Butchering Supplies for Harvesting Chickens

[gtaus]

I currently have 16 chickens. 8 of those chickens are from this spring and have just started to lay eggs about 4 weeks ago. I need to harvest my older chickens that are now about 4 years old that no longer lay eggs. I want to get down to 10 or less chickens before winter.

I won't be buying an expensive chicken plucker for butchering only 8 birds, but I did need something to heat a pot of water outside. I talked to a person I know that uses a Turkey Fryer to heat his water for dipping the chickens in. It works well for him. With that in mind, I kept my eyes out for a sale on Turkey Fryers at our local big box stores. This week, Menards had a sale on this turkey fryer...

I had to order one because they were currently not in stock. It will be delivered next week.

In the meantime, I was wondering if anyone else uses these Turkey Fryers for making the water bath to dip the chickens in before plucking. Any suggestions on how best to use this fryer?

One minor concern I have is that this fryer has a 15 minutes hand-free timer control system. I know that is a safety feature for frying turkeys in oil where you don't want the oil to exceed a safe temperature and possibly catch fire. In my case, I will be using it for heating water, so there is no risk of it catching fire. Is there some way to bypass the 15-minute timer or will I have to manually restart the fryer every 15 minutes? I have seen many reviews of people who hate those timers. Having never used a turkey fryer to heat water for dipping the chickens, I don't know if this is an issue or not for butchering chickens.

Also, the guy I talked to about butchering chickens and using a turkey fryer for heating the dipping pot, he mentioned that he adds a little bit of dishwashing soap to the water. He claims that helps to clean up the chickens and makes it easier to pluck out the feathers. I am wondering if anyone else adds dishwashing soap to their water dipping baths?

Thank you for any advice or suggestions on butchering my old chickens. I have butchered chickens before, but I am always looking to find better ways. Last time was about 20 years ago when I had meat chickens, and I had lots of helpers. This time, it's basically only me for the entire process. Any suggestions for a one-man butchering operation would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I don't have the experience with that Turkey Frier to or the timer to offer suggestions. My set-up is a bit different. One suggestion is to have a thermometer so you can measure how hot the water is. You probably want it around 160 Fahrenheit. Too hot and it can cook the skin, which means it tears when you pluck. I dip the bird until the wing feathers come out easily, then it should be ready to pluck.

Where are you setting it up? Out of the wind and somewhere you aren't going to burn something down would be good. You probably know that.

 

[aart]

I borrowed a turkey pot and found it rather narrow for scalding.
The one I finally bought is 13" dia x 13" deep.
ETA, says Bayou Classic on it, probably same place I got the burner. Bent ladle is for a visual of the flame.

 

[123RedBeard]

Fill it with hot tap water, won't take as long to heat up ...

 

[Sally PB]

I'd be there to help (for the experience; never done it before), but you're kind of a long drive away.

 

[aart]

Fill it with hot tap water, won't take as long to heat up ...

Same here, I also crank up the water heater before.

 

[gtaus]

One suggestion is to have a thermometer so you can measure how hot the water is.

The turkey fryer I order comes with a 12 inch thermometer.

You probably want it around 160 Fahrenheit. Too hot and it can cook the skin, which means it tears when you pluck.

I think that is a bit too high of a temperature for scalding. I looked online and found this...

My hens are 3-4 years old, but I think I will start at 130F and see how it goes before I raise the temperature any higher.

Where are you setting it up? Out of the wind and somewhere you aren't going to burn something down would be good.

I plan on setting up the butchering station out in my backyard. I can use the house as a windbreak. Also, since I am only heating up water (not cooking oil for frying a turkey) there is little chance of anything catching fire. But point well taken because I have heard of people frying turkeys out on their wooden deck, spilling the oil everywhere, and things catch fire and burn everything down.

 

[gtaus]

I borrowed a turkey pot and found it rather narrow for scalding.
The one I finally bought is 13" dia x 13" deep.

They did not have of these fryers in stock, so I don't know exactly how wide the pot is. It's a 30qt pot. It sounds big enough to me. But I don't know how wide it is.

In any case, I don't have any pots at home that are 13" dia X 13" deep. If the pot that comes with the fryer is not big enough, I will have to get a different one for next year.

 

[gtaus]

Fill it with hot tap water, won't take as long to heat up ...

Will do. Thanks.

I'd be there to help (for the experience; never done it before), but you're kind of a long drive away.

Well, I would welcome the help, but it looks like it's just myself for this job. I have butchered 50 meat chickens years ago, but I had lots of helpers. We did it all in one day, but 50 chickens was a lot of work. I think it will be better for me now that I have a turkey fryer to heat up the water and only will be butchering 4-8 chickens at a time.

Honestly, I am not looking forward to the plucking part. That was no fun. I talked to one guy that skins his chickens and then it's really fast and done with in no time. But Dear Wife wants to keep the skin on the meat. So, skinning the birds is not an option.

Same here, I also crank up the water heater before.

I have one water heater element that needs to be replaced. Right now, my hot water gets to 130F without a problem. That's actually too hot for me inside the house.

Of course, the trick is to keep the water warm outside and that is why I needed the turkey fryer. I agree that keeping the water hot will be quicker than trying to heat up cold water. Probably don't need much more time than that 15 minutes on the timer if I get the butchering process down and efficient.

 

[Sally PB]

@aart, your bent ladle flame checker is a brilliant idea.