[Sca-cooks] washing birds

[Sayyida Halima al-Shafi'i of Raven's Cove]

The "washing birds" habit came about based on our need to butcher 
annually.  We ordered our poults (chicks) "straight run", which means 
you get males and females based on the normal proportions as eggs are 
layed in nature.  It averages out to 50/50 give or take a few each way. 
 You can order just hens if you choose.  When the birds would be large 
enough to eat, we'd butcher all but 2 or 3 of the males, since you only 
need so many roosters with attitudes.  Since the birds are all the same 
age when you receive them, they are all ready to be killed at the same 
time.  So, you get the assembly line thing going.  Kind of like when 
everything in the garden matures and is ready to be canned at the same 
time <g>.  We threw the chickens in the washer with a few towels and 
plain water, and let them agitate for a while.  Not an entire wash/rinse 
cycle, which was not possible anyway as we were using a wringer washer. 
 But it did beat washing each chicken carcass by hand.

At the beginning and end of butchering, the washer was cleaned and 
filled with bleach water to sanitize.  There really wasn't a problem 
with bits of flesh or anything.