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+-- Thread: Okay...Let's talk chicken (/showthread.php?tid=129787)
Okay...Let's talk chicken - labradors - 12-08-2011
Anyone here have "farm" experience?
A few places around here sell baby chicks with dyed feathers (something I believe is no longer permitted in the U.S.) and my landlord got a few of them for his daughter a while back.
Now, he, his daughter and his wife are tired of feeding and cleaning up after the fully grown birds, so he has offered me a rooster...
...which this suburb-raised boy would have to kill, drain, pluck, etc. (He's not very knowledgeable or experienced in this, either.)
Of course, I COULD Google around for information, but I'd rather start with people I know.
Soooooooo.....
What suggestions would any of you have to offer?
Re: Okay...Let's talk chicken - HomeCulinarian - 12-08-2011
Wish my grandma was around to help you out. They kept chickens and I hear she could wring their necks with the best of them!
Good luck!
Re: Okay...Let's talk chicken - cjs - 12-08-2011
First of all, how old is the rooster? We raised chickens for years, but as soon as we found roosters, they went in the soup pot, so they were very young.
Not sure what info you need, but there are different methods to killing chickens - wringing of the neck, cutting head off, hanging by the feet and using a knife up their throats (not sure how this one works, as if was my grandfather that used this method and I was pretty young). Whatever method you use (and maybe you'll hear of a more humane way), it is pretty brutal.
Next, have a pot large enough to submerge the bird full of boiling water. Dunk the bird for a couple three minutes - this relaxes the whatever and makes for easier plucking.
Hold by the feet and pluck away.
I think I forgot a step - cleaning the innards.
Just found this and the method is pretty much what we did -
http://howlingduckranch.wordpress.com/2009/07/15/butchering-chickens/
One thing to remember - if you've never done this before. You will forever remember the smell of wet chicken feathers - it is still in my mind after all these years. Good luck.
Re: Okay...Let's talk chicken - Old Bay - 12-08-2011
Ah yes--the smell
I'd pay someone else to do it--at their house!!
Re: Okay...Let's talk chicken - labradors - 12-08-2011
Thanks for the info! If I'm not mistaken, they got the original chicks around Easter time.
Re: Okay...Let's talk chicken - iBcookin - 12-08-2011
My vote is pay somebody to do it (at their house!!!) - it is a lot of work and mess (there will be sticky wet feathers everywhere) for one tough rooster. And don't forget the smell!