Just slaughtered my first 3 roosters

[Cinnamon Roll]

Also, I don’t really know how to properly use the quote feature on this forum lol. But I really relate to what you said there about it really driving you to make sure they have a great life. I felt quite an obligation to make sure I was being the best chicken keeper I could be and that I honoured the meat I ate from those chickens by using the energy to do good things for the rest of the flock and the whole homestead I’m trying to build. It just is quite a cool feeling to be so consciously connected to your food and really understand the consequences of eating. I feel a lot more grateful for all of my meals now. It is also kind of nice to me to hear that the sadness hasn’t gone away for you. Even though it is hard, I was kind of worried about becoming emotionally shut off to the event, and I don’t think I really want that either.

Thanks for the helpful words

I find the quote function a little un-intuitive honestly

Thanks for sharing your journey.

 

[Chicken poppy]

Congratulations and condolences on your meat harvest. I always have mixed emotions too.

I was vegetarian for years before I started raising my own meat so I know how you feel. I think it’s good to have feelings about taking a life. I’ve killed a lot of chickens and the sadness is always there for me. It drives me to make sure that I do everything I can to make their life great and give them as calm and pain free end as I can. Unfortunately chickens don’t mate 1-1 like geese so there will always be extra males, even if they lived like jungle fowl the boys would probably be driven off and eaten by predators. And a predator wouldn’t care if the chicken’s death was easy. I’m sure you did right by your roosters.

I put my chicken carcasses in a big ziplock bag, then into a small tub to catch any leaks, then into the fridge. If you can find Jumbo or 2-Gallon ziplocks, those hold a lot. You can also dry age them, keep them in the fridge without covering, but I’ve found it leads to drier meat and I didn’t like it.

I usually use my Food Saver to store them in the freezer but a ziplock freezer bag works too, but be aware the meat might get freezer burned if you don’t use it quickly. If it gets freezer burned you can still use it in a soup or stew.

Having emotion is always good, it means your heart is in the right place when killing them.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

Ensure you mark the oldest one as that bird is going to be soup. At that age it will have to be slow cooked with a lot of moisture. If stewing in a pot to pull the meat off don't allow it to boil. Slow simmer it to keep the meat tender. Soup, chicken and dumplings, gumbo, etc.

The other two can be roasted in a covered pan.

When freezing ensure the packaging has no air to avoid freezer burn.

 

[Sussex19]

Anyway I had a few questions, a) I’m having a hard time emotionally about having to kill my roosters and was wondering if anyone had any tips/advice on that!

The first ones are very hard, and it is never something I look forward to.
However, as I have done more of them, I have come to look at it more like picking apples or peas, or anything that needs harvesting.
I (and some people are going to think me very odd for this) don't really like taking anything that is living, even if it is a plant.
But at the same time, there is a great satisfaction from growing your own food, and making sure that it is happy and healthy.
So I am very grateful for anything I take to feed myself and my family, but I don't make too much more of a deal of harvesting a chicken then when I pick those apples.
(and my thoughts and how I deal with it are always changing, but that is how I feel in the moment)

But also, my more technical question is: how do you package the meat right after slaughter? We killed them last night and read everywhere to rest them especially if older for about 2 days (2 of them were about 9mos old and one was 2yrs) so they are all three in our fridge resting right now.

But I wasn’t really sure what to wrap them in? I’m super scared of them getting spoiled cause I already feel sad about killing them, I would hate for the meat to be wasted. Is wrapping them in plastic okay while resting? Or what do you all do during that stage?

We just drop them in to zip-lock bags, and then drop that in to another bag, and then they go in the fridge for anywhere between 2 to 5 days, and then we freeze them in their bags.

 

[agarnp]

Also, I don’t really know how to properly use the quote feature on this forum lol. But I really relate to what you said there about it really driving you to make sure they have a great life. I felt quite an obligation to make sure I was being the best chicken keeper I could be and that I honoured the meat I ate from those chickens by using the energy to do good things for the rest of the flock and the whole homestead I’m trying to build. It just is quite a cool feeling to be so consciously connected to your food and really understand the consequences of eating. I feel a lot more grateful for all of my meals now. It is also kind of nice to me to hear that the sadness hasn’t gone away for you. Even though it is hard, I was kind of worried about becoming emotionally shut off to the event, and I don’t think I really want that either.

Thanks for the helpful words

It helps me too seeing your post and the replies b/ I know exactky how you feel---I am dreading processing our chickens in a few months when we replace them with younger chickens that we are raising now (hatched 3 weeks ago). My husband will be taking care of the culling but I feel a twist in me everytime i think about when the time comes. I can appreciate what we are doing here and it's certainly better than how commercial chickens are raised. I am particularly concerned for my feelings about saying goodbye to our gorgeous rooster. I guess I just have to go through it and it may get better w time. Its helpful to see I am not alone. thanks to all.