Preparing Chickens

[CoastalDefender]

I grew up on the coast the son of two white-collar workers. Having nearly everything handed to me and not made aware of it's origins, I assumed like most GenXers that the world is antiseptic and things aren't "real" unless they have a "Made In" sticker on it somewhere.

Somewhere along the line it occurred to me that this was all a facade. There's something else going on I'm not exposed to, and I want to understand "how it works". The end-user result is fine for daily living, but I want to understand where things come from, how they work, and how to do it myself.

At every turn, I attempt to learn more and more about what it means to "live" in this world, and do it relying on myself rather than others. Growing in ways that make me and my family more self-sufficient and self-reliant. It's been an adventure and a learning experience.

Which brings me to the background of this thread-
Knowing nothing about livestock, I got chickens last year. Eggs are just starting, and that's their purpose. Built a respectable chicken run, small coop, and soon a larger coop, they're well fed and act appropriate for their age.

Well, I hate getting into something wtihout getting all the way into it. If I'm not "oh-****" deep, I'm disappointed I missed out on something. This mentality of measured excess in my life is the basis of my alcoholism and work-addiction.


So, the next step is to understand how to slaughter and prepare the chickens for consumption. The thought of it does not delight. Having seen life taken in front of me and having been the dealer at times, Death is not something I love, but loathe. However, I understand each and every time I consume the flesh of another being, it was destroyed by someone for my nourishment. Essentially I was the one for whom it was killed. The thought of destroying something I raised does not lead me to despair, I don't fear it, but I do respect it. I respect the animal, and I respect the fact that it's death will assist my life. So I will respect it's slaughter, and will do it as quickly and humanely as possible.

With that said, I have a pretty good idea on how to do it in a practical way. What I do from that point... Well frankly I'm stumped.

So I do as any other GenXer would do in a real-life situation that perplexes me, I go to YouTube.

After search for what seemed like forever (10min?) I came across this video. The cartoonish scenes are a little OTT, but it's an excellent explanation.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7SU0gn8BhM

Another version of how to butcher a whole chicken-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SNjIzsKXfo


Maybe if the weather is appropriate here in the next few weekends, I'll take my shot at doing the same. However, I may wait a bit, as the eggs that are coming are excellent on the plate. They may be worth more in eggs right now.

 

[Michael Slade]

I had the exact same thought process earlier this spring. We did 75 chicks and ended up with 65 chickens. I was in charge of the neck-slitting.

I can answer any questions you may have. I learned a LOT.

I have some photos and a time-lapse video that would be deemed inappropirate for ExPo. I can share if you'd like.

 

[CoastalDefender]

I had the exact same thought process earlier this spring. We did 75 chicks and ended up with 65 chickens. I was in charge of the neck-slitting.

I can answer any questions you may have. I learned a LOT.

I have some photos and a time-lapse video that would be deemed inappropirate for ExPo. I can share if you'd like.

Any extra info would be welcome. If it violates the TOS of the site, you can PM it to me. (I can't see how it would if you provided the appropriate disclaimers, and clearly it's within the realm of pure learning and sharing of knowledge. Though it's understandable how a topic this grizzly could be unpalatable to onlookers).

With that said, someone mentioned taking them live to a butcher who will do it all for you. Fine if you have a lot that you would like done all at the same time, but part of my raising them myself is the joys and sorrows that are contained within.

In the same way I would never let someone else "put-down" my dog in my stead, I don't think I could ever let someone else butcher the chickens I had raised from 2 days old. Due to my attachment, I would want to be the one to do it.

I have two Rhode Island Reds and six Buff Orpingtons, BTW.

 

[jammyauto]

so which ones are gonna get the axe? I think it's great that your going to do this yourself. I'll probably raise a few to slaughter myself just so my children can have the experiance. Don't get your hopes up too high though, a laying hen can be a little tough. Especially if they free range or have a very large run. I realize this is not the point though. Another piece of advise is butcher animals very early in morning bofore it gets warm and the flies are out. Also don't eat the birds right away. They taste better after they have aged at least a day, refriderated of coarse.

 

[CoastalDefender]

so which ones are gonna get the axe? I think it's great that your going to do this yourself. I'll probably raise a few to slaughter myself just so my children can have the experiance. Don't get your hopes up too high though, a laying hen can be a little tough. Especially if they free range or have a very large run. I realize this is not the point though. Another piece of advise is butcher animals very early in morning bofore it gets warm and the flies are out. Also don't eat the birds right away. They taste better after they have aged at least a day, refriderated of coarse.

I've got one of each type that are REALLY loud. But I want them all to mature fully before they become dinner.

To make sure I'm ending the loudest ones of course.

 

[XL Bar]

We used to raise 75 chickens a year for consumption purposes and around 2 dozen layers.

We would slaughter the roosters and any excess pullets with the following method:

1. Have a support structure (fence, sawhorse, etc. We called it the butchering pole) with some short lengths (12") of wire hanging from it. Capture your chicken (we would do it very early in the morning or late evening and remove them from their roosts to avoid a lot of chasing and stressing of the birds). Carry them gently to the pole with their head tucked under their wing. Invert the bird and wrap several loops of wire around both feet until secure. Grasp the head of the bird and gently stretch the neck out and then make a quick cut with a sharp knife, severing the head from the body. Let the bird flail around and bleed out.

2. We always did the skinning method like in the video and then froze the birds whole.

Brian

 

[EricG]

My grandmother killed her, I can remember her going out an catching one and taking the hatchet to it and tossing the head into the weeds. Then she would pluck it and fix it for dinner. I think she did this every sunday, she never bought them until she wasn't able to kill her own. My mom said that she would can them and that it was the best chicken she ever had.

 

[tommudd]

My grandmother killed her, I can remember her going out an catching one and taking the hatchet to it and tossing the head into the weeds. Then she would pluck it and fix it for dinner. I think she did this every sunday, she never bought them until she wasn't able to kill her own. My mom said that she would can them and that it was the best chicken she ever had.

Thats the way my Grandmother did it and also my Mother until we stopped raising them. I still have the old chopping block with 2 nails in it to lay their little heads in between and ....chop!!!! Nothing better, not like any of this stuff you but today in stores!

Tom

 

[travel dodge]

I have put some thought into raising some birds myself. Possibly in the next few years when I can commit to being around the house all summer. This site/ mag has some good info on many interesting topics. http://www.backwoodshome.com/
hope it is ok to post here.

 

[devinsixtyseven]

Man, what a strange thread to bring back memories.

My parents had a large coop for years when I was a kid. I remember holding chicks, fresh eggs, bringing the chickens inside to the basement in big cardboard boxes during a massive windstorm (they were actually pretty calm with the lids closed on the boxes), and eventually watching my dad and a neighbor slaughter them when my parents decided they'd had enough. All just part of the cycle...tho it was a little weird seeing a headless chicken running around the yard at one point.

Good luck with 'em!

The area where the old coop used to sit became a very lush strawberry garden.

-Sean

 

[rambrush]

We used a old large funnel with the neck cut off. Stuff the chicken in there pull the head through the opening and it always gave the same spot for deheading purposes.
Bucket below for keeping some mess down.
We had several who would bail out with no head and run around for a bit. weird..

 

[rambrush]

Double post..

 

[WhereTheHellIsJames?]

I pretty much had the same notion as CoastalDefender- to raise my own food. I got some chickens for eggs (Aracana, RI Red, and Buff), and and the next year, I got some for meat (Cornish Cross).

The thing about chickens, is that if you want great meat, they need to be relatively young (+/- 8 weeks- at least for the BBQ/Rotisserie). If you want eggs, they have to be relatively old (+/- 6 mos.) The older the chicken, the less apropriate it is for thngs such as baking & BBQing, and the more appropriate it will be for, say, the soup pot. I should also point out that the older the bird, the more challenging it is to skin or feather it (the fascia becomes much stronger at about 3 mos.).

First, how to kill it:

My favorite (and least messy) method for killing is similar to the video- at least at first. Hold it upside down with your right hand, belly to your right for about a minute. This will calm the bird and the blood will run to its head. Hold the bird out from you, center of chest, and gently grasp the head, underhanded (elbow in to your ribs, not up in the air) with your left hand. In a swift and smooth motion turn the head clockwise (head going from looking at the ground, to arching towards the birds back) and pull in opposing directions with your two hands. This will snap the birds neck, severing the spinal cord. When you feel the 'snap', the deed is done. The bird will lightly flutter for 10 seconds tops. WARNING: Make sure you snap that neck! Otherwise you will be injuring and torturing the bird.

After it has stopped fluttering in your hands, you can hang it from the bleeder (which you will have set up before the slaughter). The simplest bleeder that I have used is merely a piece of twine tied to a branch, hanging , say a foot or foot and a half, with a loop at the dangling end. Using a 'larks head' knot, hang the birds by its feet, and slit the throat about an inch below its beak to bleed it. Since you just snapped the neck, the heart is still beating, and will pump the blood right out of the bird, also, the bir will not be flopping around, so you'll not have such a mess.

I should also mention two other wys of killing that are equally easy. The first is to simply grab the bird by the head while it's walking around, and give it a couple of good shakes (similar to the shakes that you use to get some more slack out of your garden hose or extention cord)- this'll do the job as well, but not as reliably as the first method. The other way is to do just as the first method, but pull hard, and you'll take the head right off- be warned though, this method can be a little messy if the bird is not "asleep". If you use either of these two methods instead of the first, go ahead and follow the same steps with the bleeder.

Skin or none?

Some like skin, some don't- or if you're like me, you can take it or leave it. removing the skin and feathers simultaneously is definitely the cleanest, easiest, and probably most sanitary way to go about it. The video pretty much walks you through the principles, and once you get started, you'll find out that there's really not much too it.

If you want skin then you'll need to pluck... not fun, and stinks pretty bad. Get yourself a big pot. By big, I mean like a pot used to deep-fry a turkey. Actually, if you have a turkey-frryer kit, then this is going to make things a lot easier since you can make the whole stench/mess outside instead of in your kitchen. Fill the pot with water until about 6 or 7 inches from the top... get it going to a boil. Hold the bird by its legs (don't remove the head yet) and dunk it in the pot, raising and lowering completely out of the water frequently. The reason for doing this is so that you do not start to cook the bird. Test to seewhen the feathers com off easily. You'll be ready to pluck when you can wipe your hand across the bird, in the natural direction of the feathers, and have a bunch just come off as you wipe across it. Plucking is smelly, dirty, and a pain in the . . . And after all that, you'll not want to eat the skin anyways, so you might as well use the skinning method.

Anyways, if you want more info, feel free to PM and I'll tell you everything I know. Good choice to try raising your own food. There are not enough people who do so, and in a way, it is an art. There's always the grocery store for convenience, but if one is a meat eater, than I think that it's important that at least once in their lives they raise, slaughter, and eat an animal, so that they can understand a certain respect and awareness for their food that a nicely wrapped "meat product" from a grocery store shelf just cannot give.

Good luck!

:chowtime::eatchicke