I butchered my first chicken this weekend. I never really grew up around it. I was around chickens at my grandpas house but he never killed and ate any of his flock. Before I was born he did a little bit, but I guess he got a little soft in his old age.
Anyhow - I had a rooster that was about 8 months old. He was always very nice and docile. As soon as he became sexually mature, he was a terror. Attacking me in the coop, attacking others who come over to watch the chickens for the night, etc. If my chickens were in a free range environment then I would be fine with this behavior. But in a chicken coop its just undesirable and it was ruining my chicken owning experience. Plus, I personally felt that butchering a chicken would be a good skill to have done and to know how to do.
So this weekend, my wife's mom (go figure, right) was around on Saturday. When they got home from shopping we went out to the coop (after dark) and took the rooster. No squaking, no fighting me, just took him in his sleep. Carried him upside down to keep him calm. We dispatched him by slitting his throat and letting him bleed out - a surprisingly quick, quiet, and peaceful thing to me. Once the rooster was dead and bled out, we brought him inside to be cleaned.
I was a little sad at first, but once we got into cleaning the bird I focused on that. Removing the feathers was not hard but took a long time. I broke the chicken up into pieces and put it into the fridge for the past few days. I am planning on marinating it tonight and eating it for dinner tomorrow.
The whole thing for me, that made it easier was having someone around you who knows what they are doing. My MIL really helped me, guiding me, showing me how to do it right. Someone mentioned a few pages back about not wanting to do their first chicken for fear of "messing it up". That was honestly my biggest fear. He was a good rooster, doing what came instinctively to him, and I wanted to be sure I butchered him and used him in a way that respected and befitted his position as a living thing in my care. Yes, my chickens are considered pets at some level but there is also realism that any "good" pet owner or animal owner must understand. You have to have a level of responsibility to be honest enough with yourself in these situations. In my case, the right thing to do was to butcher, clean, and now eat the rooster to improve my flock and make the whole experience as a whole better.
I would equate butchering your first chicken to hunting - another thing I have yet to experience. Its not something you can just pick up a gun and go do - not safely or responsibly, anyway. And there are a ton of resources out there on hunting, safety, how to do things, etc. Just as there are with butchering. But there is just no substitute for learning from someone else. Both in hunting, and in butchering and cleaning your first chicken.
Anyhow - I had a rooster that was about 8 months old. He was always very nice and docile. As soon as he became sexually mature, he was a terror. Attacking me in the coop, attacking others who come over to watch the chickens for the night, etc. If my chickens were in a free range environment then I would be fine with this behavior. But in a chicken coop its just undesirable and it was ruining my chicken owning experience. Plus, I personally felt that butchering a chicken would be a good skill to have done and to know how to do.
So this weekend, my wife's mom (go figure, right) was around on Saturday. When they got home from shopping we went out to the coop (after dark) and took the rooster. No squaking, no fighting me, just took him in his sleep. Carried him upside down to keep him calm. We dispatched him by slitting his throat and letting him bleed out - a surprisingly quick, quiet, and peaceful thing to me. Once the rooster was dead and bled out, we brought him inside to be cleaned.
I was a little sad at first, but once we got into cleaning the bird I focused on that. Removing the feathers was not hard but took a long time. I broke the chicken up into pieces and put it into the fridge for the past few days. I am planning on marinating it tonight and eating it for dinner tomorrow.
The whole thing for me, that made it easier was having someone around you who knows what they are doing. My MIL really helped me, guiding me, showing me how to do it right. Someone mentioned a few pages back about not wanting to do their first chicken for fear of "messing it up". That was honestly my biggest fear. He was a good rooster, doing what came instinctively to him, and I wanted to be sure I butchered him and used him in a way that respected and befitted his position as a living thing in my care. Yes, my chickens are considered pets at some level but there is also realism that any "good" pet owner or animal owner must understand. You have to have a level of responsibility to be honest enough with yourself in these situations. In my case, the right thing to do was to butcher, clean, and now eat the rooster to improve my flock and make the whole experience as a whole better.
I would equate butchering your first chicken to hunting - another thing I have yet to experience. Its not something you can just pick up a gun and go do - not safely or responsibly, anyway. And there are a ton of resources out there on hunting, safety, how to do things, etc. Just as there are with butchering. But there is just no substitute for learning from someone else. Both in hunting, and in butchering and cleaning your first chicken.
