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

[bj taylor]

I've still got ten pages of posts to read, but this week is my week to do the deed so i'm posting ahead of myself. first to say, that's so funny about the Baptist. me being one.
anyway. I've been trying to get myself ready for many months & i'm no closer now than 10 months ago. the only difference being, my roo is devastating to my flock's wellbeing. he's this really big, gorgeous one year old australorp I've had since he was a couple of days old. he's got the girls stripped of feathers on their backs & starting on their wings. I've got 12 babies coming up & those girls will never be able to cope with this brute.

my buff orp is desperately hanging on to hatch her clutch & will be so depleted by the time they're born, she will never be able to fend him off.

instead of being the flock defender, he has become the flock destroyer. as a person responsible for the wellbeing of these creatures, I have to take him. I've tried to sell/give him away - no one wants him. it makes me so sad that he is so young, vibrant, gorgeous & has no future here.

I have never killed an animal before & i'm almost 60. it's agonizing & it's tearing me up. however, I strongly feel I need to be able to do these things for the wellbeing of my livestock & to support my family's ability to eat in hard times.

this week is my week. I must pick a day so I can take the steps to get the deed done. I think Tuesday will be my day. tomorrow I will get everything as ready as I can. I need to restrain him during the night so I can pick him up in the early morning. I read where someone tied their feet & laid them on the floor of the coop for the night. i'm not quite sure of the details & have to get them ironed out ahead of time.

I just want this over with. it's been eating me long enough. either I can or I can't. the very last thing I want is for him to suffer by any incompetence on my part. I've studied & read as much as I can about the kill. with God's help, I will make his death as easy as possible.

after him, I've got several young roosters coming up from this batch of chicks I've got. either i'm able to handle this reality of livestock or I need to get out of this aspect of self sufficiency.

 

[kacklinkelly]

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?

Thanks for the clarification. I thought the bleach and dawn went into your scalding pot. I weighed a couple of them today. The smaller one is 2.25lb and the largest one is 3.15lb. (I'm pretty
sure the biggest one is a rooster) They are 5 weeks old now. I am thinking another 3 weeks and we all should be good to go. What target weight do most people look for? I let them roam around the yard today while I was moving their "playpen" The biggest one walked all around but the other 3 just huddled together. My DH actually picked them up today and spread then about the yard to see if they would forage but they just waddled back to the pen and waited to be put back in. That's the first time DH has paid them any attention the whole time I've had them. I think by big brute of a man

was trying not to get attached to the cute little fuzzes. Now that they are "what they are" I think he's working up his nerve to the handling in an effort to possibly help on processing day. I'm not pushing him though. Will wait and see.

 

[BCMaraniac]

I've still got ten pages of posts to read, but this week is my week to do the deed so i'm posting ahead of myself. first to say, that's so funny about the Baptist. me being one.
anyway. I've been trying to get myself ready for many months & i'm no closer now than 10 months ago. the only difference being, my roo is devastating to my flock's wellbeing. he's this really big, gorgeous one year old australorp I've had since he was a couple of days old. he's got the girls stripped of feathers on their backs & starting on their wings. I've got 12 babies coming up & those girls will never be able to cope with this brute.

my buff orp is desperately hanging on to hatch her clutch & will be so depleted by the time they're born, she will never be able to fend him off.

instead of being the flock defender, he has become the flock destroyer. as a person responsible for the wellbeing of these creatures, I have to take him. I've tried to sell/give him away - no one wants him. it makes me so sad that he is so young, vibrant, gorgeous & has no future here.

I have never killed an animal before & i'm almost 60. it's agonizing & it's tearing me up. however, I strongly feel I need to be able to do these things for the wellbeing of my livestock & to support my family's ability to eat in hard times.

this week is my week. I must pick a day so I can take the steps to get the deed done. I think Tuesday will be my day. tomorrow I will get everything as ready as I can. I need to restrain him during the night so I can pick him up in the early morning. I read where someone tied their feet & laid them on the floor of the coop for the night. i'm not quite sure of the details & have to get them ironed out ahead of time.

I just want this over with. it's been eating me long enough. either I can or I can't. the very last thing I want is for him to suffer by any incompetence on my part. I've studied & read as much as I can about the kill. with God's help, I will make his death as easy as possible.

after him, I've got several young roosters coming up from this batch of chicks I've got. either i'm able to handle this reality of livestock or I need to get out of this aspect of self sufficiency.

It is never easy to take a life, or it shouldn't be. But your girls are really being abused, and eventually one or more or them could die because of him. Just humanely take care of this problem before another one is created. A killing cone, and cutting the carotid artery in the neck seems to be the most humane method FYI, I have a Lavender Orpington, and he is a perfect gentleman. I have only seen a missing feather or two from the head of a hen...he has 12 hens. And he is a wonderful defender of the flock. It is amazing to see him stand watch over the girls while they eat their food, only eating a nibble or two himself until they are finished and have their heads back up. I have heard others say that Orpington roosters have good manners, and that has held true in my case.

We are given dominion over the fowl, so we are to use them for our own sustenance, yet be good stewards. Use, but ensure procreation. Dead or injured hens cannot procreate, so you are in essence being a good steward by protecting your hens. If a fox or a possum or some other predator were killing or attempting to kill your hens, you would take care of the problem to protect the flock. This is really no different,

 

[Elke Beck]

I have never killed an animal before & i'm almost 60. it's agonizing & it's tearing me up. however, I strongly feel I need to be able to do these things for the wellbeing of my livestock & to support my family's ability to eat in hard times.

this week is my week. I must pick a day so I can take the steps to get the deed done. I think Tuesday will be my day. tomorrow I will get everything as ready as I can. I need to restrain him during the night so I can pick him up in the early morning. I read where someone tied their feet & laid them on the floor of the coop for the night. i'm not quite sure of the details & have to get them ironed out ahead of time.

I just want this over with. it's been eating me long enough. either I can or I can't. the very last thing I want is for him to suffer by any incompetence on my part. I've studied & read as much as I can about the kill. with God's help, I will make his death as easy as possible.

bj, I wish you were near me, and I would do it with you. Is there anyone around you who can be with you to help? Since you have never killed an animal before, be prepared for it to be an emotional experience. One thing I did that helped me was watch every video I could find of chickens being killed and cleaned before I did my first chicken. It helped to desensitize me and let me know what was going to happen.

Some things you should know:

Dying is not fast. Even if you cut the head off so that the chicken dies immediately, it will still move, and if the vocal cords are intact, squawk. If you do not restrain the bird, it will flop around -- hence "running like a chicken with its head cut off." I use a killing cone, and there is thrashing as the bird dies. Usually the bird is already passed out while it is thrashing, but is is still disturbing.

For the first time, skinning the bird maybe faster than plucking. If you are struggling with the emotions, the faster you get it from looking like a live chicken to looking like meat, the better.

Ditto for cutting the meat off the bone. This morning I did three chickens, and I planned to cut up one. If I didn't save the giblets for the dogs and the bones for stock, I would have filleted off the breast, cut off the legs and tossed the rest of the carcass without opening the body cavity. As it was, I plucked the legs and cut them off, skinned the rest, pulled the innards and saved the heart and liver for the dogs, then cut the back away from the breast and took out the lungs easy-peasy. The legs and breast are resting, and the stock is cooling so that I can put it away as I type.

You can do this! It is not as terrible as your imagination is telling you it will be.

 

[Sally Sunshine]

I think what I'm gonna do is participate - perhaps just by watching - the next time my friends process chickens. They've added 35 meaties (I paid for ten of them and supplied some feed) which will be ready to process very soon. The husband kills them, then they work together to finish processing; they use a WhizBang plucker.

I am not attached to their meat birds at all. If I can handle that experience, I think I might be able to move forward to participate in processing the Roos from the Easter Hatch when that time comes.

I did best as I was busy, you will learn a lot from them I am sure!

 

[Sally Sunshine]

Quote: I agree well said


BJ I have been very honest in my posting here, I am pretty sure I put every detail in the thread along with everyone else down to how I brined and cooked them, and let me tell you the waiting till they brined calmed me down enough that I could cook and even eat them. I couldn't believe how awesome they tasted. and they were older birds!ADDING with EDIT..... I think I did good not FREEZING them and running away from them, I think its important to hammer the nail in, sure brine them for 4 days, it will give you enough time away and they its just a chicken, and yea it looks like a chicken from the market, not yours. I think if I would have thrown mine in the freezer I would never get them out, but after the brine it forced me to follow through completely. And now I move on and have tasted the BEST chicken in my life and am better prepared with my chicken keeping.

Emotional stuff, remember that day, you don't have to like doing the deed. I have OE's that will need done soon....

They are spoiled and sweet, and will be another tough one, but they are not gorgeous birds like my brahma so I think I will do even better this time around.

This is "Olive and Egger" I also am wondering when the right time is????? I hatched them Dec 23rd : (

 

[Sally Sunshine]

Quote: I cant answer that.... anyone?? I am not sure of your location, but remember what I forgot..... Watch the weather for heat and such! I was so focused on that list and watching vids to prepare me I didn't watch the weather, but we lucked out with a beautiful cool breezy spring day.

 

[sharron]

We got some Baptist up the street

,,,Hmmm ,,,,,Wonder what they charge,,,

?

 

[Wax Myrtle]

I can't really help for target weight... This batch of CX broilers growing out right now, I plan on piecing most of them out (into leg quarters, wings and breast halves) so I will process them a little smalle , maybe 5-6# live weight. I'd like about four large roasters, too, so will leave them until about 12 weeks for some big whole processed birds for special dinners.

 

[Sally Sunshine]

About broilers... I found a cool article and after reading it, find the best broilers are fairly local to me!

Alternatives to Cornish cross!
http://www.themodernhomestead.us/article/cornish+cross+alternatives.html



http://www.jmhatchery.com/free-range-broiler/colored-range-chicks/prod_5.html

"The Freedom Ranger day-old chicks are hatched in the heart of the Pennsylvania Dutch Country. The breeding stock is imported from the regions of Burgundy and Brittany (France). The genetic stock is derived from the American and European old heritage breed of chicken and was developed in the early 1960’s to meet the highest standards of the French Label Rouge Free Range program. Currently, the Freedom Ranger genetic stock is used by most non-factory farm production models (alternative) all across Europe and also by small pastured poultry producers in search of a traditionally raised farm chicken - just like the "oldies", healthy and with a succulent flavor and texture."

Performance goals under true natural rearing systems:
Based on the results and experiences of our own flocks and our customers’ flocks, the Freedom Ranger assortment will reach 4 to 5 LBS Live Weight in a minimum of 9 weeks and a maximum of 11 weeks.



Is this a standard weight for meaties? I cant seem to narrow down any info!!