The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Poultry & Waterfowl => Topic started by: sellickbhoy on April 27, 2009, 04:00:36 pm
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Rosemary
as well as your course on kepeing the chickens alive, well and happy
is there also a despatch course??
I've done 2 using a broomhandle before, and that was straightforward enough, but i def think i need more practive in the plucking/gutting aspects of the bird.
cheers
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just done that sort of thing. alison wilson at hook farm hook hamps, came up to sheffield and showed 30 people how to do it nicely.
i have done this before but they have improved my technique and confidence.
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it was your thread that prompted me to ask!! but looking for something up in scotland
i'm off on one of Rosemarys chicken courses on the 10th of May - but i don't believe there will be any carnage involved in it, it's all nurture and care and other pleasantries by the looks of it. All good stuff, but there comes a day..........!!! (we should have a grim reaper emoticon!)
:)
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get yourself a dispatcher. we used it on our turkeys. very clean and quick death. Ive had to dispatch very sick birds with an axe it does the job but its not pretty.
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How about getting a demo organised at the next Central Scotland Smallholders Ass. meeting?
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I HAVE A WALL mounted dispatcher for geese etc but i now use a cheap air pistol available at boot sales for all my birds from quail to geese.... just put the barrel under their chin holding the birds legs with the head touching the ground and point it so the pellet goes though the brain area and into the ground... it works first time every time then drop the dead bird in a nicked road cone fixed to a fence as the hole the pellet makes causes the bird to bleed fully... get a air pistol that you have to break the barrel not a cartridge one as cartridge ones often leak air as you are only likely to use it once in a while... Harry
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harry I'm not sure thats allowed. thou its similar to humane stunning. i have concerns about the power of a cheap air pistol being strong enough
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i have absolutely no problem with the broomstick method for despatch, it was more the plucking, removing the neck, feet and guts/innards that i need instruction/practice on.
i've seen one of those wall mounted things that you close down on the neck, think it severs the spinal cord - but not convinced you could adequately hold the bird and operate the device.
i also googled the electric stun things, at £700, i think my broomhandle will more than suffice
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sellickbhoy, email Andrew. He has 8 Hubbards to despatch and used to be a butcher so is very good at the cleaning / plucking etc. I'm sure he'll show you in return for a hand. We're not good enough to show other folk but Andrew showed us and we're better than we were.
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you place said bird in the lost traffic cone ;) with the thin end cut off the birds head and kneck stick out this stops them flapping as well rigg it up as like the one in ascots catalouge and its quick and neat. There was little mess as the blood drains into the void created by the dispatcher.
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Quite happy to show anyone how to clean and pluck. Just drop me a line and we can organise
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just make sure you dont feed them before dispatch get the croop out intact when its full is hard.
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Our French neighbour/friend gave me my first lesson in prepping a bird. The key to an easy pluck is submerging into hot water. For a chicken it does not need to be boiling - submerge the whole bird for say 15 seconds. Start to pull the feathers - if they come out with ease the carry on, if there is still resistance submerge for a few seconds longer.
Waterbirds require a boil, so be careful, but same principle. (String the feet together and hole onto the string and use a stick or wooden spoon to submerge). Once plucked they need to be flamed all over just to singe off the fine hairs. We have used a blow torch before but a candle will also do the job. It doesn't burn or spoil the skin in any way as long as you are quick.
It makes plucking so easy and speeds up the whole process and is kinder to your fingers.
We have a marmite for the job - pronounced marmeet. A big deep saucepan, but for doing this on a large scale the French have a marmite that looks like a dustbin and it sits over an out door fire.
Kate :chook:
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hi Kate
i've heard of the hot water treatment to make plucking easier - but does that not mean you need to eat the meat (or at least cook it or freeze it) almost right away?
i thought this reduced the length of time the meat would keep in the fridge for rather than cold/dry plucking
chris
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I have never heard of it Chris. Having said that though, we do either eat the bird within 24 hours from the fridge, because I have put in on the menu, or it goes straight into the freezer for later on. The most I have despatched is eight at one time, and time wise I could not have managed to get through the process without this technique. All went straight into the freezer once they had drained from their final rinse.
At Christmas people collect their turkeys from my French friend on the 23rd December - she despatches them on the 22nd, and she has organised that for years, and they are cooked on the evening of Christmas Eve, which is when the French celebrate Christmas, and no one to date has ever had a problem. I despatched geese a couple of years ago using the hot soak method on the 23rd December and they went on the 23rd and 24th December for cooking on the 25th. Refridgerated they are fine for a couple of days.
Kate :chook:
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I'm so ignorant, but what on earth do you do with the broom handle? Actually I don't trhink I want to know :o
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well, that all sounds fine then Kate, I might jsut get the pan of hot water out if i'm going more than one!
i guess if i was doing more than one at a time i'd be freezing some of it anyway, so no real worry
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I'm so ignorant, but what on earth do you do with the broom handle? Actually I don't trhink I want to know :o
To dispatch with a broom stick, hold the bird by the feet with it chest on the ground, put the broom across the back of it's neck, step on it with a foot each side and pull and turn, dislocates the neck and is a very quick and easy way to do it.
Its my preferred method, after the article on how dispatchers are no good in PP mag.
hth
Mark.
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just behind it's earlobes, then a gentle pull just so it severs the cord and it's jugular, no need to twist or pull too hard. ( gets a bit grusome if you overdo it).
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this is true having a shower of chickens blood while warm is not very refreshing. my daughter was not a fan either.
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My problem was that I wanted to make sure the poor birds were dead and put in a bit too much effort. very tarantino.
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I think I'll stick to keeping them for eggs - this is definitely not for me. So glad that Rose and Paul are around the bend with their free rangers... :&>
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alas even you friendliest egg chuck has to go one day. Its best to learn to kill quick even if your wife screams at you for dripping blood in the house. Whilst dispatching i would recommend overalls. I always prefer to lose the head than be unsure.
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I'll think about that when it's the time, SP. For now I'm a softie and my OH says he's killed too many animals in his youth and won't do any more (so I won't be screaming at him, lol). :&>
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I think I prefer Dan's method of shooting them with his air rifle ;)
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i read somewhere in a poultry mag that useing a air pistol is ok...and even gave instructions ie under the chin and aim though to the front top of the head. ive used it on large fowl and as its point blank theres plenty of power there...... its more humane that a clumsy break neck job that i must admit i have done, but never messed up with the air pistol one shot does it every time in a split second...the wall mounted thing i have is fine but if its a big bird it takes 2 hands to crush the neck so someone else has to hold the bird.... harry
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over here in Canada every one uses the hot water dunk before plucking, we had never heard of it before, but now we wonder how we ever managed to dry pluck a bird, what you have to do is chill the bird once its plucked and gutted we use a large plastic barrell with cold water and lots of ice,we start making large ice blocks weeks before the event and store them in the freezer.
also the prefered method of dispatch here is a large plastic bucket or container about 20 litres with a hole cut in the bottom screwed to a tree or post drop the bird in head first pull the head and neck through and cut off the head, leave to bleed out, then dunk in hot water and pluck and clean.