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

[chirpingcricket]

Here at the farm we have OUR Pets, and then we have the birds, pets have names and birds have no names, the pets will never see the plucker, but the birds will, now what to do if you have pets? well only one thing to do and that is to take someone else's pets, and give them yours if possible, then you can process with out tears. or you can setup a processing line and you be on the bagging end and someone else does the putting down job at the other end of the line, this way you know not which one was your bird when you put them in the plastic bags. But this is food, as was said before "Give thanks to your diety, and thank the animal for giving you sustenance". Hope this helps.

WOW. I wish we had something like that! Thanks for giving us an option should it ever present itself!

 

[gryeyes]

Sally, I just want you to know I have been looking at the chicks hatched by my House Silkie Sparkle in a new way: two of the four are cockerels, and they're going to be big boys. I thought, "If only I could follow Sally's example and process my own birds."

My next and immediate thought was "But they hatched in my office - and Sparkle is raising them so well!"

I'll get there. Eventually. I hope.

 

[Elke Beck]

Sally, I just want you to know I have been looking at the chicks hatched by my House Silkie Sparkle in a new way: two of the four are cockerels, and they're going to be big boys. I thought, "If only I could follow Sally's example and process my own birds."

My next and immediate thought was "But they hatched in my office - and Sparkle is raising them so well!"

I'll get there. Eventually. I hope.

gryeyes, right now they are cute and hatched in your office and Sparkle is still looking at her babies with the dewy, love-struck eyes of new motherhood, but soon they will be sparring, molesting the other chickens, and being a pain and Sparkle will kick then out of the nest, and then converting them from little nuisances to the best chicken dinner you have ever had will make more sense.

 

[kacklinkelly]

Is anyone raising meaties here or just processing extra roos that are beautiful and have been
around for a while?

This is my first attempt at this. Have never processed any living thing before.
Well, except for fish I used to catch with my father when I was little.
I have 4 meaties that I am having no problem (so far) keeping neutral about.
Their intended purpose when I got them was for meat. They are called "the meaties".
Also known as "the beasts".

They were adorable little yellow chicks when I got them. 5 weeks now, they are
gross (sit in their own excrement so that it is in their belly feathers

) Every time
I approach their "playpen" and open the door, they try to jump out at me acting as if
I haven't fed them in days. They get fed ALOT, twice a day and have fresh water
twice a day. Right now they have an area that is about 3 feet wide by 6 feet long.
They stay in one spot mainly, right where the water and feed are. That's also where
they lay while they are eating, where they poop and where they sleep. Ugh.

They have been in this spot for one week. Do you think the area is large enough?
I will be moving their "playpen" tomorrow to fresh grass.

I am hoping I can give them a pre-skin bath. I intended to skin them instead of pluck them
but I can't get the idea of them being so dirty to go away. I keep reminding myself
that the chickens in the store have even less space than these and have no grass
or area to move about in. They are probably in wire cages that are stacked on top
of each other where the "left overs" fall through to the rest of the cages below.

A few more weeks.... As I get closer I will determine if plucking or skinning is the
best method. I would love to give them a bath on a weekly basis up to that point.
(I know I may be obsessing) I really hope the chicken tastes as
good as everyone describes it

 

[chirpingcricket]

gryeyes, right now they are cute and hatched in your office and Sparkle is still looking at her babies with the dewy, love-struck eyes of new motherhood, but soon they will be sparring, molesting the other chickens, and being a pain and Sparkle will kick then out of the nest, and then converting them from little nuisances to the best chicken dinner you have ever had will make more sense.

So true!
I read one time that a mother eagle lines her nest with twigs and thorns. Then covers it with the softest down and fluff. As the eaglets grow, she kicks out the fluff until only the thorns remain.

This forces the eaglets to the rim of the nest where they eventually leave the (dis)comfort and safety to seek out their own mate, build the same type of nest, procreate, and on and on.
A fine example of cutting the apron strings.

It rings true with many applications of procreation and survival.

It's so easy to transfer our feelings of motherhood/ownership on an emotional basis.

I personally have to come to grip with the fact that they are really not pets, but treated and sometimes trained as well as one. That is a choice I make as caretaker. They fulfill their duty/purpose to lay eggs and eventually provide substenance for the table.

No one that enjoys raising chickens, finds it easy to complete that journey. You are in good company should that day arrive. Meanwhile, hang in there and enjoy them.

 

[Sally Sunshine]

Sally, I just want you to know I have been looking at the chicks hatched by my House Silkie Sparkle in a new way: two of the four are cockerels, and they're going to be big boys. I thought, "If only I could follow Sally's example and process my own birds."

My next and immediate thought was "But they hatched in my office - and Sparkle is raising them so well!"

I'll get there. Eventually. I hope.

You know where we are at when your ready!

We have 2 or 3 more to do in a few weeks, I just found out the Olive Eggers are roos, ok not that I JUST figured it out, I was in denial and I thought the saddle feathers and crowing were just growing pains.... bawahhhhaaahah DH doesn't think its funny though. this morning we hear this crowing, DH is like "didn't we just process all the roos from that pen?"



oops

 

[Sally Sunshine]

Is anyone raising meaties here or just processing extra roos that are beautiful and have been
around for a while?

This is my first attempt at this. Have never processed any living thing before.
Well, except for fish I used to catch with my father when I was little.
I have 4 meaties that I am having no problem (so far) keeping neutral about.
Their intended purpose when I got them was for meat. They are called "the meaties".
Also known as "the beasts".

They were adorable little yellow chicks when I got them. 5 weeks now, they are
gross (sit in their own excrement so that it is in their belly feathers

) Every time
I approach their "playpen" and open the door, they try to jump out at me acting as if
I haven't fed them in days. They get fed ALOT, twice a day and have fresh water
twice a day. Right now they have an area that is about 3 feet wide by 6 feet long.
They stay in one spot mainly, right where the water and feed are. That's also where
they lay while they are eating, where they poop and where they sleep. Ugh.

They have been in this spot for one week. Do you think the area is large enough?
I will be moving their "playpen" tomorrow to fresh grass.

I am hoping I can give them a pre-skin bath. I intended to skin them instead of pluck them
but I can't get the idea of them being so dirty to go away. I keep reminding myself
that the chickens in the store have even less space than these and have no grass
or area to move about in. They are probably in wire cages that are stacked on top
of each other where the "left overs" fall through to the rest of the cages below.

A few more weeks.... As I get closer I will determine if plucking or skinning is the
best method. I would love to give them a bath on a weekly basis up to that point.
(I know I may be obsessing) I really hope the chicken tastes as
good as everyone describes it

I had the same issues with the dirty stinkyness..... I read and read on processing, this is why I chose to do the "deed" bleed them out and then dip wash them in a 5 gal bucket with 1/2 up of bleach with a squirt of dawn and water in it and then rinse with the hose before putting in the hot pot, in your case skinning. I did two and then redid my bucket, you will have to judge on dirty bucketness. How many weeks till processing?

 

[Sally Sunshine]

I forgot to add, if your keeping feet, you should scrub brush them while in the bucket as well!

 

[Wax Myrtle]

I forgot to add, if your keeping feet, you should scrub brush them while in the bucket as well!

If you scald the feet just as thoroughly as you do the body, the top layer of skin peels right off (it's about a mm thick on the bottom) and the toenail caps pop off. That removes ground in dirt and...stuff. I then wash them off under the sink tap before popping them in the "foot baggie" in the freezer to save for stock making.

 

[Elke Beck]

If you scald the feet just as thoroughly as you do the body, the top layer of skin peels right off (it's about a mm thick on the bottom) and the toenail caps pop off. That removes ground in dirt and...stuff. I then wash them off under the sink tap before popping them in the "foot baggie" in the freezer to save for stock making.

I wait until I have finished with all the birds for the day, then I scrub the feet, toss them in a saucepan full of hot water until the skin skin slips easily. Then I peel them all at once.

I did my last 2 CX and one Red Ranger that had started to crow and was getting too aggressive with the other birds this morning, so right now I have a pot with the necks, feet and the back of the bird that I cut into parts simmering with onions, carrots, celery, garlic and fines herbes to make stock. The smell is killing me, it is so good.