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

[annie82005]

Annie, start by reading as much as you can in the Meat Birds ETC forum.  I can guarantee that if you think to ask it, it has been answered.  But to get you started, here are some questions that only you can answer:

1.  What are you looking for in meat birds?  Fast growing?  Longer growing, but better flavor and survivability?  Heritage birds that will grow slow, but have history behind them and usually are the tastiest?

2.  How much space do you have to raise the birds?  Cornish X's don't move around a lot and are pretty passive, so they do not need as much space as Freedom Rangers/Red Rangers/other slow growing broilers that are active and tend to fight with each other.  Dual purpose and heritage chickens need enough space to move around, or they can become aggressive and even cannibalistic. 

3.  What is your goal for putting meat on your table?  Do you want a chicken dinner every week?  If so, the calculation of how many to raise is pretty easy - 52!  Do you have enough freezer space to store 50 chickens?  Or do you need to split it up and raise 2 or more batches in a year?  Are you looking for clean, healthy meat?  Are you looking for the old-fashioned taste of chicken that has lived more than 6 weeks?  Are you looking for a more humane approach to meat than the factory farms?

4.  How comfortable are you with killing, blood, stink, and sticking your hand inside a hot bird's body cavity to pull out the guts?  Most of us started out squeamish and faint-hearted about killing our chickens, so it is definitely something people can and do get past, but some people don't ever feel comfortable with the whole process. 

5.  Will your family eat home grown meat?  There are a lot of stories about people carefully raising and harvesting their own meat only to have their family refuse to touch it. 

6.  Do you think it will be cheaper to raise your own?  Because the answer is a definite, loud 'NO!'  Some people can get close to raising their birds for what it costs to buy chicken in the stores, but most of us do it because it is a better quality product and the conditions that they use to raise and process commerical chickens is revolting.  My aim is for my chickens to live a happy, healthy life and then have one bad day. 

One thing that I have come to understand is that homegrown meat is very personal, and each person has to develop their own way.  There are many different motivations and emotions all mixed up in this. 

wow! Thank you so much!!! I wanted to start out slow with it to see how things went. I was thinking maybe 4 or so just to get my feet wet. I totally agree about the birds living a happy life and having one bad day. We are a family of hunters and fishing. Outdoors folks. Plenty of room for lazy birds. I think that a lot of people are detached from where their food is coming from. I want to know that my meat was homegrown and healthy. Knowing exactly what it ate. It is a lot to consider and absorb. Thank you so much for your input!!!!!!

 

[LemonMeringue]

As it turns out.......It was way harder for me to butcher/clean a CX in comparison to the old hens that we did. The CX are so chunky(not a bad thing of course)! And the feathers! I thought they would be easier.....you know, less feathers=less plucking. For me that was wrong. I do admit to having a fair shake of OCD and I just could not leave any of those short little 'almost' feathers. So it took me forever! I read of people doing a dozen chickens in 2 or 3 hours. Hmmm.......guess I just need more practice. We did 3 last night and had to stop because of our ridiculous 'too many irons in the fire' schedule. We are hoping to finish out at least the 4 more we had chosen tonight. Good size chickens though. BEAUTIFUL breast meat and nice chunky leg/thigh quarters. I did keep one whole as my youngest insisted, "So we can roast a whole chicken"

 

[fisherlady]

As it turns out.......It was way harder for me to butcher/clean a CX in comparison to the old hens that we did. The CX are so chunky(not a bad thing of course)! And the feathers! I thought they would be easier.....you know, less feathers=less plucking. For me that was wrong. I do admit to having a fair shake of OCD and I just could not leave any of those short little 'almost' feathers. So it took me forever! I read of people doing a dozen chickens in 2 or 3 hours. Hmmm.......guess I just need more practice. We did 3 last night and had to stop because of our ridiculous 'too many irons in the fire' schedule. We are hoping to finish out at least the 4 more we had chosen tonight. Good size chickens though. BEAUTIFUL breast meat and nice chunky leg/thigh quarters. I did keep one whole as my youngest insisted, "So we can roast a whole chicken"

It takes a lot of practice to get the time down on doing the birds. It seems that I have better luck getting some of the left over feathers off after the bird sits in the cold water bath for a few minutes. (after our initial pluck we drop the bird whole into a tub of cold water to rest for a bit...and we are working on the next one anyway... before we go to the processing table with it) It causes the skin to pucker up a bit and seems like the feathers are easier to see and get ahold of. Instead of trying to get ahold of some of them just squeeze at the base and they often pop out. A large pair of tweezers can also help keep hold of feathers when your hands are cold and wet!

 

[aoxa]

Annie, start by reading as much as you can in the Meat Birds ETC forum. I can guarantee that if you think to ask it, it has been answered. But to get you started, here are some questions that only you can answer:

1. What are you looking for in meat birds? Fast growing? Longer growing, but better flavor and survivability? Heritage birds that will grow slow, but have history behind them and usually are the tastiest?

2. How much space do you have to raise the birds? Cornish X's don't move around a lot and are pretty passive, so they do not need as much space as Freedom Rangers/Red Rangers/other slow growing broilers that are active and tend to fight with each other. Dual purpose and heritage chickens need enough space to move around, or they can become aggressive and even cannibalistic.

3. What is your goal for putting meat on your table? Do you want a chicken dinner every week? If so, the calculation of how many to raise is pretty easy - 52! Do you have enough freezer space to store 50 chickens? Or do you need to split it up and raise 2 or more batches in a year? Are you looking for clean, healthy meat? Are you looking for the old-fashioned taste of chicken that has lived more than 6 weeks? Are you looking for a more humane approach to meat than the factory farms?

4. How comfortable are you with killing, blood, stink, and sticking your hand inside a hot bird's body cavity to pull out the guts? Most of us started out squeamish and faint-hearted about killing our chickens, so it is definitely something people can and do get past, but some people don't ever feel comfortable with the whole process.

5. Will your family eat home grown meat? There are a lot of stories about people carefully raising and harvesting their own meat only to have their family refuse to touch it.

6. Do you think it will be cheaper to raise your own? Because the answer is a definite, loud 'NO!' Some people can get close to raising their birds for what it costs to buy chicken in the stores, but most of us do it because it is a better quality product and the conditions that they use to raise and process commerical chickens is revolting. My aim is for my chickens to live a happy, healthy life and then have one bad day.

One thing that I have come to understand is that homegrown meat is very personal, and each person has to develop their own way. There are many different motivations and emotions all mixed up in this.

It is cheaper to raise them for us than buy them from free range, locally grown birds. They go for $20 each around here, and will feed a family of 4-6 people depending on the appetite of those you are feeding.

I won't buy grocery store chicken, but if I did, it WOULD be so much cheaper. Costco sells chickens for 6.99 already cooked. Cost of a chick alone is roughly 1.40$ here. Take into account the time and effort (AND FEED!) raising them, I would definitely not be in a spot where I saved money.

Also, Cornish X can free range and can be active if you let them!

 

[Elke Beck]

It is cheaper to raise them for us than buy them from free range, locally grown birds. They go for $20 each around here, and will feed a family of 4-6 people depending on the appetite of those you are feeding.

I won't buy grocery store chicken, but if I did, it WOULD be so much cheaper. Costco sells chickens for 6.99 already cooked. Cost of a chick alone is roughly 1.40$ here. Take into account the time and effort (AND FEED!) raising them, I would definitely not be in a spot where I saved money.

Also, Cornish X can free range and can be active if you let them!

Here I can get free ranged, organically grown chickens for about $14. I figure the cost of buying the chicks in small batches (@ $2.00 per) and feeding organic chick starter brings my cost to about $15.00 to $18.00 per bird. The price of supermarket chickens just cannot be beat by a small scale production, but they are disgusting once you have had home grown. But I was really aiming at the people who think that chickens are like zucchini -- of course it is going to be cheaper to grow it at home-- and then they find out that it is darn expensive to do it at home.

I agree that CX can be ranged and will be more active, but for someone who does not have a lot of space, they tolerate close confinement better than any other meat bird option. I am on a city lot, so I do not have a lot of space to allow my chickens to roam. I will probably raise CX again because I can put 10 of them in an exercise pen while I do yard maintenance and not have bloody combs at the end.

 

[LemonMeringue]

It takes a lot of practice to get the time down on doing the birds. It seems that I have better luck getting some of the left over feathers off after the bird sits in the cold water bath for a few minutes. (after our initial pluck we drop the bird whole into a tub of cold water to rest for a bit...and we are working on the next one anyway... before we go to the processing table with it) It causes the skin to pucker up a bit and seems like the feathers are easier to see and get ahold of. Instead of trying to get ahold of some of them just squeeze at the base and they often pop out. A large pair of tweezers can also help keep hold of feathers when your hands are cold and wet!

Yes, I am sure I am just having a learning curve and need practice for the speed. They did get a cool down in a couple of buckets I set up with a bit of sea salt, ice and water. They were popped in there after the intestines were removed. Then I did the remaining 'cleanup' inside at the kitchen sink. They were pretty cold by then and it did help. I used to have something that the handle looked like a scissors handle, but the end was like a big tweezer. It came from a medical surgery kit. I may try to hunt that up today!

Do you chill yours down before, or after the intestines are removed?

 

[aoxa]

Here I can get free ranged, organically grown chickens for about $14. I figure the cost of buying the chicks in small batches (@ $2.00 per) and feeding organic chick starter brings my cost to about $15.00 to $18.00 per bird. The price of supermarket chickens just cannot be beat by a small scale production, but they are disgusting once you have had home grown. But I was really aiming at the people who think that chickens are like zucchini -- of course it is going to be cheaper to grow it at home-- and then they find out that it is darn expensive to do it at home.

I agree that CX can be ranged and will be more active, but for someone who does not have a lot of space, they tolerate close confinement better than any other meat bird option. I am on a city lot, so I do not have a lot of space to allow my chickens to roam. I will probably raise CX again because I can put 10 of them in an exercise pen while I do yard maintenance and not have bloody combs at the end.

That's a pretty low market value compared to here. Just bought a chicken last week at the farmer's market (not certified organic, but what small farmer is?) and asked tons of questions, requested pictures and got the chicken (no soy, no antibiotics, free ranged, no corn). I can not wait until I get my meaties... I ran out of chicken in the freezer from my own birds.

I just didn't like the texture of my dual purpose roosters. They were tough. They had to be cooked by the crock pot to have any palatability at all.

 

[BCMaraniac]

It takes a lot of practice to get the time down on doing the birds. It seems that I have better luck getting some of the left over feathers off after the bird sits in the cold water bath for a few minutes. (after our initial pluck we drop the bird whole into a tub of cold water to rest for a bit...and we are working on the next one anyway... before we go to the processing table with it) It causes the skin to pucker up a bit and seems like the feathers are easier to see and get ahold of. Instead of trying to get ahold of some of them just squeeze at the base and they often pop out. A large pair of tweezers can also help keep hold of feathers when your hands are cold and wet!

I still need lots of practice

. I leave what I call "quills" until I get back into the house, and can take my time. And you are right fisherlady, you can pop them like a pimple...lol. I also use the tweezers or forceps.

 

[aoxa]

I still need lots of practice

. I leave what I call "quills" until I get back into the house, and can take my time. And you are right fisherlady, you can pop them like a pimple...lol. I also use the tweezers or forceps.

My Mother in law has the weirdest obsession about those blood feathers. she LOVES popping them.. I'll let her have her fun

 

[ronott1]

I still need lots of practice

. I leave what I call "quills" until I get back into the house, and can take my time. And you are right fisherlady, you can pop them like a pimple...lol. I also use the tweezers or forceps.

I often leave those until I am ready to cook them. They seem to release better after the resting and or freezing period.

Twezers will get them out too.