First Home Chicken Harvest

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First Home Chicken Harvest

Postby George Collins » Thu Dec 20, 2012 3:38 am

This year marks the 35th year that I have been hunting, bagging and cleaning game. Catching and cleaning fish has been part of my life for longer still. I have no idea why harvesting and cleaning (we call it dressing) a small farm animal such as a chicken intimidated me for so long. But it did.

However, I had a few free hours this afternoon and I decided to give it a go.

I watched a few yourube videos about harvesting chickens, took copious notes, gathered the materials, selected the bird and had fried chicken for lunch so fresh it still maintained some residual body heat when I dropped him in the grease.

The experience was not nearly bad as I thought it would be. The only part that could have gone better was gutting the bird. The only reason this gave me some minor problems was because this was a kinda-sorta spur of the moment thing, I didn't withhold feed for any length of time. As such the bird's crop was full and that made removing the digestive tract in one piece a bit more difficult but I eventually got it all out without spilling but a tiny amout that spilled on the neck which I then turned into hog food.

As this was my first attempt, I didn't try to save and use everything that could have been. I was just interested in the basic Colonel Sanders cuts for now.

After cleaning and butchering the carcass, I marinated the pieces for a few minutes in buttermilk, seasoned everything with salt and black pepper, dredged it all in plain flour and dropped each bit of hope into ~320 degree grease.

When the thigh hit about 160 degrees, I called the kids. Most were anxious to have their initial experience with home grown chicken. Because of my hesitancy, this particular batch of birds have gone a bit long to be Colonel Sanders tender. It wasnt exteremly tough. Just tougher than it would have been had it been taken in a more timely fashion. However, having said that, in spite of the relative toughness of the meat, twas still the best chicken I've ever eaten. One thing that made it good was the fact that it was bled properly. According to Joel Salatin, improper bleed out of factory processed birds is why there if oftentimes blood that accumulates around those birds. The bird I harvested today had meat that appeared to be perfectly homogenous and of perfect color all the way to the bone.

I look forward to repeating the process.
"Solve world hunger, tell no one." "The, the, the . . . The Grinch!"

"If you can't beat them, bite them."
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Re: First Home Chicken Harvest

Postby matt walker » Thu Dec 20, 2012 4:02 am

Right on George. Did you pluck or did you just skin it? I have done two roosters in the last few months, which were my first also. I skinned 'em just because it seemed easier, but I guess if you want fried chicken the skin is probably important.
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Re: First Home Chicken Harvest

Postby George Collins » Thu Dec 20, 2012 12:23 pm

We plucked him. The process was surprisingly easy. The dunk water was 145ish degrees. The bird was dropped in, swirled around for about a half minute, hung from a tree limb with a length of paracord wrapped round a leg and we went to work. The only thing about the process that gave any difficulty was the feathers at the very tip of the wings and those just above the ankle joints. And those were just relatively hard. Needle nose pliers took care of those pesky wing feathers and patience took care of the others.
"Solve world hunger, tell no one." "The, the, the . . . The Grinch!"

"If you can't beat them, bite them."
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Joined: Mon Jan 16, 2012 10:57 pm
Location: South Central Mississippi, Zone 8a

Re: First Home Chicken Harvest

Postby pa_friendly_guy » Thu Dec 20, 2012 2:48 pm

Congrats George, Glad you decided to do the job yourself before the poor things died of old age, :lol: [ Just Kidding, ;) ] I know how certain jobs that you have never done before can really be intimidating until you try, then you normally realize that it's no big deal after you have done it a few times. When you plucked the bird did you try and burn off any small hair feathers after you were done? My Grandma would roll up a piece of news paper and light it, then wave it all around the chicken to burn off any small pin feathers that might have been missed when it was plucked. I am like you were before, I have never killed and gutted and plucked a chicken, and so I am pretty unsure about the process and just exactly how I would go about it myself. It's nice to have guys like you in our group to lead the way. :D
Never doubt that a small group of dedicated people can change the world, indeed it is the only thing that ever has.
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Re: First Home Chicken Harvest

Postby George Collins » Thu Dec 20, 2012 3:39 pm

Yes, we burned the pin feathers off but unlike our respective grandmothers, I used a hand-held propane torch.

Next time though, newspaper all the way.
"Solve world hunger, tell no one." "The, the, the . . . The Grinch!"

"If you can't beat them, bite them."
George Collins
 
Posts: 535
Joined: Mon Jan 16, 2012 10:57 pm
Location: South Central Mississippi, Zone 8a

Re: First Home Chicken Harvest

Postby pa_friendly_guy » Thu Dec 20, 2012 4:17 pm

New Tech can work Great, but sometimes the old ways work just fine, lol, The torch idea seems like a good one to me, but if you can get the job done without burning fossil fuels it seems like a plus. Not that I am a tree hugger or anything, I am just cheap and don't like to pay for things when used news papers are free, :lol: when you try the news paper idea let us know how the 2 different programs compare with each other. Since you have more chickens I am sure you will be doing this process again very soon.
Never doubt that a small group of dedicated people can change the world, indeed it is the only thing that ever has.
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Re: First Home Chicken Harvest

Postby George Collins » Fri Dec 28, 2012 12:32 am

The kids and I harvested five more chickens today. They were bantams that had been residing atop the compost pile. They are of the same breed as the original chicken harvested. The method used was exactly the same as before except this time we made sure to withhold feed beginning the afternoon previous. That made cleaning them much easier.

One other change was that they were singed with newspaper.

Just so happens that the tree from which we suspended them has two perfectly positioned limbs that run parallel to the road on which we live. We have all five chickens suspended from these limbs and we were all plucking away (some with more zeal than others) when a whole convoy of deer hunters came roaring by on their ATVs. Talk about folks rubber-necking! Twas one of the prouder moments of my life.

Once they were all cleaned, two were fried then put into gravy in a slow cooker for about three hours. Three hours was a little too long for some of the pieces were literally falling apart when we tried to dip them out. The meal was rounded out with cole slaw, rice, sweet potato casserole, mustard greens, apple raisin salad and cornbread.

These chickens, like the one previous, lacked the blood residue found adjacent to the bone like what is found in store-bought chickens.

I had Youngblood over for supper. He and we're already formulating a plan to raise 50 fryers in a Salatin-style pen come Spring.
"Solve world hunger, tell no one." "The, the, the . . . The Grinch!"

"If you can't beat them, bite them."
George Collins
 
Posts: 535
Joined: Mon Jan 16, 2012 10:57 pm
Location: South Central Mississippi, Zone 8a

Re: First Home Chicken Harvest

Postby pa_friendly_guy » Fri Dec 28, 2012 10:48 pm

What a Great post George. I am living vicariously through your efforts here. :D It sounds so wonderful to just go out and get a fresh chicken and eat it that same day. WOW what a treat. In my mind the work seems to be minimalized some how, maybe because its you and not Me doing all the work, ;) Having a whole passel of kids there to help with the plucking should make the work go a lot quicker. Many hands make work light. How did the news papers work compared to the blow torch? I love chicken and your dinner menu sounded like a real feast. Building the movable pens this spring should be no problem for you and Youngblood. Good luck with your new project. You do seem to always have a new and exciting project planned for your place. :D
Never doubt that a small group of dedicated people can change the world, indeed it is the only thing that ever has.
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