Chicken Run!

The following blog post is not for the faint of heart. If you're opposed to chicken violence click out now.  If you're not opposed to seeing how chicken nuggets are made then read on.

From 2014-07-19

Our friend Steve invited us out to his farm last Saturday to learn how to process chickens.  I knew how it worked in theory, but had never actually done it myself so, needless to say, we were excited to help out.

Steve has been doing this for years and is very experienced. He's taken all that accumulated knowledge and developed a very efficient production line where each task is taken care of at a different station.

When we arrived, there was a group of about 10 people waiting to get going and learn how to do this.  The first station is where the chickens are slaughtered.

Steve thought up a nice system where the chickens heads are pushed down through the cones in preparation for slaughter.

From 2014-07-19

The cone works great for keeping the chicken immobile while the jugular is slit.  Here's Steve showing Sawyer how it's done.

From 2014-07-19

Now it's Sawyer's turn.  He did great and ended up catching and slaughtering about 10 chickens.

From 2014-07-19

Once the chickens are dead and all the blood has drained, it's time to dip them in scalding water in preparation to be plucked.

We found out it's very important that the water is the right temperature.  If it's too hot the skin will break in the plucking machine, if it's too cool, the feathers won't come out and will leave you with a bunch of work.  After a little trial and error, we found the best temp to be around 130 degrees.

From 2014-07-19

Sammy's job was to take the slaughtered chickens from the slaughter station to the hot dip, then over to the plucking machine.  She was very brave and dove right in. (not literally)

From 2014-07-19

This chicken just went for a ride in the plucker but still has a few feathers.  The plucking machine is a great invention that spins the chicken around like it would be in a washing machine.

There are rubber fingers that grab and pull the feathers as it flies by and pulls them right out.  This one still has a few feathers left.  Looks like the water needs to be a bit warmer.

From 2014-07-19

However, this one is perfectly plucked and ready for butchering.

From 2014-07-19

When everything is set up correctly, there isn't a feather left.

From 2014-07-19

The next stop is the butchering station.  Here we had a team removing any last feathers, the guts. lungs, etc.  Seth worked on this station and paid close attention and did a great job.

From 2014-07-19

The master butcher!

From 2014-07-19

After all the butchering was done, it's off to the ice cooler to wait for packaging.  We ended up doing about 20 chickens in all.

From 2014-07-19

Cleaning up the aftermath.  When you're as organized as Steve, the cleanup is minimal.  Just a few feathers and putting away the gear.

From 2014-07-19

Our reward was a fresh, great tasting, juicy chicken.  I've always discounted the talk about the big difference between store bought and fresh, farm raised chicken but after this experience, I'm a believer.

It was quite an experience to eat chicken that we'd personally processed with our own hands.  I could get used to this!

From 2014-07-19