A Homegrown Thanksgiving Bird

[epona4]

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Miss Prissy,

I really enjoyed reading about the lamb. Glad your husband was not hurt and impressed as all heck that you did that on your own!

I hope that I get to the point where I can process our birds on my own. As it is, I know the husband will be doing the deed at first.

 

[MissPrissy]

Set your mind to the task and you can do anything you set out to do.

 

[sandspoultry]

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Well said Miss Prissy

Steve in NC

 

[SproutGirl]

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It's not my mind, but my queasy stomach that I'd have to set to do the task. Ugh!

 

[wishin4chicken]

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I cannot even imagine what a 50 pound turkey looks like. Hope you'll take a picture and let us see what it looks like going into the oven. Yum!

 

[MissPrissy]

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Set your mind to it. Plow through the task at hand. Focus on the job to be done. The stomach part will no longer be the focus.

 

[Jessika]

http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn47/psychojesi/roos/muddy1.jpg

thanksgiving dinner...

Quail for x-mas.

We are a family of 7 and only have 2 coming to dinner so it should do......

 

[SussexInSeattle]

al6517, that bird you did yourself is BEAUTIFUL! Looks like fresh from a farm, nice skin color and shape, I'm impressed!

Miss Prissy is right on! The first bird I had to process was very difficult because I hesitated because my heart wasn't in it but I do feel like a very 'agriculturally' minded person, assisting in puppy births and C-sections and tending many dog wounds over 40+ years.

The next chicken went SO MUCH SMOOTHER since I knew what would go wrong if I made the same mistakes as the first time. It is not the easiest thing to do by yourself unless you are totally prepared.

Sproutgirl, I would definately take another of your 4 mutt chickens down and have it dressed out and try to cook it for a trial dinner! The two I did myself were both dual purpose breeds and they all 'look' not scrawny but naked and tough is small and disappointing.

Coming from a bunch of layers, yours just may not be so yummy unless you stick it in a pressure cooker or something. No sense having a bummer meal on the Holiday. You also may feel a little (or a lot) wierd when eating that very first dinner so for insurance, I would suggest a trial run and be sure to come back to this thread and let us know how it goes.

Also, mine was just about 7 months old and may as well have been 7 years it was so stringy and tough.

 

[SussexInSeattle]

I forgot to add that when anyone is finally ready to do the deed themselves, you will find many videos of the whole process on YouTube which is what helped to convince me that this was do-able. I agree with the whole cone thing, just don't screw up and let the thing get away from you before you can get it in the cone like my first one did.

 

[gumpsgirl]

I would love to do this! It is just a matter of me getting brave enough first though.