Added: 3 years ago
From: fiddlegirlkc
Views: 46,069
Sort by time | Sort by thread (beta)

Link to this comment:

Share to:

All Comments (101)

Sign In or Sign Up now to post a comment!
  • Thanks for this video! You're chickens look very well fed.

  • After butchering our 13 roosters I have to says you make it look like a cake walk. That said your video is very informative and helped some city slickers get through the first butchering. It was still a struggle but we at least had an idea what to do. Thank you very much for this video!

  • Great informative video! The only thing I didn't catch because the wind was acting up, was the solution that you soak the birds in after they are cleaned. What all goes in the soaking bath? Thanks so much!

  • @loveyalions135 It's just a splash of apple cider vinegar in the ice water. Sorry about that wind problem! It's the hill we live on!

  • the skin is most delicious part of the chicken

  • @ingars17 Its what they do with quail.

  • Thank you for this post - this is the most informitive video on processing chickens that I have yet to see. Will be keeping and reviewing your video as we get closer to harvesting our chickens. Thank you again.

  • chicken jacket

  • Why do you skin 'em instead of plucking?

  • @RBNightlinger We lacked the equipment to pluck, and made do with what we had. We'd like to build a plucker eventually...

  • @fiddlegirlkc Yeah, I imagine hand plucking would be difficult and really time consuming.

  • Going to raise meat chickens this year, do you suggest regular cornish cross or the jumbos and do i order females or males or straight run?

  • @MyLittleGreenThumb When we did cornish cross, we did regular, and all male. However, the last couple years, we switched to Red Rangers (from S & G Poultry, in AL,) and we get straight run. We find that with the straight run, we get to break up processing by processing the males a couple weeks beore the females.

  • This is so much better then the factory farms. If only more were killed like this.

  • Great video! Thank you! :)

  • Have studied your method, i have 20 chickens to dress ( first time for me ) thanks for posting this 'tutorial' i shall try to follow step by step !

  • Thank you for taking the time to make and post this. It's very clear and helpful. All the best to your family.

  • great video, thank you!!

  • i hate chicken farms and stuff but tht how we survuve and eat but i have a question how long does it take before the chickens die do they feel the pain

  • People had better learn to raise their own. We need to go back to the good old days.

    Thanks for sharing.

    God Bless.

  • Nice Vid Thank You Guy & Gal

    May God Continue to Bless You, The Family & The Farm

  • Beautiful!! Nice to learn the right and clean way to do it!

  • i wanna work there

  • Great video, very helpful. Thanks!!

  • Very nice!  Interesting and educational!

  • What if I like the skin??

  • Been processing game birds for a long time. That was easily the best video I've ever seen on processing a bird...wish I had seen that before my first bird. My question is about your knives. They look razor sharp and I was wondering on the brand and how often you have to sharpen them. I've got a couple old old old knives that I use but its about time to replace.

  • Thank you very much for posting this video. I tried skinning a chicken before, and did it with it hanging by it's legs. Your method looks much easier! I also appreciate your showing how to gut it and remove the neck. I really appreciate seeing how it all works before I try it again!

  • great video

  • Thanks for the making of this video! I wish I could just drop off my 12 roosters at your house & get this service done!

  • The BEST video ever! After watching this i know i can do it. Thanks!!

  • This has to be the most thorough video Ive ever seen on processing a chicken. Very informative. Thank you for sharing this with us. Ive been doing research on the best way to process our own birds and this seems the best way in my opinion. Thanks again.

  • This is most likely the very best in depth detailed example of how to properly dress a chicken I have seen in the last 2 years of research on keeping my flock. Thank you thank you thank you! I love how easy it is and how every one has a job! Wonderful video!

  • @PCOStherealdeal Thanks so much for the kind words!

  • This is very educational! Thanks for posting the video.

  • @vidtubecr Thanks for letting us know!

  • How big is your family farm?

  • @KB3GZW We have 60 acres, and it's just our family...Mom, Dad, and 4 of us kids...

  • I like a crispy skin with my chicken.

  • Great Viedo Minus the wind in the microphone.

  • Great Video minus the wind in the Microphone.

  • Dip it in hot water real quick and you can pluck off the feather with ease,some people enjoy the skin.

  • Sharp contrast to the video i just watched of KFC processing. So this is what real chicken looks like.

  • What is the LONGEST in your opinion that a hen should be kept as an egg producer before being processed? My #1 priority right now is for eggs, but I don't want to run a chicken retirement camp and will want to process them later.

  • These aren't egg-type chickens, and the layer flocks that we've had in the past, we sold them at 2-3 years old, to start with a new flock. (To try out other breeds.) We've never kept one breed of chickens for both meat and eggs. Right now we have a Black Australorp flock for eggs, and Red Rangers for meat. We now prefer them to the Cornish Cross for meat. Thanks for your comment, and I'm sorry I couldn't be more help with your question!

  • Thanks for the quick reply. So did the buyer of your birds buy them to butcher or for layers? We've got some Barred Rocks which are a good dual purpose bird and are rather plump. The rest are Red Sex-Links.

    I'd not heard of Red Rangers yet. Will have to look into them and see what they're a cross of. The Cornish X are freaking monsters to say the least.. Scary birds.

    Anyway, thanks! :)

  • We advertised them as layers, and as far as we know, that's what they went for. We got out of the Cornish X because of the way folks kept breeding them for fewer feathers, growing faster, etc. That's not how we like to do things around here! We were very happy with the Red Rangers this year..they came from S&G Poultry in AL.

  • Does it freeze as well being skinned instead of scalded, in your opinion?

  • We've kept them for up to a year, in the freezer, and we haven't had any problems at all! We package them in bags, with a twist-tie, and make sure there is no air in the bag. Usually, we have some in the freezer that are 10 months old, by the time we have another batch ready. We raise and kill enough to last our family of 6 until the 1st batch in the spring is ready. (We don't try to raise them in the cold.) Hope this helps!

    Thanks for your comment!

    ~KC

  • thanks for the video, I watched it right before I processed my first chickens!

  • We watched your video and it helped us with our first butchering experience. We butchered 10 chickens today. My whole family sat around the computer and watched it before we went out and did it ourselves. Your video really helped. Thanks!

  • When my mom and dad did their first batch, (over 10 years ago now,) they had a book outside with them, and mom would show dad, out of the book, where it looked like he was supposed to cut! We're so glad we can help others get started!!! Thanks!

    ~KC

  • your family made vid is the easiest for me to grasp(so far) and you all seem to work good together(saw your website and you are all precious)and you seem to respect all of your critters(got my heart) and we will do our first batch of cornish-x meaties this sunday(11-8-09) so your vid has been watched and discussed often. our meaties are 8 wks. old(7-9 lbs). thanks for the inspiration.haven't eaten chicken in years because of my horror at the way commercial slaughters(not yours) go.

  • Thank you so much for your kind comments! We are very glad that we can be a help!

  • Thank you for putting this vid together. Very informative, excellent job, the cleaning of the insides seemed a little complicated thou. Then again i never killed a chicken but i would love to learn especially in todays day and age with the economic situation being what it is.

  • this is how humans were intended to live

  • Thanks for the comment...we quite agree!!!

  • you blokes don't like plucking them eh. all the flavour is in the skin.

  • aussiebluemax, I am just curious about something you said. Wouldn't plucking take a much longer process then the way they did it here? I am curious how many chickens one can do in 1 hour?

  • Thank you! Those were Cornish Cross chickens, but now we are raising Red Rangers. They don't grow as fast as the Cornish Cross, but we think the Cornish grow too fast to be happy and healthy. We ordered our's from S & G Poultry in Alabama. They are 12 weeks old when we butcher them.

  • that is one beautiful bird!what breed was she?what make the best birds to raise to eat?thanks great video!!!

  • Sorry, I forgot to ask, are those birds white rock type broilers? How old were these ones?? Thank you for sharing this video, it's a useful way for people to learn this skill.

  • This is faster than plucking, but my family would really miss that crispy roasted skin......

  • Really a great job! Where is this farm located?

  • We are in South Central Kentucky. Thanks!

  • This vid has been the best I've seen so far. One question though, can you use regular white vinigar insted of apple sicder vinigar?

  • Thanks for the compliment! I'm really not sure about the white vinegar; we had read that the ACV was great for disinfecting, but then again, so is white vinegar...we use a lot of white vinegar in our cleaning, because of it's disinfecting qualities, so it would stand to reason that you could use it with the chickens as well!

  • Hmmm not bad

    like it

  • Thank you for your comments! We haven't worked up enough courage to cook with the "extra" parts yet, but we do already make all of our stock from scratch! I usually take all of the meat off of the bones (after I've cooked it) and break the bones and boil them, along with various herbs and such. It does make such wonderful broth!!!

  • I wish I could have all those necks and feet that you're getting rid of, but I'm all the way in California. They (along with a few chicken backs, onions, carrots, celery, wine and herbs) make absolutely the best chicken stock/broth you'll ever have. No need for canned stuff ever again. I use it in soups and dishes like chicken and dumplings, anything with a liquid that needs flavor. Not to mention the livers, giblets and hearts... that's good eating! If you'd like some recipes, let me know.

  • good job we just butcherd our rhode island red cause he was being mean to me and my brothers thank you

  • Thats great just wot I was looking for.Why don't u eat the skin ??

  • We personally don't care for the skin, and found skinning them to be easier when we were starting out. We do plan on building a scalder and plucker soon.

  • Thanks! I'm so glad we could help! :-)

  • hey thanks for posting the video! I just did my first rooster today and you made the process much easier.

  • Thanks for the great video I skin my chickens too and you taught me a few things. Thanks!

  • Glad we could help!

  • what breed are those chickens?

  • These are Cornish Cross chickens.

  • I see you have guineas?

  • Yes, we do! Great for tick control!

  • Brian sounds like my Unkie Eldon!! Must be that family gene!! This is Lora, by the way...I left y'all some comments on your other videos. I would love for you to see my Unkie's Art Blog. Let me know if you have an interest, and I will ask him if I can send you the link!! His anme is Eldon Wayne Warren, and he lives in Colorado. Have a wonderful week!! Lora Lou. <3

  • Can I purchase your chickens? My local stores don't sell whole skinless chickens.

  • Thank you for your interest! We do sell our chickens locally...in the south-central KY area.

  • Kentucky,huh. Well, I am a Georgian man myself. I love the blueridge mountains here.

  • That is very interesting....we are originally from GA! We moved to KY in April of 08, from Zebulon, about 40 miles south of Atlanta.

  • I could not catch the end part about the apple cider vinegar. Do you mix it with water? If so, what ratio of water to cider vinegar? Excellent video.

  • We have a cooler full of water, and we put about 1-2 cups of ACV in it. We don't measure it...just slug it in! Thanks for the feedback!

  • je fait 20 poulet et elle juste un

  • What do you feed your chickens, and are they free range chickens?

  • Our chickens are in movable, bottom-less pasture shelters, and we move them to fresh ground every morning/evening. We feed them our own mix of corn, soybean meal, alfalfa meal, fish meal, oats, aragonite, and Fertrell Poultry Nutribalancer (organic vitamin/mineral supplement.)

  • What ratio of cider vinegar/ water do you use, at the end?

  • When you buy the chickens, do you order them from a hatchery, and when you eat them, do you cook them a certain way?

  • We usually buy them from Welp Hatchery, but this year we're getting a different breed, from a different hatchery. We aren't very pleased with the way the Cornish X are only bred to gain as much as they can, as fast as possible!

    I cook these a lot of different ways, and they always turn out good! Most of the time I roast them, breast side down, sprinkled with salt and whatever spices you want. I do keep them covered, and put a little water in the bottom of the pan, and they've never been dry.

  • I also cut them up and fry them, as well as boil them...but I was over the word limit!!!

  • Cool, i have a few hens and a roster myself. What new kind did you get?

  • The new chickens we're getting are called "Red Rangers." We're really just experimenting with this, but they are supposed to gain weight fairly quickly, while still acting like a chicken..as in, actually foraging for more of their food. The Cornish X really just sit there and eat!

  • Welp is a good hatchery, and I am getting my second catalog from them this year. I love the Giant Cochin chickens, and some other breeds from them!!

  • Your chicken looks very healthy. The skin is the best part. Deep fry it and add some salt. Yummy

  • Well, that's just old fashioned!!! I wish some people would learn to "get back into shape" because the economy is getting rough! Thanks for posting!

  • That is very interesting. Thank you for posting. Now what I find interesting is that you de-feathered the bird the same time you took off the skin. Why don't companies like Foster Farms just do that and sell the chicken without the skin? I don't know many people who still use the skin.

  • Roasters are sold with the skin on because they impart fat and flavor while roasting.

  • Thanks for posting this! In my own approach (skin on), I try to cut between the tail, or "pope's nose" and the vent after plucking in order to open the body cavity. Your way looks much cleaner!

  • Excellent video and narration. Thanks!

  • Thanks for the comments, everyone! We are thinking of getting a scalder and plucker and trying it that way as well. We personally don't care much for the skin, so that's why we started doing it this way.

  • I cant believe you guys pull the skin off.

    That's the best part.

  • That really doesn't look that bad. I am about to get chickens for eggs, but if I could get some skills around processing, I think I could try broilers too. Thank you Custer family!

  • I had no idea there was so much work involved. Thanks for sharing, they look like the will be delicious and very healthy, although I would miss the crunchy skin part after i cooked it.

  • that's an interesting way to do it. most of my birds go to the processor but when i do them I do scald and pluck. maybe i'll try that way some time.

  • Good job! Thanks for sharing - I think I'm going to try that apple cider vinegar soak. We're kiling one of our young roosters later today.

  • Good job and thanks for thaking the time to teach us. We only have a few chickens - (matter of fact I'm going to butcher one of our young roosters later today)but I really like the clean, systematic way you clean these birds up. I'm going to try the apple cider vinegar soak!

  • Thank you, that was a lesson they could have taught at the school we went to, My boyfriend and I graduated class of 05 from Essex Agricultural and Technical High School. (And we were in the FFA :)!) We want to have a little farm some day soon, and we eventually needed to learn how to do this, thank you for educating us. We should be moving to the country at the beginning of 09. To a whole new state, we hate the city. We're from Mass. People are so rude and selfish.

  • That was a good lesson. I enjoyed it.

  • that was the way that my grandmom just to kill chicken in her farm, is less cruel than factory chicken processing .I prefer to buy organic chicken.

Loading...
Alert icon
0 / 00Unsaved Playlist Return to active list
    1. Your queue is empty. Add videos to your queue using this button:
      or sign in to load a different list.
    Loading...Loading...Saving...
    • Clear all videos from this list
    • Learn more