Processing Day Support Group ~ HELP us through the Emotions PLEASE!

[Beekissed]

Glad I am able to help.... this thread has shown some incredible journeys for folks. I have been able to make the journey with the constant help and support of my DH, but not all have that. Many, many hours of research through this wonderful site have greatly reduced learning curves... so if I can take a few extra minutes to take some pics and help out the next person then I'm glad I am able to return the favor in the names of all of the educators who have done the same before me.

Beekissed... took me a while to get used to the thought of using the feet, did seem a bit gross at first, actually seemed strange till I cleaned my first one and realized just how much meat there was and how well protected the meat was from the thick skin over it. Now I'm kicking myself for the waste of all of the ones I threw away! Live and learn, I guess... but I'm not sure I could emulate your gran and eat them direct. Call me a pansy but I'm not quite ready for that!

Me neither!!!!

But my dog simply LOVES the feet as snacks, so after I used mine for stock, I just froze them whole and would thaw out a bag now and again to use for dog snacks. Great for the coat, teeth and bones of the dog, so at least someone got to eat those feet!!

Here's a link to another excellent pictorial on processing...it's so very complete and step by step that I recommend it highly for all newbies to processing. Wish I had made this!!!

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/how-to-process-a-chicken-at-home

 

[jajeanpierre]

I have peace of mind knowing that the food I feed my family has a clean, healthy environment. even if the product labeled "kosher" you can't even trust. There is an undercover video on youtube that reveals this situation, so it's Back to basics for me.

Yesterday I was at my small-animal vet's for some annual vaccination and we discussed slaughtering my chickens humanely. He was okay with either bleeding out or chopping off heads.

I brought up with him that various equine veterinary sites (such as UC Davis vet school) no longer say exsanguination is an acceptable method for euthansia of horses. I wonder if that is in response to PETA, not research. He did say that he had watched cattle slaughtered by Kosher methods and he said it was really awful with the animal frothing and struggling. I think Kosher requires a very large knife that would sever the trachea, so that might be the issue. I don't know.

I'm now going to look into nitrogen to anesthetize them first.

 

[Beekissed]

You have to look, too, at the size of the animal in question. It takes much longer for a cow or horse to bleed out than it does a chicken. Whether one uses decapitation, bleeding out or nitrogen gas, the end result is the same...the animal is oxygen deprived (smothered, in effect), which causes the heart to stop, brain to stop, death to occur.

The fact of the matter is that all death is essentially the same at the very end of the life spark..in humans or in animals, the body is going to struggle for that moment. You may not see the actual struggle if the muscles do not contract..but if you took vital signs you would find an increase in respiration and heart rate for a period of time as the body tries to supply oxygen to vital areas, then the slowing of both at the very end as the oxygen does not come.

That internal organ stress and struggle is there for each method of death, so trying to pick one that shows no external struggle is for one's own benefit only.

 

[Elke Beck]

Chicken feet make a stock that you can bounce quarters off of when it cools. It is some of the best stuff you can have for soups or just adding to other dishes.

Before I killed my first chicken last year I decided I was going to use every bit that I could of each bird. Throwing parts away seems like a betrayal of the bird. I can't handle cooking the heads, but otherwise, if it is edible it is fed to my family or my dogs. Someday I may be able to put the heads into the stock pot, but right now it is too unappetizing.

 

[fisherlady]

Chicken feet make a stock that you can bounce quarters off of when it cools. It is some of the best stuff you can have for soups or just adding to other dishes.

Before I killed my first chicken last year I decided I was going to use every bit that I could of each bird. Throwing parts away seems like a betrayal of the bird. I can't handle cooking the heads, but otherwise, if it is edible it is fed to my family or my dogs. Someday I may be able to put the heads into the stock pot, but right now it is too unappetizing.

Nope, I can't do the heads either... but I have discussed with DH the cooking (outside on my turkey fryer or grill) of entrails (minus the gall bladder) if we are processing our birds who we keep off of food for 12 hrs before. We haven't done it yet, but probably will give it a shot the next time. Figure we can cook it all down with some water, then run it through the grinder like we did the bones and stuff from the soup pot.

We save our liver and hearts for catfishing though, so dogs aren't getting them!

 

[Jarocal]

[COLOR=A52A2A]That article holds no surprises for me....I've been on this forum for 5 years and have watched the urban movement towards chickens with much dismay.  This society, with their "I want it! Give it to me now!" attitude brooks no arguments about the welfare of the animal.  They think that love means letting every animal live, live, live even when the quality of that life is a misery, and showering it with food of all kinds, expensive coops, cute clothing and claims of "humane" treatment being the equivalent of "compassion". [/COLOR]

You find the same thing with kittens, puppies, rabbits, and other pets. Living in a rural area the surrounding farms have problems with people dropping off cats all the time. No thought is given to the fact the farmer doesn't want them, or that the cat that has been a domestic pet is going to probably find a more painful death at the hands of a fox or coyote. They definitely don't take into account feral cats in the area of my pasture chickens are not really a welcome addition.

[COLOR=A52A2A]Spoiled children with a new toy...soon to be an old toy.  I never heard the term "attrition" until I came to this site.  It seems to be the definition of doing nothing wise or prudent for the welfare of the flock of chickens at all.... and then letting predators, pet dogs, and illness plague the flock until they are dead and you can apply "chicken math" to get more new toys.  All the while acting shocked when someone mentions killing them for mercy reasons or for food, with self-righteous claims of "I could NEVER do that!!", as if that was a badge of honor~to claim you could never give your chicken a more merciful and humane death than "dying naturally", which translates into the aforementioned "attrition". [/COLOR]

[COLOR=A52A2A]IME, attrition is a word used by those who want a euphemism for "poor husbandry" and "no compassion for my flock..only for ME".  I have people like that in my own family...who have begged me to sell them some of my livestock.  There is no amount of money they could offer that would induce me to let them have one of my own good animals...not those that are near and dear to me.  I'd rather give them to someone who has their heart screwed on right than someone who thinks "attrition" is the way to thin out a flock. [/COLOR]

 

Attrition as a term does not bother me, nor do I consider it alone a symptom of poor husbandry. There are several things that can go wrong. Predator attacks, congestive heart failure in some hatchery strains of Cx (even with restricted feed), and no matter how well you care for them if you raise enough chickens one day you will go find one you have no idea why it died.

Poor husbandry will increase mortality and lead to one of two things with most backyard enthusiasts. They will either learn better practices or they will give up the hobby as they continue to lose animals. As horrid as it may sound the "attrition" in backyard flocks pales to that of large commercial growers. What I find most annoying about part of the backyard losses are like what I believe it was Elke pointed out how people who gasp at killing/butchering will prolong the life of an animal with a debilitating terminal disease as long as they can.

 

[Lelilamom]

I'm wondering...how do you remove the head with one swipe while they hang upside down?

We have a knife we use for butchering deer meat. It's extremely sharp. We use that. My husband knows exactly where to place it so it goes through the proper place and doesn't get hung up on a bone.

 

[ronott1]

We have a knife we use for butchering deer meat. It's extremely sharp. We use that. My husband knows exactly where to place it so it goes through the proper place and doesn't get hung up on a bone.

You can also use a hooked knife--like the ones used to pick grapes.

 

[Lelilamom]

Chicken feet make a stock that you can bounce quarters off of when it cools. It is some of the best stuff you can have for soups or just adding to other dishes.

Before I killed my first chicken last year I decided I was going to use every bit that I could of each bird. Throwing parts away seems like a betrayal of the bird. I can't handle cooking the heads, but otherwise, if it is edible it is fed to my family or my dogs. Someday I may be able to put the heads into the stock pot, but right now it is too unappetizing.

We attempted to use the feet last year and this year but found them to be too dirty. It took me 11 hours to clean and peel 15 feet last year and I just couldn't dedicate the time this year to 29 birds. Luckily we have good friends from Taiwan who are experts and we gave them the feet for their use. We were happy that the feet were put to good use. We use the livers, gizzards, hearts and necks. What do you use the rest of the insides for?

 

[ronott1]

We attempted to use the feet last year and this year but found them to be too dirty. It took me 11 hours to clean and peel 15 feet last year and I just couldn't dedicate the time this year to 29 birds. Luckily we have good friends from Taiwan who are experts and we gave them the feet for their use. We were happy that the feet were put to good use. We use the livers, gizzards, hearts and necks. What do you use the rest of the insides for?

They cook them down and grind it all up and freeze it, including the bones. The frozen meat by product is used as treats for the animals.

Great idea by the way.