Processing Chickens and Geese

[Pullstart 62,834]

A few things we learned on day one.  Three kill cones and two processing stations is way backwards.  Or we just don’t have enough processing ability.  The three kill cones kept the hot water bath from getting too hot.  With the burner on low, it was challenging to keep the fire lit and not get over temp.  Me thinks a thermostat setup of sorts would be helpful.  Our pressure cooker pot wasn’t big enough to process geese.  Cousin Eddys lived another day.  One of our helpers brought over an overdue on life meat bird.  It weighed in at 11 lbs 8 oz!  It was about the max size for the pot.  We need more capacity to process geese, or we have to go old school plucking them.  The plucker is great in theory, but it clogs with feathers all too often.  It also works best to chop the legs off below the knee, otherwise the bird gets stuck easily.  Back to water temp. Too hot is almost worse than not hot enough.  Too hot, and the skin comes off with the feathers.  Not hot enough and the feathers simply don’t pluck.  Remedy?  Toss it back in the hot water bath and try again.  No remedy for putting skin back on.  We also had two vacuum packers running, but that got backed up as well.  After the close to 70 birds, there were about 15-18 left to final rinse, pat dry, and bag.  I can see the allure of the heat shrink twist bags as well, but we’d need to add another turkey fryer pot to the mix, or bag and cool a bunch of birds, then switch the scald pot over to sealing.  The grinder pump does a great job, on everything but the gizzards for the most part.  I wish we could have kept more of those, but we were behind on processors in the first place, without further cuts.  Live and learn.  Yesterday, we took a day off and spent it at the lake with friends.  It was a much needed day of rest.  I have some pressure washing to do.  I also learned that red camo is my favorite camo.  The blood trough at the kill cones station was littered with various reds.  In deer hunting terms, there was lung blood, liver blood and heart blood all spattered together.  Quite the sight to see!  I was the only one of the bunch hungry for chicken at the end of the day, so tacos for lunch and fish and burgers for dinner it was!

[Ed Kennell 38,130]

2 hours ago, Pullstart said:

 I was the only one of the bunch hungry for chicken

You are one sick dude.

[Pullstart 62,834]

Today we are going to be processing more birds.  @Ed Kennell maybe you’ve heard of this.  I was talking with an elder fella this weekend and he told me as a child, thy would hunt and hang geese by the head until the innards removed themselves out the bottom.  That seems like a way to get rot into the meat before the advantage of not gutting them sets in?  I have found that the extra amount of fat in the geese may not allow the same process of kill, scald, pluck.  Their skin almost needs to cool overnight before they can be plucked.

[Ed Kennell 38,130]

Sorry Kev,  my only experience with geese  was around 1955 when Mother made roast goose for Thanksgiving  instead of the traditional turkey.       It was a sad greasy mess.

 

37 minutes ago, Pullstart said:

hang geese by the head until the innards removed themselves out the bottom.

I find this difficult to believe this would happen without a lot of help from the butcher.

 

I do butcher my wild turkey Immediately after killing by hanging by the head.    Then I skin the bird and remove (debone) the bird as it is hanging.    The boney carcass with the innards still inside are left for the foxes ,eagles, and coyotes.     The boneless meat is bagged till I get to camp where it is washed and cooled ASAP. 

I skin all wild birds.  Mainly to uncover any lead shot and imbedded feathers.  It's also the only to do it in the woods.

[Pullstart 62,834]

Chickens are done, other than one elusive Barred Rock that got loose and headed to the weeds last night!

 

 

I started on the geese.  This is my first one, and the plucking technique can use improvement!  They have so much extra fat under their skin, it makes them more fragile.  The tub plucker DOES NOT WORK for the geese, it just beats up the skin.  30 minutes in, and I was able to get most of the feathers and down off.  @ebinmaine I was wrong on my weight figures, they are just massive creatures on the hoof but they clean up to 8-12 lbs I think.

 

 

[ebinmaine 67,420]

4 hours ago, Pullstart said:

on the hoof

Ya know....

Geese. Hoof's. 

Ain't normal... 

[Pullstart 62,834]

Well if it makes you feel any better, my geese are all in the fridge or freezer… no hoofes about it!

 

I made the decision to eviscerate (field dress) the remaining 5 geese to cool them and hopefully harden up the fat under the skin.  One is all shrink wrapped and freezing.  I think it’ll work out great!