Me (mom) and my 17 year old daughter do our processing. I cull them and she skins and guts them. Neither of us enjoy doing it. It is a skill that requires practice and right now takes her 1.5 hours per bird, used to be 2. And I'm sure with confidence will come speed. But I would pay that $3 all day everyday if I could find someone to do it! That's a very reasonable price, to me.
That is funny, my daughter wants nothing to do with it. My folks live with me. My father killed the roos, I plucked, he gutted. He would kill and bring them to me, while I was plucking that one, he'd go inside. When I was close to finishing the plucking, he'd come out kill the next, then take the plucked and gut it while I plucked the next one. It worked well for 3 rounds of roos over about 6 months, then we were done. Decided we never wanted to do it again. It's about a 45 min drive to the place that does it, so we bring an ice chest. Hand them over, then bring back clean birds in about 20 minutes.Me (mom) and my 17 year old daughter do our processing. I cull them and she skins and guts them. Neither of us enjoy doing it. It is a skill that requires practice and right now takes her 1.5 hours per bird, used to be 2. And I'm sure with confidence will come speed. But I would pay that $3 all day everyday if I could find someone to do it! That's a very reasonable price, to me.
@feedman77 ouch, that's a hard pill to swallow...
Hopefully the birds will go down easier.
Well, hook your daughter up with a bunch of newly hormonal cockerels going after and holding down her favorite pullet while taking turns mating her as she screams and taking chunks out of her comb because they haven't learned any manners yet.
Awww, I can totally understand your issues with processing. My daughter has special needs, so she likes the chicks hatching, but loses interest after that...we are taking baby steps in getting her to feed them, and water them. I think the processing will never be on her list of things to do.Well, hook your daughter up with a bunch of newly hormonal cockerels going after and holding down her favorite pullet while taking turns mating her as she screams and taking chunks out of her comb because they haven't learned any manners yet.We weren't prepared... but that will never happen again.Who knew nature could be so brutal?!
Anyways, we don't do it out of anger... but that sure helped to know what HAD to be done. We have discussed getting rid of all roosters and never processing because it really isn't fun. But being unprepared that first time around was a wake up call and giving up on it all didn't feel like I would be honoring God, just because I didn't like that lesson. I know we are doing the right thing by not supporting the chicken industry.
I currently have 56 birds all with names and personalities (except chicks who will still get their names) and injuries are bound to happen. I will be thankful for the processing experience we have, should the need arise where we need to help one of them out of their pain. Don't think I could do it on the fly without some serious turmoil on our part with zero skill. But now I know I can if I need to and that in itself might be worth the experience we've had even if we do eventually find someone who will process our bird for us.
My daughter does have a very clear understanding of life. And she doesn't particularly want anything to do with processing but (Thank God) she has been a great support system moving us forward in our growth as human beings. She turns 18 in May... excited for her to pursue her own life but sad to consider losing the benefit she brings to our home and family. Now I can see why other countries have multi generational families!
I keep hatching chicks, going... nope, no empty nest syndrome here.But it won't surprise me if we get the point where we just choose not to eat chicken. I can't do the processing part, breaking bones just grosses me out.Before learning that the boneless, skinless chicken breast we used to buy may have had a big tumor cut off before it floated down chlorine blood river... well, it was all we bought!And handling a whole dead chicken was too much like handling a young baby.... sorry, I guess now I'm going overboard sharing my fears and whatnot. I am an over thinker, save the worm of the sidewalk type person... So ya, it's been an adventure I never anticipated! And so worth it.
OH... and now I see you have a multi generational family... So cool, what a blessing!(gulp, tears of joy for y'all)
We are very fortunate to have good friends who own all the "equipment" for processing, and have done hundreds of birds. We (and a couple other families who raise birds) all agree upon a day and do all the butchering together. "Many hands make light work," the Amish say... and they're absolutely right!
