Let’s start off by saying I hope everyone had a wonderful 4^th of July holiday. Ours has been the same since we moved to the Ranch four years ago. We get up in the morning and run the 5k race through the Molalla parade route. We watch our local festive parade, and then we attend the mid-day old-fashioned Buckaroo rodeo. After that, it is back to the Ranch for a fun time relaxing with friends and family, barbecuing, lighting off fireworks, and watching the surrounding fireworks from up in the orchard. This year, we cooked a whole suckling pig on the Webber BBQ. To insure it did not light on fire while we were at the Buckaroo, we wrapped it in a lot of aluminum foil after applying dry rub seasoning to make sure none of the fat drippings could escape and start a flame. Once the meat was cooked, it was pulled from the carcass and shredded for eating.

Saturday was the big day! At nine weeks old, the pasture-raised Cornish Cross chickens were full grown and ready to be harvested. To be able to get through the process efficiently, we figure we needed a minimum of six people.  We had six volunteers lined up to help, so we were excited for an easy efficient harvest… so we thought. Just before the weekend, three guys bailed, which left three volunteers and Greg. They got it done, but they sure worked their tails off!  Greg was outside by 6am to get the assembly line ready.  Killing cones, crab cooker with large pot, chicken plucker, cleaning tables, coolers, etc.…

We will just walk you through the process of a single chicken harvest. We drive the Gator with a dog crate up into the pasture to collect a load (typically a dozen birds). We place a bird upside down in a processing cone so its head is hanging down through the opening, say thank you to every bird and slit the neck with a surgical blade. The bird will hang a few minutes and bleed out. Then the bird is dipped into 145-degree scalding water for about one minute to loosen the feathers. The bird is then placed into the chicken plucker. It spins while water is running throughout and removes most of the feathers. Next, the birds head, feet and guts are removed. The guts are removed by cutting around the vent (shared opening where eggs and poop come out), reaching into the bird’s cavity and pulling out everything. At this time, the stray feathers that the plucker missed are removed. The bird then gets a good rinse and goes into a clean cooler on ice.

After most of the 85 birds are cleaned and in coolers, they go through a final quality control check and get rinsed off again. They are then thoroughly dried and stuffed with a giblet bag. When all the insides of the bird are being cleaned out, the liver, heart, neck, and gizzards are set aside, cleaned and bagged. Birds are then placed breast down into a food safe plastic shrink bag and tied off. A small hole is poked into the bag and dipped into 190-degree water for 3-5 seconds for the shrinking process. A label is placed over the hole, chickens are weighed, and information for that chicken is recorded on the label. The completed bird can then go home with the customer or get placed back on clean ice. 

If you were to do one bird straight through the process, it would take roughly 10 minutes, so with 85 birds, it was a long 14-hour day nonstop for Greg, with volunteer help. Two of his helpers were at the Ranch for close to 12 hours.  We could not have done it without them!

Several people came out to collect their chickens at the end of the day and catch a glimpse of the excitement.  Some people took their birds home and planned to put theirs in the freezer while some wanted to cook them fresh. One thing to keep in mind with fresh birds is that they should be brined. If you need the recipe to brine them, it can be found here. We raise meat chickens once a year and pre-sell them. If you’re interested in getting on the list for next year, send us an email. Next harvest? Turkeys! November 23, 2019.