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

[Sally Sunshine]

AWESOME Hill!!! I love them!

 

[kacklinkelly]

Hillflower and family - I couldn't help but think that your daughter is a no nonsense kind of young lady now and won't be a
push over for anyone. CONGRATS to both of you on so many levels!!!!

 

[hillfloweranch]

Hillflower and family - I couldn't help but think that your daughter is a no nonsense kind of young lady now and won't be a
push over for anyone.  CONGRATS to both of you on so many levels!!!!

Awww! Thank you!! I'm so proud of her! She amazes me everyday.

 

[off-grid hen]

My first batch of meat birds is being processed tomorrow. I'm just here to document my story.

I wanted to order 20 birds, because if I'm going to go through all the trouble, I want more than a few. I ended up with 10, and 3 died. So 7. One failed to thrive after 2 weeks, and the other two were piled upon and smothered. I wanted to order anything BUT Cornish crosses, and I ended up with jumbo Cornish crosses. I guess this is what happens when you order your chicks with other people. . I have been watching chicken processing videos on YouTube for a long time. I had to cull a hen last year, but killing something for euthanasia is different than killing a healthy creature. It's a different sort of emotional reaction/suspense. Trepidations for totally different reasons.

I found out about a poultry processing workshop through an acquaintance. She wanted to take the class but didn't want to go by herself. I said I'd go with her. Because no matter how many videos you watch on YouTube, you don't get a feel for what's happening. You don't understand how hard or how deep to cut, what it's like to try and stuff the bird in the cone, where is the crop, don't break the gal bladder, etc. The class was fantastic because it was me and a dozen other people who had never processed a chicken before. I knew there'd be mistakes made by me and others and that was very comforting to me to being going through it with other people. (The class was at a feed store/building supply store and taught by the owner. If you buy your feed there, you are able to rent the equipment for $25 a day. Includes folding tables, scalder, plucker, shackles. I am already buying my feed from them, and to me the $25 is worth it for the plucker alone. . Now is the fee worth it for 7 birds? No, but I don't consider this experiment part of my total cost, I just got a few birds to see if I could do this meat bird thing, and it's important to me. This round of birds is just a hobby project.). I am ordering chicks with the woman I took the class with, we are all gung-ho about this whole meat chicken thing now.

I met a lot of interesting people of all ages and walks of life who have similar views about the food industry, the instructor was very good, knowledgable, understanding, etc. After the workshop, I felt exhilarated. Not because I was happy to kill something, but I set myself up for it. I kept thinking all these guilty terrible things leading up to the actual event. And it wasn't that bad. I could kick myself for working myself up to such a state, but I know it's all part of the process of being ok with the whole thing.

I have to say that is was easier than killing a chicken that I didnt know than it will be killing the ones I raised and talked to every day. I pick up the equipment this evening, and I am excited, not scared, about tomorrow. Of course, my husband is working out of town. My mother in law who used to use the hatchet and/or broom handle methods is helping, and is interested in this method with the cones, and she's never seen a plucker in action. Thanks for the thread, and I just wanted to share. Raising chickens for eggs and meat has been an amazing experience.

 

[off-grid hen]

My brother, who is a scientist, has a theory of conservation of difficulty.  The theory goes that in any situation there is a certain amount of difficulty.  You can move the difficulty around, but you cannot eliminate it.  For example, anyone who had a computer in the 80's knows how hard it was to use a computer.  You had to learn a lot about programming in order to use simple programs.  Now computers are pretty simple to use because the designers and programmers have taken the difficulty away from the user and hidden it behind the scenes.  So today you can fire up your computer and go directly to your desktop instead of start from the C prompt.  To bring this back to chickens, if you are going to eat meat, then there is a certain amount of difficulty in the situation.  Factory farms have allowed people to ignore that difficulty by raising chickens in conditions that are horrible and that do not respect the nature of the chicken -- the difficulty has been shifted from the people eating them to the chickens.  I see the sadness and discomfort I suffer from killing chickens that I have carefully raised as my taking some of the difficulty on myself.

Anyway, I hope that makes sense.

I love this, so true.

 

[Sally Sunshine]

My first batch of meat birds is being processed tomorrow. I'm just here to document my story.

I wanted to order 20 birds, because if I'm going to go through all the trouble, I want more than a few. I ended up with 10, and 3 died. So 7. One failed to thrive after 2 weeks, and the other two were piled upon and smothered. I wanted to order anything BUT Cornish crosses, and I ended up with jumbo Cornish crosses. I guess this is what happens when you order your chicks with other people.

. I have been watching chicken processing videos on YouTube for a long time. I had to cull a hen last year, but killing something for euthanasia is different than killing a healthy creature. It's a different sort of emotional reaction/suspense. Trepidations for totally different reasons.

I found out about a poultry processing workshop through an acquaintance. She wanted to take the class but didn't want to go by herself. I said I'd go with her. Because no matter how many videos you watch on YouTube, you don't get a feel for what's happening. You don't understand how hard or how deep to cut, what it's like to try and stuff the bird in the cone, where is the crop, don't break the gal bladder, etc. The class was fantastic because it was me and a dozen other people who had never processed a chicken before. I knew there'd be mistakes made by me and others and that was very comforting to me to being going through it with other people. (The class was at a feed store/building supply store and taught by the owner. If you buy your feed there, you are able to rent the equipment for $25 a day. Includes folding tables, scalder, plucker, shackles. I am already buying my feed from them, and to me the $25 is worth it for the plucker alone.

. Now is the fee worth it for 7 birds? No, but I don't consider this experiment part of my total cost, I just got a few birds to see if I could do this meat bird thing, and it's important to me. This round of birds is just a hobby project.). I am ordering chicks with the woman I took the class with, we are all gung-ho about this whole meat chicken thing now.

I met a lot of interesting people of all ages and walks of life who have similar views about the food industry, the instructor was very good, knowledgable, understanding, etc. After the workshop, I felt exhilarated. Not because I was happy to kill something, but I set myself up for it. I kept thinking all these guilty terrible things leading up to the actual event. And it wasn't that bad. I could kick myself for working myself up to such a state, but I know it's all part of the process of being ok with the whole thing.

I have to say that is was easier than killing a chicken that I didnt know than it will be killing the ones I raised and talked to every day. I pick up the equipment this evening, and I am excited, not scared, about tomorrow. Of course, my husband is working out of town. My mother in law who used to use the hatchet and/or broom handle methods is helping, and is interested in this method with the cones, and she's never seen a plucker in action. Thanks for the thread, and I just wanted to share. Raising chickens for eggs and meat has been an amazing experience.

Oh how cool they held one! That's so neat! that one video that was posted on the thread is also a processing class, was pretty cool. Good Luck and I cant wait to see how things go! Sounds like they will go very smoothly!

 

[hillfloweranch]

I love this, so true.

Darn I was trying to capture the quote you responded to...because it is true. Many people have told me they prefer to buy their chicken in the store. Many have given me SH** for raising chickens and turkeys and killing them for food. Usually the guilt trip..."how do you not get attached?" or "how can you kill an animal?"

my usual response is I raise them for food, it doesn't mean that I don't like them, they are fun to watch and have around, I enjoy them, but life is a cycle everything has purpose, I am so appreciative that I am able to be a part of it. We all have a function yet people are so far removed from ACTUAL LIFE I don't know if they really understand what preservation and conservation really mean.

Now I understand that this kind of lifestyle isn't for everyone and that's totally fine, but I really wish the environmentalists, vegetarians would stop with the guilt trips!

 

[off-grid hen]

Darn I was trying to capture the quote you responded to...because it is true.   Many people have told me they prefer to buy their chicken in the store.  Many have given me SH** for raising chickens and turkeys and killing them for food.  Usually the guilt trip..."how do you not get attached?" or "how can you kill an animal?"

 my usual response is I raise them for food, it doesn't mean that I don't like them, they are fun to watch and have around, I enjoy them, but life is a cycle everything has purpose, I am so appreciative that I am able to be a part of it.  We all have a function yet people are so far removed from ACTUAL LIFE I don't know if they really understand what preservation and conservation really mean. 

Now I understand that this kind of lifestyle isn't for everyone and that's totally fine, but I really wish the environmentalists, vegetarians would stop with the guilt trips! 

I know what you mean. My father is a logger and sells utility poles and other wood products. When people from an urban or suburban area come to where I live and talk trash about loggers, or say that no trees should be harvested... I know a lot of logging operations now totally rape the landscape and cause other environmental problems. My dad practiced sustainable forestry. He was a better conservationist than any "summer person" could ever dream of being. Then when you visit their house they have wood furniture and use paper products. My dad has a bumper sticker that reads, "If you object to logging, then use plastic toilet paper." People have no idea. They think they're being "green" by using corn plastic plates instead of the petroleum based ones. Just wash the dang dishes, it's better for everyone.

The ones who are the worst to me about processing these birds are not vegetarians. Many veggies at least say to me, "at least you're giving these animals a better life". When (meat eating) people are offended by hunting, I always ask them, "what do you think that deer has eaten it's entire life?" Then, "What has that CAFO cow you ate for dinner eaten its whole life?" "How did both of them live." For me, I do this out of respect for the animals, as ironic it may sound to some.

I picked up the equipment. My plucker, cone stand, and scalder are all set up for tomorrow.

 

[Sally Sunshine]

Quote: YEAH its its those same people that "need" all those poles and harvested wood for their products!

 

[hillfloweranch]

I know what you mean. My father is a logger and sells utility poles and other wood products. When people from an urban or suburban area come to where I live and talk trash about loggers, or say that no trees should be harvested... I know a lot of logging operations now totally rape the landscape and cause other environmental problems. My dad practiced sustainable forestry. He was a better conservationist than any "summer person" could ever dream of being. Then when you visit their house they have wood furniture and use paper products. My dad has a bumper sticker that reads, "If you object to logging, then use plastic toilet paper." People have no idea. They think they're being "green" by using corn plastic plates instead of the petroleum based ones. Just wash the dang dishes, it's better for everyone.

The ones who are the worst to me about processing these birds are not vegetarians. Many veggies at least say to me, "at least you're giving these animals a better life". When (meat eating) people are offended by hunting, I always ask them, "what do you think that deer has eaten it's entire life?" Then, "What has that CAFO cow you ate for dinner eaten its whole life?" "How did both of them live." For me, I do this out of respect for the animals, as ironic it may sound to some.

I picked up the equipment. My plucker, cone stand, and scalder are all set up for tomorrow.

where did you get your plucker, cones and scalder???