Well we have successfully brought up our first batch of chickens! We started with 104 little babies! We lost 11 along the way to smothering, coons and an accidental death. We butchered on two different days. First we butchered 20 and it was quite a bit of work. The next time we butchered 58 and had lots of great help, a little better system and we cut our time in half! Well if you are doing your math, you would think that left us 15 birds. We have 10. I am not sure if we mis-counted in the butchering process or if some were snatched away unnoticed. Of those 10 left, I am confident of 1 hen. There may be 2 or more. "One hen out of 104 birds?!" you might say...we said that too. I guess hind sight would tell us that free chick day is giving away the males that nobody else would buy! I am hoping to be able get about 10 more hens soon. Here are some pictures of our chicken adventures. (See our previous blog on chickens "Our Family Has Grown By 104," to see how little they were!)
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| The chickens would come to greet you when it was feeding time. |
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| Since they were almost all roosters, they fought over everything! Especially at mealtime. |
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| The kids have enjoyed having the birds around to play with. |
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| They are lucky they didn't get close enough for Paul to grab a handful of feathers out! |
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| Grace is by far the best with the chickens. She can catch a chicken as well as John or I! She loves to catch them and hold them. No fear in that girl! |
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| We were leading them from their pen by the barn to the garden to eat some bugs! |
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| This is what happens when they don't like the GMO (Genetically Modified Organism)corn we had to buy once in a pinch. They practically refused to eat it (They've been eating all fresh organic grains) and went for my pumpkins and squash instead! (The day before I was going to sell them at market...grr) |
The Butchering Process
We believe in raising animals with the greatest of dignity and we
believe the same is true of their death. NO, we did not just cut their
heads off and let them run around. That causes the birds to be in shock.
We put them in a killing cone upside down (I didn't take a picture of
this part) and cut the main artery in their neck. They die peacefully
and quickly. That being said, here is the process after that.
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| First you must scald the bird is 140 degree water to loosen their feathers. Aaron, a friend who has worked with Joel Salatin, a pioneer in raising healthy animals, came to help us. It was mainly my job to make sure that the water was at the right temp. Too hot can tear the skin, too cold can make it hard to pull the feathers out. |
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| After scalding, the bird goes onto the clothesline for plucking. Mom Derby, Grandma and Grandpa and a few siblings helped pluck those feathers off. |
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| The birds get washed in some water before heading to the eviscerating table. |
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| John always loves what he does, even when that includes pulling out the innards of a chicken. He has gotten pretty good at cleaning them out. John's sister, Joy, did a great job as well. Aaron showed them a few tricks to help. After they are cleaned out, they get another washing and sit in a chill tank (or a cooler with cold water in our case) for 20 min or so to cool the bird down. |
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| The final step is quality control in the house which Rebekah is awesome at. This is when you look the bird over and pull out any extra pin feathers (tiny new feathers forming) and bag and freeze them. |
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We have certainly learned a great amount about chickens this year! It was hard to butcher the birds we were raising but we knew that was the purpose. After you do one, it is not so hard. They aren't like having a dog or cat, you do not get attached, but killing things is never fun (for most). We will be raising meat birds next year so be thinking if you want any and how many you would want. Chicks will be ordered in the spring. We will let you know. We are working on a website this winter, so be looking for that!
Chick ya later!
