 2019

[baymule]

I like your gutting technique! I've been cutting from the end of the breast bone to the rectum, cutting around the rectum, then reaching up in the body cavity and dragging the guts out. I'll try this when I slaughter old layers this fall. Do you leave the head on when you clamp the chicken in the vise? Do you preskin the neck then clamp down on it? I'll be skinning old layers and this looks interesting.

 

[Beekissed]

I like your gutting technique! I've been cutting from the end of the breast bone to the rectum, cutting around the rectum, then reaching up in the body cavity and dragging the guts out. I'll try this when I slaughter old layers this fall. Do you leave the head on when you clamp the chicken in the vise? Do you preskin the neck then clamp down on it? I'll be skinning old layers and this looks interesting.

No, the head is off and the skin is slit from the breast bone clear to the neck, with the wings removed. Then, neck in the vise, facing away from me. I use my hands and some of my wt. to then pull the skin down off the body...with old layers, this has been invaluable. I have arthritis in my hands and it's become nigh impossible to shuck those older birds without the use of this vise. This makes for hands free working of that skin off the bird, while not having to hold it for leverage to pull the skin downwards, as the vise holds it for me.

The old way of gutting, the reaching in and pulling out, is sometimes hard on smaller carcasses if you don't have tiny hands and it often puts pressure on the colon, expressing feces out as one pulls. Some people tie that off prior to pulling the guts but we've never taken the time to do that, so this method of not having to pull on those guts is real handy. Makes for a cleaner removal of the innards, IMO.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

Bee, can you show a few close up views of your vise system and it's mount to the tree?

 

[Beekissed]

Bee, can you show a few close up views of your vise system and it's mount to the tree?

Had to go out and take a few....I'll throw in a few pics of my one woman processing station I made a few years ago out of an old sink, a vintage metal youth bedstead and some free Lowe's "stickers" and other scrap lumber obtained for free. Made it this way so I could move this table when needed, with the bed stead acting as a skid....in the early spring I move it to full sun and use this as my grow table....place metal tunnel hoops on top, cover with row fabric and put my seedlings out there.

My gut bucket...collects all the offal and shoots the water out and away from my work area.

Got the drill press vise from Harbor Freight and had Eli, my middlin', retrofit it to hold a chicken neck better...the addition of small pieces of wood in the grip plates helps hold the neck better, but more gently, if that makes sense...doesn't damage the meat when I have to crunch it down tightly, nor does it let it slip out when I have to pull a stubborn hide with some force. Rubber pads would work just as well but I didn't have such a thing on hand...but scraps of wood, I have a plenty.

It's a good idea to pop it out from whatever you've got it mounted to, as the bird's breast will come in contact with the mounting surface. I found that out when using the first attempt, but had Eli bump it out from the tree a bit until nothing touches the carcass but at the neck.

Another cool thing with this setup...when you get the hide shucked down and cut off the tail, you can then work around that rectum with the knife, very easily cutting the fascia anchoring the intestines in that area without fear of puncturing the bowel as gravity and positioning of the carcass(lifted up at an angle with the left hand while the right hand does the knife work) pulls the bowels away from that area.

And a few more pics of that gutting method~not my own method, BTW, but one I observed on a vid on YT...can't remember the vid right now and didn't save it but will be using it from now on~done on an old layer bird....

 

[baymule]

Bee, on your hose nozzle, there should be a "jet" stream. I put that up against the rectum and gently fill the rectum with water, then push down to empty the water. Any poop in that stretch of intestines will flush out, then I don't contaminate the meat should an OOPS occur. But on bigger animals, I do cut around the rectum and tie it off with a piece of string from a feed bag.

I really like your cleaning system. I love your skid table. You have an ingenious way of adapting things no one would ever think of, to suit your needs. Do you ever scald and pluck?

Thank you for posting the pictures and the method that you use. I think I have a pretty good system, but then along comes Bee, and I like a lot of yours even better.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

Do you then sterilize your hose end? Personally, I think that if an oops were to occur, there would be less likelihood of meat contamination with dry poop than with wet poop. Also, I wonder if the high water pressure may make the bowel more likely to perforate.

 

[baymule]

Do you then sterilize your hose end? Personally, I think that if an oops were to occur, there would be less likelihood of meat contamination with dry poop than with wet poop. Also, I wonder if the high water pressure may make the bowel more likely to perforate.

There is nothing dry about CCX poop. They don't poop, they squirt. I don't put the nozzle up their rectum, I hold the nozzle close, but not up against the rectum. I don't pull the trigger full force either, I pull it just enough to fill their bottom with water, then push down to make the water come out. It makes gutting them a cleaner job, cause there isn't any poop waiting to squeeze out. Not saying that it doesn't happen, but I sure lessen the chances. I haven't blown a gut yet. I wash the whole bird before I pack it in the ice chest. I wash them both outside and inside the house. As I cut it up, I wash it more, under running water. I wash it just to be washing it, I KNOW my meat is clean. I scrub everything before, during and after processing with Clorox. Does that help you with the processing process?

Commercial processing runs the line of chickens in a dip vat. So if there is fecal matter on one, it gets washed off...….they sure don't drain the vat and sterilize it. So there is fecal matter in the "clean" dip vat that all the chickens pass through, getting "washed".

When I slaughter any animal, that is meat that we are going to eat and I make sure it is as clean as I can get it. We have slaughtered hogs, deer, and chickens. Can't make myself slaughter a lamb, but I guess I could if I had to.

ETA: I read my above post where I said I held the nozzle against the rectum.....I guess that makes me pretty darn stupid. I don't actually press the nozzle against the rectum, I hold it close and give the chicken an enema. LOL LOL

 

[Beekissed]

Do you ever scald and pluck?

Back in the day we used to and with my first group of meaties I did, but then I found I use chicken more often when it's either canned or parted out and frozen, so no need for the skin at all.

We have an old copper kettle that was my grandma's that we use for scalding chickens when we do scald but nowadays I can up all my chicken.

Like LG, I can deal with oops poops better when they are dry, as they are easily rinsed from the work surface in that way without much splatter onto other things. I use the shower setting on the nozzle and gently rinse any oops from the area and then flush the surface with bleach....that's what's in the little ketchup bottle on the back of the sink. Then another gentle rinse with water and I'm ready to go again.

The meaties are the only ones with wetter poops but mostly I'm dealing with old hens, with regular chicken poops.

 

[Beekissed]

I wash them both outside and inside the house. As I cut it up, I wash it more, under running water. I wash it just to be washing it, I KNOW my meat is clean.

Bay, you sound like me!!! I rinse them off as I skin and gut, fine detail them under running water inside the house, after they've chilled and while I debone, I do another detail and inspection for any stray feathers, scurf, etc. that may still exist. All surfaces bleached before and after.

That's why home processing takes a lot of time and work, as this all goes directly to our table, our family.

My grandma used to wash her chicken's skin with Cheer laundry detergent! After plucking, she'd take it into the sink and grab a handful of Cheer and scrub that bird all over under running water.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

I've heard of putting bleach in the rinse water. I don't do that, but wash those birds well. I use a bit of dish detergent in the scald water to help soak through the oils in the feathers. I also do the initial prep, then bring them to the kitchen sink, which of course has been bleached... lots of running water and a bowl to keep them from contacting the sink for final cleaning before going to fridge for rest period before packaging for freezer.