Right tools allow rapid, humane processing of heritage chickens

By STEVE BROWN

Capital Press

KINGSTON, Wash. -- The difference between chicken in the barnyard and chicken ready for the oven is less than 10 minutes.

Harley Soltes demonstrated techniques of humane slaughter and efficient butchering at his Kingston Farm Oct. 22.

Soltes raises heritage breeds -- Marans and Delawares -- as dual-purpose birds. The Marans, he said, are a French breed often called "the best-tasting chicken in the world." They're also popular for their dark eggs.

Delawares are "real good layers," he said.

Many poultry farmers raise fast-growing, high-mortality Cornish cross chickens, but Soltes prefers to take twice as long to raise his birds. They average 4 3/4 pounds, and he sells them for $5 a pound.

Soltes raises the female birds for eggs. Once they're older, they make great stew birds with all the fat they've laid on. Their meat is especially good for dumplings, enchiladas and molés, he said.

For the male birds, "when they crow, they go," he said. Harvesting them before they become sexually mature -- at 16 to 21 weeks -- means tastier, more tender meat.

He feeds layers and broilers the same organic ration and gives them access to pasture.

"I put out a salad bar of supplements. Chickens know what they need," he said. Grass adds flavor and omega-3 fatty acids to the meat and to the eggs.

Diane Fish, of Washington State University Extension, said heritage birds "forage really, really well," much better than Cornish cross.

Fish advised taking the birds off feed 12 to 18 hours before butchering. An empty crop means a tidier butchery. Birds should have access to water, though, so the blood will flow easily, she said.

Soltes' advice to beginners: "The big thing is humane slaughter." With the chicken in a killing cone, he sticks a sharp blade through the roof of the bird's mouth into the brain, stunning it instantly. Then with a scalpel, he severs one or both carotid arteries to let the bird bleed out.

"You want the heart to keep beating to drain the blood," he said.

Blood is captured in a pan filled with wood chips or straw. This, along with feathers and offal, goes to compost.

Once the bird has stopped moving and its head dangles freely, it is dunked in a temperature-controlled, 160-degree scalder to aid removal of the feathers.

The best tool in the whole process, Soltes said, is the automatic drum-type plucker, which does the messy job in a few seconds.

The chicken is then eviscerated, with extra care taken not to puncture the gall bladder and allow bile to taint the meat. The bird then goes into a cooling bath, where it must chill to 40 degrees within four hours. The longer the cooling process can be extended, Soltes said, the more tender the meat will be.

Working alone, he said, he can process about 12 birds an hour. "You want to do it early in the morning when it's not hot," he said. "I want to totally be done by 10."