How to eat (your own) chicken (without losing your lunch!)

[yinepu]

I kind of like to chide my city friends who say things like "HOW can you KILL a chicken, "with: "When you eat a chicken sandwich YOU killed a chicken, you just subbed-out the "hit."" I didn't grow up farming but I've been killing and eating game since I was able to get into the woods so it's "no factor", but I gotta tell you I do get attached so some of the knot-heads. I have a few favorites that will have a place to live as long as they're healthy and happy.

My husband is in the military. He takes extra eggs in to work all the time and gives them away. The other day he mentioned that we have some more birds to butcher.. one of the guys he works with looked at him and said "you KILL them?... How can you do that? Aren't they the same ones you raised from an EGG and now you're going to EAT them???"
Now this is one of the guys who goes shooting with my husband.. has been trained to kill people in a war zone should the need arise.. yet he got all upset that we kill birds we raise for food. I asked my husband what his reply was.. he said .. "I told him.. Well, the birds don't like it much when we bite into them when they are still alive...."
He said the look on his coworker's face was priceless

For some reason this strikes me as soooo funny! Our chickens are pets and we've never eaten one yet because the kids just adore them, but when I was little my grandfather raised all kinds of birds. I remember eating dinner one night at his house when one of my brothers told me WHAT we were eating. It was the same kind of bird that was hopping around in a brooder in the corner nearby! I refused to eat and cried the rest of the night! Ha! Ha!

When I was a kid one of my uncles went squirrel hunting and offered me some squirrel meat... lol.. I cried... for some reason it seemed so wrong to me at the time that anyone should kill off those cute fuzzy tailed tree rats!

Imagine six city kids, I think we were 5-15, sitting in our aunt's kitchen eating supper. Suddenly, Aunt Betty says, "Yeah, I just had Moe slaughtered this afternoon!"
Now six kids are done eating, getting sick, and crying.

Lol.. My brother was the "city kid" of the family. He was always complaining about "barnyard smells" and refused to eat any of the food we grew.. he was very much an "inside the house only" child..
My Aunt had a pretty big farm and they also raised their own food. So she usually had a hog's head in the oven when we would go visit. My brother would get rather green around the gills when she would pull that big ol hog head out of the oven and offer him a slice! (btw.. it was DELICIOUS!)

This has got to be the best post I've seen all week!!
I'm going to have to try this.

You're gonna have to give us updates!

 

[tlcmama]

I've actually never been to fond of chicken; I've always enjoyed whatever flavor soaked into it while cooking. Our homegrown chickens are a little tough, a little rubbery, so I still use recipes that have flavors mixed with the chicken. I know that free-range meat is supposed to taste better, but we are mostly doing it for the health reasons. The eggs certainly taste much better!

I agree that chickens are not pets, although I still grow fond of them and enjoy watching their personalities. But not enough to cry when their time comes to fulfill their duty as our dinner. Of course, if I were hungry enough, I would probably eat my cat. (Nobody shoot me, please!)

haha!! i'd eat my husband if he ****** me off badly enough. i couldnt kill him, but i would definitely eat him. JUST KIDDING!!

Ive got some rogue hens right now that are trying my patience. I have already started preparing my son for their eventual fate

 

[UrbanviewFarm]

My husband is in the military. He takes extra eggs in to work all the time and gives them away. The other day he mentioned that we have some more birds to butcher.. one of the guys he works with looked at him and said "you KILL them?... How can you do that? Aren't they the same ones you raised from an EGG and now you're going to EAT them???"
Now this is one of the guys who goes shooting with my husband.. has been trained to kill people in a war zone should the need arise.. yet he got all upset that we kill birds we raise for food. I asked my husband what his reply was.. he said .. "I told him.. Well, the birds don't like it much when we bite into them when they are still alive...."
He said the look on his coworker's face was priceless


When I was a kid one of my uncles went squirrel hunting and offered me some squirrel meat...  lol.. I cried... for some reason it seemed so wrong to me at the time that anyone should kill off those cute fuzzy tailed tree rats!


Lol..  My brother was the "city kid" of the family. He was always complaining about "barnyard smells" and refused to eat any of the food we grew.. he was very much an "inside the house only" child..
My Aunt had a pretty big farm and they also raised their own food. So she usually had a hog's head in the oven when we would go visit.  My brother would get rather green around the gills when she would pull that big ol hog head out of the oven and offer him a slice! (btw.. it was DELICIOUS!)


You're gonna have to give us updates!

I don't have any named chickens up for slaughter, but have about 3 more weeks to go on a meatbird experiment I'm working on. A single white roo, I suppose I could give him a name...

 

[member 166128]

Quote:
Your mom sounds like my grandma, it was just a way of life and survival. Not worth crying over spilled milk or pet chickens cooked up in a pot.

 

[Peep_Show]

I will whole-heartedly agree that you shouldn't name what you eat. I remember being at a friend's house and having a Herfy burger which, when she told me who and what, definitely made that particular bite slower to chew and harder to swallow. Something about remembering Herfy at the fair and those big brown eyes and how we used him as an impromptu sofa. He was a very decently mannered steer but an even better freezer filler.

With chickens, it's not so much for me and I have slaughtered my own. Friends sometimes are taken aback, but then they proclaim it's the best-tasting chicken dinner they've ever had. I came up with a few things to make it easier...

1) Don't name the birds! Unless, of course, it's some food-type name, e.g., Stirfry, Nuggets, Vittles, Soup which kind of depersonalizes their being into process.

2) If you're raising several for meat, get ones that look alike. A mob of similar birds really is kind of impersonal.

3) It's easier to do a couple birds at the same time for processing (you don't have to heat up extra batches of water for hot scald). And once their feathers are off, they pretty much all look the same.

4) I always have "the destiny talk" with the birds as I'm taking them to their final dispatch. I don't know if it's more for me or them, but I tell them that every being has a purpose and that thus far they've done an excellent job and thank them for their dilligence in becoming a fine dinner....a little blessing, as it were. I'm always grateful for the niceties, especially if it results in a stellar meal.

 

[yinepu]

I will whole-heartedly agree that you shouldn't name what you eat. I remember being at a friend's house and having a Herfy burger which, when she told me who and what, definitely made that particular bite slower to chew and harder to swallow. Something about remembering Herfy at the fair and those big brown eyes and how we used him as an impromptu sofa. He was a very decently mannered steer but an even better freezer filler.

With chickens, it's not so much for me and I have slaughtered my own. Friends sometimes are taken aback, but then they proclaim it's the best-tasting chicken dinner they've ever had. I came up with a few things to make it easier...

1) Don't name the birds! Unless, of course, it's some food-type name, e.g., Stirfry, Nuggets, Vittles, Soup which kind of depersonalizes their being into process.

2) If you're raising several for meat, get ones that look alike. A mob of similar birds really is kind of impersonal.

3) It's easier to do a couple birds at the same time for processing (you don't have to heat up extra batches of water for hot scald). And once their feathers are off, they pretty much all look the same.

4) I always have "the destiny talk" with the birds as I'm taking them to their final dispatch. I don't know if it's more for me or them, but I tell them that every being has a purpose and that thus far they've done an excellent job and thank them for their dilligence in becoming a fine dinner....a little blessing, as it were. I'm always grateful for the niceties, especially if it results in a stellar meal.

#5 (I hope no one is offended.. but a friend mentioned this to me and I had to chuckle.. so please take it in the spirit is was meant.. as a joke)
Get the meanest birds you can.. that way when butchering day comes round you actually look forward to getting rid of them!

 

[PrairieChickenLady]