Processing Day Support Group ~ HELP us through the Emotions PLEASE!

[LemonMeringue]

My only thought on that would be could your grill handle all the weight on one side? I have not gotten a pressure canner due to glass top stove and lack of other heating options. I did a lot of work getting a pot and rack that will fit on my stove top and heats to boiling with out cracking the top or tripping sensors. I think this time round I will use my propane burner for the turkey fryer. I would love to have an outside kitchen in the garage with a propane set up. On my list of to do stuff.

Well I do use that burner on the side of the grill for the full water canner when I don't want to use the big burner. ( If the propane is on the grill and I don't have the energy to move it) I do 99% of the actual canning outside, and prep inside, it is so much better than having that heat in the kitchen. Some people that do a lot of pressure canning had said that I shouldn't use it on the big burner though because those can't be turned down far enough to get the right pressure. I guess I should just give it a try on the grill burner and see if it works. I really hadn't thought of using that burner because I do usually use the big one. So thanks for getting me thinking!

 

[Sally Sunshine]

Did a processing demonstration last weekend and one little lady wanted to learn how to do it but stated she was afraid she'll cry when she does it. My response? "Go ahead and cry. Then grit your teeth, pull up yer panties and get the job done. Crying isn't wrong, it's a natural human reaction to killing another creature and especially for us women, who are instinctively nurturers and tender-hearted. Nothing wrong in crying, just something wrong in not trying."

That little girl was timid, but fearless in the end, and she got her hands dirty, did the hard stuff and walked away with some confidence in her skills and fortitude. I was so very proud of her. Funny thing, her husband refused to kill and seemed very smug about "paying other people to do that" for him...weird pairing.

VERY well said!

 

[Sally Sunshine]

Yesterday I processed my rooster of over a year after he decided that I was his mortal enemy. I have some cockerels in the brooder and another batch of eggs due to hatch soon, but it will be a few months before I have a rooster strutting around again. Hopefully my poor hens will use that time to grow some feathers back!

It was sad to see him go (I always get attached to my breeder birds,) but at least someone got a sweet deal from the whole thing.

LOL what a cutie!

 

[Sally Sunshine]

HEY! Something went right - managed to upload a photo!

awwwww! I think we all panic too much with this neck cutting thing, I think we want to do it fast and what goes wrong is we don't take the time to hit the mark, that video shows how they bend the neck back and slice just under from right to left, making two cuts one in each arteries right? I am not sure the slicing one long slice is correct what we did. I didn't get time to find that video link on this thread yet, but its here somewhere!

 

[Sally Sunshine]

Quote: LMAO! funny!

 

[Sally Sunshine]

Chicks, I only have a half sized freezer - plus the one over my fridge. The little half sized one holds a lot more than you'd expect. Do you know how to can? Canned stock and meat can be stored under a bed.

Elke - you asked about treating myself, well let's just say I have a ball of egg noodle dough resting as I type, and I'm planning on making stroganoff. Beef - its what's for dinner tonight.

Wax this may sound stupid but, when I look at your roo avy I see an eye watching me in his tail feathers! Anyone else notice this? or is it my blindness and laptop zoom level at 150% ????

 

[off-grid hen]

I got to process my birds today in the pouring rain. And I mean POURING. I felt like I was walking around with a quart of water in my boots for 2 hours. I may as well have processed them while standing in the lake, lol. Oh, well. At least the yard is rinsed now.

The process part went well, my dad came by to see the Featherman plucker in action. My mother-in-law and father just stared in awe at the birds being totally plucked in less than a minute.

This was my first time processing at home, I have only harvested one chicken before this at processing class.

Things I want for next time I process:

1. More than 7 birds to do at once. The amount of time it took to set up, clean, and dismantle the equipment wasn't efficient for the few birds I had, but I didn't know how to pluck by hand. Now that I've done birds twice now, I could do it if I had to.

2. Birds of a different breed. These jumbo cx from mcmurray are as big or bigger than the big roasters you get in the store. I don't have a meat scale, but I weighed them on the bathroom scale (which I disinfected, and the birds were in plastic that I wiped after.). I don't know how accurate that is for just a few pounds. They all weighed at least 5.5 pounds, some weighed almost 7. We'll see how they taste.

3. Sharper knives that are only used for processing, nothing else. I had to get a different knife after the first bird, it didn't go as well as I wanted it to. The rest went ok after I switched knives.

4. My husband to be home, and dryer weather. .

Here are photos of one of my birds. I am proud of myself, and I think my dad was shocked that I could do it. I was a vegetarian for years.

Now I'm off to drink some angry orchard hard ginger cider.

 

[jewels621]

Congrats, off-grid hen! It looks like you did a beautiful job!

 

[Sally Sunshine]

Congrats, off-grid hen! It looks like you did a beautiful job!

x2 u go girl!

 

[off-grid hen]

Thanks.

Speaking of "processing day emotions", it kind of bothers me that harvesting chickens doesn't bother me more. I don't enjoy it, it makes me feel uncomfortable, but I get down to business. I have made peace with what I am doing. I feel guilty that it doesn't bother me more. I have a lot of philosophical thoughts about killing chickens, and I really love chickens, so I do feel bad about it. But it's not as bad as I thought. Isn't that the way with a lot of things in life? Anyway, that's my contribution to the main thread I guess.