Processed our first birds yesterday!! What an experience!

[PsychedChicken]

Congrats!! I bought a bunch of Jumbo Cornish x Rocks last year and was a little nervous about the slaughtering myself. My husband and I made the deal that if he killed it, I would clean it. I had cleaned many kinds of animals but never killed any unless i was hunting (or ran them over!).

I was surprised with how well the process went. I watched and barely cringed. Since the first one my husband has not helped. Apparently thats "womens work"

It is actually oddly satisfying. People who do not deal with animals besides as pets think im a psycho for saying it, but its true. There is nothing rewarding like raising your dinner. Especially when you got them at a day old.

I have been waiting until they are starting to develop leg problems to slaughter them since they are prone to it. As soon as I see them having ANY trouble getting around they end up on the table. However I have 2 hens who are now close to 6months old who have showed no signs of health problems. The "fly" up onto my porch. Feeding them game-bird food is supposed to let you get 3-4 months out of them. But apparently these are super chickens!! They are considerably larger then basketballs. The last one I cleaned weighed in at 9lbs AFTER being processed. If you are planning on getting chickens of your own to process I strongly recommend these! They are 4-5 lbs in 10-12 weeks. Its mind blowing!! If you feed them high protein food, and supplement their water with electrolytes when their chicks, they will live healthy lives. Leg problems are inevitable but easily prolonged

Also, Getting the lungs out with your hands only gets easier. However I'm in Florida and not fighting the cold so much! I have yet to invest in a lung scraper, however i keep saying im going to.

 

[ChicknThief]

Lol! Yea my DH didn't help with the processing either

I caught, killed, and cleaned. He did help keep the bird still while I was gutting, and he passed my knives and scissors to me, but that's it! Lol.

I personally prefer dual purpose for meat birds. That way I can breed and hatch out chicks and not have to buy a new supply every year. I am VERY interested in learning how to caponize as well. From what I understand, if you caponize correctly, and in the right time window, you wind up with a bird that is around 12 pounds, whereas their uncaponized counterpart may only weight around 9 pounds. That would ESPECIALLY come in handy when hatching them out because of the 50/50 boy:girl hatching ratio.

 

[farmer9989]

build a killing cone , peace of tin and couple of screws lot easier.

 

[Smiles-N-Sunshine]

It is actually oddly satisfying. People who do not deal with animals besides as pets think im a psycho for saying it, but its true. There is nothing rewarding like raising your dinner. Especially when you got them at a day old.

I think growing and raising your own food is perfectly natural, not odd. What's odd is pretending meat grows on a meat tree in the back of the supermarket.

 

[PsychedChicken]

I think growing and raising your own food is perfectly natural, not odd. What's odd is pretending meat grows on a meat tree in the back of the supermarket.

HAHA. I couldnt agree more! People dont realize what their missing out on.
Btw, thats a very nice guinea in your avatar. I have some as well. They are something else. Also, tasty.

 

[Smiles-N-Sunshine]

Thanks! Yes, guineas were interesting but they flew over our 8' chain link fence like it was a speed bump, built nests in the desert, and became coyote food

. So, they live on in my avatar.

 

[PsychedChicken]

Thanks! Yes, guineas were interesting but they flew over our 8' chain link fence like it was a speed bump, built nests in the desert, and became coyote food

. So, they live on in my avatar.

Awww!

I dont even attempt to keep mine fenced. They go wherever they please during the day. I kept them cooped for a little over 8 weeks before i started letting them free range so they put themselves up in their coop at dark every night. We lost one juvenile to a hawk last summer. So far, besides that one, were the only predators that have gotten to enjoy eating them.

hoping the pattern continues. Luckily predators dont come in our yard during the day due to the dogs. They are very unique characters those Guineas!