Chicken Killing Day
Lasted weekend was chicken killing day. I read a lot of helpful Fowl killing blogs a day later.
There weren't any chickens harmed in this process, just Guineas. But Guineas are a fair approximation of chickens, in a frantic sort of way. I didn't take any pictures, so the reader is relatively safe.
We use a tried and true process, but that doesn't mean we are good at it. Killing, plucking and processing 9 birds took my wife and I more than two hours. I hate plucking worse than I hate processing, and my wife hates processing. Lucky thing, that. If we were of the same mind it might come to blows before we got done.
The thing that amazed me this year was their crops. In the past, I don't remember remarking on the crops. They must have been there, but they were, well, unremarkable. This year, they had an amazing amount of gravel fulling their crops. My wife points out that we are feed less grain per bird, hence more foraging. More foraging, more gravel, I guess. And the guineas get up late. With our new chickens, if you get up late, you aren't getting any grain. The guineas probably didn't get grain since about July when we let the pullets out to free range.
We don't slaughter for meat, really. We'll eat these birds, for sure. But if it were just for the meat, we wouldn't do it. The meat is at least a little on the tough side and there isn't a whole lot of it. We can probably get an average of one meal from a bird between actual meat and stock and such. Not really worth the effort. But the birds aren't just about meat. Normally we would get eggs and they would be on bug patrol all summer. Part of the reason we are slaughtering is we didn't get eggs. We were only getting eggs from one bird, we think, and she was tricky, changing up her nest sites a lot. So, we weren't willing to carry a large group of males through the winter if there weren't going to be eggs in the bargain. Too much grain for too little benefit. Also, we are tight for coop space. So into the freezer they go.
I'll bet if more people had to slaughter for their own use we'd have a lot more vegetarians. I hate pluckin'.
There weren't any chickens harmed in this process, just Guineas. But Guineas are a fair approximation of chickens, in a frantic sort of way. I didn't take any pictures, so the reader is relatively safe.
We use a tried and true process, but that doesn't mean we are good at it. Killing, plucking and processing 9 birds took my wife and I more than two hours. I hate plucking worse than I hate processing, and my wife hates processing. Lucky thing, that. If we were of the same mind it might come to blows before we got done.
The thing that amazed me this year was their crops. In the past, I don't remember remarking on the crops. They must have been there, but they were, well, unremarkable. This year, they had an amazing amount of gravel fulling their crops. My wife points out that we are feed less grain per bird, hence more foraging. More foraging, more gravel, I guess. And the guineas get up late. With our new chickens, if you get up late, you aren't getting any grain. The guineas probably didn't get grain since about July when we let the pullets out to free range.
We don't slaughter for meat, really. We'll eat these birds, for sure. But if it were just for the meat, we wouldn't do it. The meat is at least a little on the tough side and there isn't a whole lot of it. We can probably get an average of one meal from a bird between actual meat and stock and such. Not really worth the effort. But the birds aren't just about meat. Normally we would get eggs and they would be on bug patrol all summer. Part of the reason we are slaughtering is we didn't get eggs. We were only getting eggs from one bird, we think, and she was tricky, changing up her nest sites a lot. So, we weren't willing to carry a large group of males through the winter if there weren't going to be eggs in the bargain. Too much grain for too little benefit. Also, we are tight for coop space. So into the freezer they go.
I'll bet if more people had to slaughter for their own use we'd have a lot more vegetarians. I hate pluckin'.
posted by MMP at
7:44 PM
4 Comments:
Sorry you guys had such a bad day - plucking is the worst. It is good that you two have worked out what you like and don't like. It does make the day go a little better. :)
By
Throwback at Trapper Creek, at 7:54 PM
I hate, hate, hate plucking too. I hate skinning as well. So there really is no alternative. Pressure cooking helps with the toughness and also if you have the space in the fridge, if you brine the meat for a night before preparing, that helps too. I like my guineas because they keep the ticks at bay. Rephrase....I love my guineas for that reason! Worth every ounce of feed I have to give them over winter.
By
Danielle, at 10:22 PM
Tough bird? Soup bird! Soups, stews, pie. This way I don't even have to pluck. Try skinning a few birds next time. It can be quite fast. Gut it after you have skinned it.
By
Walter Jeffries, at 4:23 PM
Get a plucker! I tried one for the first time this fall, what a life (hand) saver. See Poultry in Motion for my post about my first attempt, with photos.
http://howlingduckranch.wordpress.com/2008/11/29/poultry-in-motion/
cheers,
HDR
By
Anonymous, at 6:00 PM
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