This Spring I got my first chickens. I choose laying hens but have always been interested in raising chickens for my own meat as well. I didn't want to try both at once. So when my hubby's cousin offered to raise meat birds for us I was thrilled! They got Cornish Cross hens when they were 1 day old and we butchered them 3 months later on June 18th.
It was quite the experience. Neither I nor my husband has ever done anything like this before. Not only were we newbies, we fought terrible weather. There were tornadoes within 2 miles of our location and we even lost power for awhile. It was a little scary for a bit.
I was a little nervous to begin with. Honestly the thought of killing an animal made me a little sick to my stomach. I have always been an animal lover. Surprisingly it wasn't the killing that made me queasy, it was the smell. No one ever warned me of the smell. Now I know I have a pregnancy nose and that doesn't help but even not pregnant I am pretty sure it would be just as bad. Yuck.
Here is how the process worked. First the guys would head out and select the chickens. They would hold them by their wings and lay their head on a board between to embedded nails.
Once they chopped the head off they would hold it up-side-down to drain out the blood.
Once the blood was drained you would dip the bird into boiling water for 5 seconds or so. This would soften the feathers and this is where the smell factor came in. Plug your nose. After that you would pluck out all the feathers.
They guys would then gut the birds and cut off the necks. The birds were brought inside to my mother-in-law, cousin and myself where we cut off the feet and washed the birds off.
We then would pull out the pin feathers and completely wash out the bird with cold water. 
We ended up bringing home 16 birds. Hubby and I cleaned the birds once more when we got home, cut them up and packaged them for freezing. I even kept all the bones to make chicken stock.
I feel good about our meat. I know where it came from, what it was feed and how it lived.
Kudos to you! I wish wish wish we could have chickens but my SO keeps his foot firmly down! At least I have my mothers ranch to keep us supplied. Altho it smells, and takes some getting used to, there is no comparable feeling to knowing where your dinner came from!
ReplyDelete~Kelli @ Smidgens
Great post! My son is raising meat chickens for 4-H and we'll get to eat 6 out of the nine...however I'm taking ours to the local chicken butcher!! It only cost an extra $12 so I feel it's worth it!!
ReplyDeleteI also am getting more chicken from a friend who raised some for me. I agree it's great to know where your meat comes from!!
Great info! Thanks for posting!!
ReplyDeleteThis was a courageous effort. The appreciation of where our food come from and what it take to have it is one rich lesson.
ReplyDeleteI have etched in my memory, our neighbor killing his chickens and letting them run around without their head. Yes, they do that...
ReplyDeleteWOW. you are amazing!! no way could I have participated pregnant or not :) I am all for buying them DONE :) but thanks for sharing!!!!!
ReplyDeleteMy grandma likes to tell the story of my grandpa's grandpa... apparently his 5 year old twin grandchildren were spending some time with him one summer, and he made them butcher chickens. My great-grandma always said how absurd it was to make a five year old butcher a chicken! (Even in those days!) I can't even imagine doing it myself, at 31 years :)
ReplyDeleteI grew up on a farm where we had chickens all the time. It was a Saturday ritual to butcher chickens for Sunday dinner. Nothing tastes better than fresh fried chicken with all the trimmings!
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