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From Egg to Egg

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Comments

  • This is awesome...look forward to hearing more about this
  • Eoin
    Eoin Posts: 4,304
    kl8ton said:
    What a day.  I am beat.  I will post soon.  All meat birds butchered including the 4 turkeys. 

    Lots of lessons learned.  
    Well done, hard work butchering turkeys, big birds.
  • kl8ton
    kl8ton Posts: 5,410


    Butchering day was last Saturday.  It was a ton of work.  I got up at 6AM to fire up the scald tank burner.  Sunrise was at 8:05.  I learned a lot of lessons and will change some things on the next go 'round.

    The above pic is the basic layout.  I did not get many pics as my hands were usually very messy.  Also, not pictured is the shrink bag setup inside.  My wife handled that.
    Large, Medium, MiniMax, & 22, and 36" Blackstone
    Grand Rapids MI
  • kl8ton
    kl8ton Posts: 5,410


    This is the scald tank.  After killing the birds, they get dunked in 145 degree water (or hotter) for about a minute.  This makes plucking the feathers easier.
    Large, Medium, MiniMax, & 22, and 36" Blackstone
    Grand Rapids MI
  • kl8ton
    kl8ton Posts: 5,410


    This is the home made kill cone setup i made.  4 one gallon buckets for the chickens and a 5 gallon bucket for the turkeys.  An old table leg/base with some balancing outriggers screwed on for support.  Next time I will buy or fabricate my own cones.  The purpose of these "cones" are to keep the bird upside down to drain the blood out.  You slit the throat and let them bleed out.  They pass out almost instantly.  Also the sides of the cone or bucket restricts wing movement so they aren't flapping blood everywhere.
    Large, Medium, MiniMax, & 22, and 36" Blackstone
    Grand Rapids MI
  • kl8ton
    kl8ton Posts: 5,410

    Large, Medium, MiniMax, & 22, and 36" Blackstone
    Grand Rapids MI
  • kl8ton
    kl8ton Posts: 5,410


    My 6, 7, and 8 year old pluckers.  This moved far too slow.  Many times I had to remind them that they can pluck with two hands.


    Large, Medium, MiniMax, & 22, and 36" Blackstone
    Grand Rapids MI
  • kl8ton
    kl8ton Posts: 5,410
    After some slow production in the plucking department, my wife ran to TSC to buy a plucker.  It was much faster, but I did not care for this model and returned it after the day was done.  Way too much manual intervention required and it did not live up to the claim of plucking two birds at once in 15 seconds.  More like one bird at once in 30 seconds starting and stopping several times.


    Large, Medium, MiniMax, & 22, and 36" Blackstone
    Grand Rapids MI
  • kl8ton
    kl8ton Posts: 5,410
    I bought this evisceration table off amazon for $160 with free two day shipping.  The top is stainless.  You can see the bleach on the bottom shelf.  I sanitized multiple times throughout the process.  This table will now be an outdoor cooking prep table. 




    My son got a pic of me eviscerating possibly the smallest bird that we butcher

    ed that day.  He must not have gotten to the feeder much!



    Also pictured is a Havalon knife with replaceable stainless surgical steel blades for no sharpening.  I really liked having that there.  The sheers were for cutting the neck bone off to tuck inside the birds cavity.
    Large, Medium, MiniMax, & 22, and 36" Blackstone
    Grand Rapids MI
  • kl8ton
    kl8ton Posts: 5,410
    Viewer discretion advised.  Gut bucket.  Feet gizzards, hearts, livers, gall bladders, heads, etc.  

    My BIL took the bucket to his bait pile to see what showed up on his trail cam.  No I kept none of these items.  I know some of you probably find these to be delicacies.


    Large, Medium, MiniMax, & 22, and 36" Blackstone
    Grand Rapids MI
  • kl8ton
    kl8ton Posts: 5,410
    Yes, the sun set during the work day.  Here is my 12 year old dipping a turkey in the scald tank.


    Large, Medium, MiniMax, & 22, and 36" Blackstone
    Grand Rapids MI
  • kl8ton
    kl8ton Posts: 5,410
    Here I am with a 18lb ish turkey moments before it met its fate.


    Large, Medium, MiniMax, & 22, and 36" Blackstone
    Grand Rapids MI
  • kl8ton
    kl8ton Posts: 5,410
    final products packaged for sale.  I had two fridges full.  Now I have sold many of our birds and what I have left, fit in two freezers.



    Large, Medium, MiniMax, & 22, and 36" Blackstone
    Grand Rapids MI
  • Fantastic recap.. thanks for sharing....
    Charlotte, NC - Large BGE 2014, Maverick ET 733, Thermopen, Nest, Platesetter, Woo2 and Extender w/Grid, Kick Ash Basket, Pizza Stone, SS Smokeware Cap, Blackstone 36"
  • kl8ton
    kl8ton Posts: 5,410
    The kids worked really hard.  For the most part, they worked from 8am to 9pm. It got cold too. 
    Large, Medium, MiniMax, & 22, and 36" Blackstone
    Grand Rapids MI
  • ColtsFan
    ColtsFan Posts: 6,310
    One of the best threads here. Thanks for posting! 
    ~ John - https://www.instagram.com/hoosier_egger
    XL BGE, LG BGE, KJ Jr, PK Original, Ardore Pizza Oven, King Disc 
    Bloomington, IN - Hoo Hoo Hoo Hoosiers!

  • kl8ton
    kl8ton Posts: 5,410
    ColtsFan said:
    One of the best threads here. Thanks for posting! 
    Thanks! 
    Large, Medium, MiniMax, & 22, and 36" Blackstone
    Grand Rapids MI
  • kl8ton
    kl8ton Posts: 5,410
    edited February 2018


    DO home raised chicken.  I forgot an egg shot to complete the "from egg to egg" thread.  
    Large, Medium, MiniMax, & 22, and 36" Blackstone
    Grand Rapids MI
  • kl8ton
    kl8ton Posts: 5,410
    This is a good way to get kids to love veggies.  They taste great this way.  (like meat)  :-)  The bird doesn't get the color it usually does, but this one was for soup.

    Usually i spatch the bird and do an "OVER THE TOP CHILI" style and let the drippings fall into 9x13 of veggies.  That way, you get the color on the bird and the same great tasting taters/garlic/onion/etc.
    Large, Medium, MiniMax, & 22, and 36" Blackstone
    Grand Rapids MI
  • nolaegghead
    nolaegghead Posts: 42,102
    Bump because it's a great thread (can't believe I didn't see this before) and tis the time of year!
    ______________________________________________
    I love lamp..