Our 2nd time processing (Pics-Beware)

[PurpleChicken]

Today we processed 4 birds. Our first time we only handled
one bird so this was a big project for us.

Our flock needed to be thinned out and we had too many
roos. One roo was a 21 week RIR. One roo was a gray silkie.
Yes people, a silkie. I tried to give him away with no success.
The other 2 were extra hens.

This was a family affair. My 7 year old son handled it better
than me or his mom. It took me 20 minutes to get up the
courage to take off the RIR's head. He was a great bird but
it's always been one of our goals to eat the extras.

I did the nasty with a hatchet. My son was the bird courier
an errand boy. I scalded. My wife plucked and we both
cleaned.

All went well. The biggest problem were the bees that showed up
out of no where.

Processing/Hanging station

Scalder - I need a turkey fryer

Helper

Fresh food - Yes the gray meat is silkie

Lunch

 

[HallChicks]

That is great! Congratulations! It must have been great to eat fresh homegrown chicken!

Isn't it funny how our kids are so much better at this than adults! And we are always so concerned!

 

[silkiechicken]

Good work! We eat silkies too. It's an asian herbal thing so it goes into herb soups.

I think most kids take it easier than adults because they are young, willing to learn, and open minded. If you grew up not exposed to something, you are wary as adult. I think every city and country kid should learn how to butcher a chicken. It would be a good learning experience.

 

[PurpleChicken]

Thanks for the kind words.

Kids really do take it easier than we do. I'm convinced this experience is good for him.
He is learning so much. He did take it a little far when he ran over to the neighbors
with a chicken foot in his hand. Well, he got the idea from me so I can't blame him.
(We are close with our neighbors

)

Soup would have been the best thing for the silkie. The grill made it tough and stringy.
I might still make a small pot of soup out of it even though it's cooked.
Cooked chicken still makes a good pot of soup. A recipe request post in the recipe
section is in order.

P.S. It wasn't the purple silkie that got it. It was the 2 headed gray.

 

[lexustami]

We processed 10 Cornish X's today. (only 33 more to go. LOL) It was pretty much just my 8 year old daughter and my husband. I watched because I don't like to touch dead chicken. LOL

My daughter helped pluck and gut. She actually likes the gutting part and thinks the plucking is fun!

We beat the yellow jackets this time by moving the parts bucket away from us. They stayed over there and left us alone.

Take care,

Tami

 

[PurpleChicken]

Quote:
Good kid!!! Just think about how closer to reality she will be concerning food and life.
Most kids think chickens grow on trees. Give her a hug and tell her it's from a
7 year old named Travis in CT.

 

[lexustami]

Quote:
Good kid!!! Just think about how closer to reality she will be concerning food and life.
Most kids think chickens grow on trees. Give her a hug and tell her it's from a
7 year old named Travis in CT.

She is a good kid. Somehow we did something right with her. The other two on the other hand... Just kidding. All 3 of mine are pretty good.

She was born in CT by the way. New London.

Take care,

Tami

 

[mdbucks]

Quote:
Save the heads and take them for SHOW-N-TELL
I did that one year (3rd or 4th grade) when we did ducks, I got sent home for the rest of the day to figure out what I did wrong. My grandma came and brought me home. My dad went the next day and chewed the pinciples butt, we were told to bring something for show and tell that we did that weekend. And chicken and duck processing is what we did, so that is what I took.

 

[silkiechicken]

Quote:
Save the heads and take them for SHOW-N-TELL
I did that one year (3rd or 4th grade) when we did ducks, I got sent home for the rest of the day to figure out what I did wrong. My grandma came and brought me home. My dad went the next day and chewed the pinciples butt, we were told to bring something for show and tell that we did that weekend. And chicken and duck processing is what we did, so that is what I took.

Thats so stupid.

Oh my gosh! You eat real meat that didn't come from plastic packages!!!! You are suspended for showing innocent kids reality. You took a life rather than pretending it didn't happen when you eat the chicken burgers!!!

At least your parents did something about it! Parent involvement is the only real way to get the point across.

 

[mdbucks]

The bad thing is I didn't do it to be bad, I did it because it was the first time we did ducks, and I thought it was cool, looking back its not surprising. I also got sent to office around the same year for arguing with the teacher about the eggs being put into a incubator that she got from the store, told her they wouldn't hatch because of no rooster. I fully know why you had to have a rooster, but knew eggs from the store wouldn't work. Dad(he was always good for setting teachers and principles straight) went in and basically explained the birds and bees of raising chickens to teacher and principle. They had to appoligize to me and the next day i brought eggs in and relaced the White ones in the incubator with ones from our RIR's. My wife hears stories of my parents standing up to teachers/school system and refuses to let me HANDLE any situations at school.