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Author Topic: despatch and dress a bird  (Read 9621 times)

sellickbhoy

  • Joined Jan 2009
  • Muiravonside, near Linlithgow
despatch and dress a bird
« on: April 27, 2009, 04:00:36 pm »
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

carl

  • Joined Oct 2007
Re: despatch and dress a bird
« Reply #1 on: April 27, 2009, 04:09:11 pm »
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.

sellickbhoy

  • Joined Jan 2009
  • Muiravonside, near Linlithgow
Re: despatch and dress a bird
« Reply #2 on: April 27, 2009, 04:14:32 pm »
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!)

 :)

shetlandpaul

  • Joined Oct 2008
Re: despatch and dress a bird
« Reply #3 on: April 27, 2009, 05:53:55 pm »
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.

gillandtom

  • Joined Feb 2009
  • Stirling
Re: despatch and dress a bird
« Reply #4 on: April 27, 2009, 06:03:57 pm »
How about getting a demo organised at the next Central Scotland Smallholders Ass.  meeting?

harry

  • Joined Mar 2009
Re: despatch and dress a bird
« Reply #5 on: April 27, 2009, 07:56:22 pm »
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

shetlandpaul

  • Joined Oct 2008
Re: despatch and dress a bird
« Reply #6 on: April 27, 2009, 08:13:54 pm »
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

sellickbhoy

  • Joined Jan 2009
  • Muiravonside, near Linlithgow
Re: despatch and dress a bird
« Reply #7 on: April 27, 2009, 08:35:23 pm »
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




Rosemary

  • Joined Oct 2007
  • Barry, Angus, Scotland
    • The Accidental Smallholder
Re: despatch and dress a bird
« Reply #8 on: April 27, 2009, 09:23:54 pm »
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.

shetlandpaul

  • Joined Oct 2008
Re: despatch and dress a bird
« Reply #9 on: April 27, 2009, 10:30:35 pm »
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.

Andrew

  • Joined Dec 2007
Re: despatch and dress a bird
« Reply #10 on: April 27, 2009, 10:49:07 pm »
Quite happy to show anyone how to clean and pluck. Just drop me a line and we can organise

shetlandpaul

  • Joined Oct 2008
Re: despatch and dress a bird
« Reply #11 on: April 28, 2009, 07:53:04 am »
just make sure you dont feed them before dispatch get the croop out intact when its full is hard.

pigsatlesrues

  • Joined Oct 2008
  • Normandy, France
Re: despatch and dress a bird
« Reply #12 on: April 28, 2009, 08:28:07 am »
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:
Bonjour et avoir un bon jour !

sellickbhoy

  • Joined Jan 2009
  • Muiravonside, near Linlithgow
Re: despatch and dress a bird
« Reply #13 on: April 28, 2009, 09:07:33 am »
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



pigsatlesrues

  • Joined Oct 2008
  • Normandy, France
Re: despatch and dress a bird
« Reply #14 on: April 28, 2009, 10:34:39 am »
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:
Bonjour et avoir un bon jour !

 

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