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

[sharron]

I have Chads bag yet, come and fry them for us! LOL

i could do that if i didn't have to drive lol, but when i quit smoking and no longer have my pacifier i grow quite hyper in traffic, i even get hyper when bill drives, just can't handle alot of traffic BUT i can tell you how, its so easy even people who can't cook can do it, you get your peanut oil really hot, while its getting hot, take the breast, garlic salt it, then roll it in self rising flour, throw it into the hot oil and cook til done, now, how hard is that?

 

[Gen9]

I haven't had a chance to read through all of this but I want to say I am grateful for this thread, big thanks- it helped a lot. Processed 2 birds for the first time last night. One was for practice. She had internal laying issues, and was suffering.. The other was an aggressive roo. I am never naming chickens again, and I am never making them "pets" because you just never know when you have to do the deed.

 

[wingstone]

I know this is very unorthodox in the chicken world,,,,
here is how yesterday went,,,sure wish I would of thought to get more pics...

we processed 5 birds and immediately cooked 1...like this..

wish I would of gotten the after pics, but it smelled so good we just dug in..

placed baked potato around the outside coals and by the time we were done processing and cleaned up...dinner was ready...


SALLY>>>> I need to get ahold of chad his barley is ready and also wheat if he wants any...

 

[Sally Sunshine]

I haven't had a chance to read through all of this but I want to say I am grateful for this thread, big thanks- it helped a lot. Processed 2 birds for the first time last night. One was for practice. She had internal laying issues, and was suffering.. The other was an aggressive roo. I am never naming chickens again, and I am never making them "pets" because you just never know when you have to do the deed.

Awesome! It helps to be prepared that's for sure! And I stopped naming roos! LOL

 

[Sally Sunshine]

I know this is very unorthodox in the chicken world,,,,
here is how yesterday went,,,sure wish I would of thought to get more pics...

we processed 5 birds and immediately cooked 1...like this..

wish I would of gotten the after pics, but it smelled so good we just dug in..

placed baked potato around the outside coals and by the time we were done processing and cleaned up...dinner was ready...


SALLY>>>> I need to get ahold of chad his barley is ready and also wheat if he wants any...

Awesome! I will text him.

His chukar are hatching and what a murder scene my bator looks, NEVER EVER had such issues hatching something! I should have read up on incubating them, they take much much longer in the rest stage! Do and learn right? slowly one by one they are excaping their confinement!

 

[Elke Beck]

I know this is very unorthodox in the chicken world,,,,
here is how yesterday went,,,sure wish I would of thought to get more pics...

we processed 5 birds and immediately cooked 1...like this..

wish I would of gotten the after pics, but it smelled so good we just dug in..

placed baked potato around the outside coals and by the time we were done processing and cleaned up...dinner was ready...

Wingstone,

Can you tell me how you set this up? It looks like a great way to cook outside on a hot day.

 

[wingstone]

Quote: Great on a hot day,,,you need to plan ahead for the first time since it uses a galvanized trash can...
rule of thumb is 20 gallon can....20 pds turkey.....20 pds charcoal....

since i do a chicken that is about 8 pds i use a 10 gallon can and 10 pd bag of charcoal....

before using the can for the first time light a fire in it to burn off any machine oils or fumes...

you will want to spread aluminum foil on the surface you plan on using, about 5 inches wider than your can....pound a stake into the ground, metal or wood, if using wood take the bark off....wrap that stake in foil also....light charcoal in seperate pile, I use the lid of can for this...

when ready to go shove a wad of foil thru cavity of bird then slide over foil wrapped stake....cover with can,,,try to center bird as much as possible...when charcoal is ready pile around can and on top (i throw some potato's into the coals also)...8pd bird takes an hour...

if you want visual there's lot's of u-tube video on trash can turkey

hard surface works better, but if you are like me that loose dirt comes in handy to put fires out.....remember the chicken will drip grease.

 

[jajeanpierre]

I'm a new chicken owner and the time has come to slaughter a few of the roosters. I bought these chickens for pets and eggs. My plan was to slaughter the roosters. Before I bought these chickens, I was assured by the feed store that she knew someone who slaughtered chickens for a fee. Philosophically, I believe that if I truly love animals and continue to eat meat, I should raise it and kill it myself (or find someone who would do it for me kindly and humanely) because factory farming/slaughter is beyond a horror. After I bought these chickens, I returned to the feed store to get the contact information only to have the feed store owners say, "Oh, I was mistaken, he only slaughters for 4H kids." Great! I don't think I would have bought these if I had any idea I would have to do this myself!

I've only had one experience with killing any animal (other than euthanasia and bugs). This past February a yearling deer got tangled in my fence. The game warden dispatched it. I helped. I had never seen an animal shot in the head before. Silly me thought they just dropped and laid still. I was horrified by what I saw. I wish I had been prepared. My neighbor field dressed the deer for me and I helped. All in all, it was an incredibly upsetting experience for me.

Six weeks prior to The Bambi Incident I suffered a head injury, and The Bambi Incident sent me for a loop with my symptoms returning really badly. I was a mess. I've still not recovered from the head injury, so slaughtering my chickens will not be good for my recovery.

So, now I find myself with some roosters that are starting to be problematic and need to go. My 23-year old son actually wants to experience slaughtering his own food. He wants to do the actual killing. I don't mind doing the cleaning. For me, the killing and the movements immediately after will send me for a loop.

We've decided that we are going to use a hatchet because there is less skill involved so there is less of a chance that something could go wrong.

The chickens I will be processing are small and almost not worth the trouble, but any meat I get off them is meat from an animal that had a good life and a good diet and then had one very bad day. Every day is a horrible day for store-bought meat.

The chickens will be just four months old bantams, Silkies and frizzled Cochins. Do I pluck Silkies?

Are there any links to how to go about this whole process?

I need to be able to do this. Thanks for your help

 

[Beekissed]

Quote:
I'm sorry to tell you this, but I've seen and done more "somethings wrong" while using an axe to dispatch a bird than most other methods. It's about up there with the wringing of the neck for me. The most sure and uncomplicated method I've found is slitting the throat while the bird is upside down.

This is part one to a great video on processing chickens...and it shows all the reality of the process. No petting of the birds, holding them for extensive periods of time to make one feel better about the dying, etc. Just normal folks doing a basic chore of killing a chicken. Part two of this video will show you how to process it further...


Part Two

 

[katbriar]

You can do this and you will be well prepared because you are cautious and determined- a great combination.

Search on this site or google "butcher chicken". You'll find that different people prefer different methods for everything including how to dispatch the chicken. I will tell you that my preferred method is a cone which holds the chicken upside down with the wings close to to body and an extremely sharp knife. My husband cut himself this morning severing the carotid artery of the first bird. He saw himself cut his hand and didn't feel a thing. While I'm sorry he cut himself, it assured me that the birds didn't feel it either.

The bird will jerk and shake when the blood pressure drops, the nervous system starts to shut down, and the bird becomes a body, but it the death itself is a calm one. And from a selfish human standpoint, the mess is contained.

I'm sorry for your other experiences. I'm certain it makes this more difficult. But be assured that there are very few of us that take butchering our birds lightly, and having a solemn attitude about it is more than ok.