The first batch of
birds went in the freezer last Saturday.
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| The broilers are enjoying some time in the yard. |
I used the same setup that I used
last year. I used a cone over a bucket for dispatching the birds.
Then I scalded them in hot water that I kept between 140-150*. I bought a two burner
hot plate to keep the water at the right temperature.
Plucking the feathers is still the most time consuming part of the
process. I didn't time how long it took each bird, but I time one at 42
minutes.
After the birds were plucked and gutted they went into a cooler of ice water.
I processed 6 of my birds and a buddy brought 7 of his birds. It took us about 8.5 hours to process all 13 birds. It was a long day.
The remaining birds have a lot more room around the feeder now.
On Monday night I went out to check on the birds. I found one sitting 10 ft. away from their
tractor. So I picked it up and put it inside. When I let them out Tuesday morning that bird didn't move. Then I noticed feathers everywhere. The other birds must have been picking on her.
She appeared to be lame. I don't know what was wrong, but she wouldn't walk or even stand. I took her out of the tractor, sat the waterer in front of her and left for work.
When I got home that night I found her about 4 ft from where I had left her. She still wouldn't stand or walk. Otherwise she seemed fine. I picked her and examined her. He legs looked fine. They didn't appear to be broken. I really don't know what was wrong.
Rather than see her suffer I decided to put her in the freezer. During the process I found something that I don't remember seeing before. It was a clear-ish jelly like sack. It looked like the beginning of an egg. I thought it took 20 weeks or so before a chicken will lay. Although I don't know for certain that it actually was an egg...
I've been impressed with the size of these birds. The smallest one was 4 lbs. 5 oz and the biggest was 4 lbs. 15 oz. The rest were right around 4.5 lbs.
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