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

[offgridhermit]

Quote:
Thanks. I'm so glad I followed through and got meat birds this year and learned how to process them for my own table.

They weren't real dirty since our soil is sand. And I kept feed from them for a day and a half so I didn't have to deal with poopy butts or full crops or intestines.
If I had had another tub or pan available I would have washed them first also. But my supplies were limited.

I'm 65 years old and this was a first for me. I guess we're never too old to learn something new.

I've cleaned fish that I've caught, but never processed something I've raised from a baby. Feathers sure wash off easier than fish scales. lol And the Cornish seem to have less feathers than other breeds of chickens. I think because their bodies grow faster than feathers grow in.
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I had my DIY work station all set up when my "teacher", aka neighbor, came over, and he was impressed. I had a board over my old work table and covered it with a new clear plastic shower curtain and had my cutting board on top of that. It made clean up very easy.

Using the hanging bucket and hanging them in it to bleed out worked great. No trauma having to watch them flop around on the ground. Their severed heads were also in the bucket and that was another easy clean up, to carry the bucket with the yuck and some water added to bury in a pre-dug hole. And I just wheeled the feathers out to a disposal area on the property as well. Easy.

I'm glad I got pictures so I can refer back to them next year when I get meat birds again.

I'm feeling very satisfied with the adventure, and I'm thankful for everyone's comments. I wish I had support from my family, like I get from BYC and my friends, especially my country friends.
If you can process your own meat, you'll never starve or go hungry.
I want to thank everyone on BYC that gave me encouragement with this project.

 

[bachbach1]

I am impressed, exploring new things at 65, you go. It takes a lot of internal drive to start doing processing if you have lived a life without doing it. This skill like you said can be essential in hard times. Not that I think anything bad is going to happen, still in history bad things have come out of the blue. Plus you know exactly what you are eating, and how it has been handled, to me that is huge. I have processed turkeys, guinea fowl, chickens, and larger animals like deer, and elk, still haven't done a cow. But with the price of beef I have been thinking about it, LOL It can be a lot of work, but knowing where your meat comes from and knowing how to be able to process your own is a skill that human kind is loosing. You did good.

 

[Crickett]

I've done rabbits and chickens, this fall I'll be going hunting for the first time, so whatever I bag will be slated for freezer camp, and I can clean my own fish. If /when the S.H.T.F. I won't have to worry about hunger being an issue. Oh and some of these skills I'm just now learning, and I'm 52.

 

[lfurrer]

We slaughtered two ducks today...still in a bit of shock I actually did it. But overall, I feel ok about it.

We traded a neighbor a few blocks down two of our Khaki Campbell females (we had 7) for her two Cayuga boys. She knew they would be butchered, she just didn't want to do it herself. They had been fed well and had complete access to her garden every day!

We told our neighbors behind us we would be butchering them. I had looked up in our city codes, there was nothing about butchering chickens/ducks/fowl etc. I have a big book on butchering small livestock (everything other than beef) and reviewed it a ton. It's called Butchering Poultry, Rabbits, Lamb, Goat, and Pigs by Adam Danforth. Great book, I highly recommend it for anyone looking into butchering. Step-by-step photos, descriptions, alternative methods, etc.

My boyfriend's one rule was I had to kill one of the boys. I have never killed anything at all before, but agreed to do it, as I want to know where my food comes from and that it has had a great life. I caught the one that I was to kill. It kind of surprised me, as I had psyched myself up for it and didn't cut all the way through at first. I did finish the job, boyfriend chopped off the head, then I settled to do a rough dry pluck followed by a wax pluck. That definitely took the longest!

Then my scientist side took over, the gutting etc was nothing. I think it was the actual slaughter part that got me the most.

My boyfriend had told our neighbor that we were butchering but neglected to tell them when. While I was doing the first bird, the neighbor's daughter came out with their dog. Dog was fascinated of course and stood as close as he could. Butchering station was located behind their shed, near our coop. It was the best place, as it was out of sight of basically every area around us in our neighborhood. I quickly told the neighbor girl to head inside, which she did. She is going to be hunting this year, but I didn't want to shock her with dead ducks in the backyard. I did hear her tell her mom that I told her to head in, and I think mom figured it out. They left their house pretty soon after, haven't been back yet. Hoping I didn't offend them.

I think next time we'll just chop the heads off...that'd be easier for me to deal with I think. The Cayuga's are currently drying right now after being in the cooler for a couple hours. I was able to pull off some more pin feathers after they had cooled, but I can see why Pekins are a cleaner carcass. The Cayuga's have quite a few tiny black hairs embedded into the skin where I can't reach them.

We're going to freeze one, then roast the other on Sunday when my boyfriend's parents come to visit.

I would gladly do this again, we'll eventually butcher our Khaki Campbells and Barred Rocks when it is time. I'm hoping we'll have a farm by then, as doing it in an urban environment is tricky. Maybe I'll tarp off an area. I did not want it close to another person's home though (our only other location we debated on). We could have done it in the garage I suppose, but I didn't want to freak the animals out by moving them to a completely different environment...

 

[bachbach1]

I've done rabbits and chickens, this fall I'll be going hunting for the first time, so whatever I bag will be slated for freezer camp, and I can clean my own fish. If /when the S.H.T.F. I won't have to worry about hunger being an issue. Oh and some of these skills I'm just now learning, and I'm 52.

Study a little bit about the game you are hunting if it is larger game, like deer or elk if you haven't processed them before. On animals like deer the intestine passes through the pelvis, and there is some learning to do that part right. Otherwise it is a pretty big job, and your instincts, and brain will carry you through.

 

[Audio51]

We slaughtered two ducks today...still in a bit of shock I actually did it. But overall, I feel ok about it.

We traded a neighbor a few blocks down two of our Khaki Campbell females (we had 7) for her two Cayuga boys. She knew they would be butchered, she just didn't want to do it herself. They had been fed well and had complete access to her garden every day!

We told our neighbors behind us we would be butchering them. I had looked up in our city codes, there was nothing about butchering chickens/ducks/fowl etc. I have a big book on butchering small livestock (everything other than beef) and reviewed it a ton. It's called Butchering Poultry, Rabbits, Lamb, Goat, and Pigs by Adam Danforth. Great book, I highly recommend it for anyone looking into butchering. Step-by-step photos, descriptions, alternative methods, etc.

My boyfriend's one rule was I had to kill one of the boys. I have never killed anything at all before, but agreed to do it, as I want to know where my food comes from and that it has had a great life. I caught the one that I was to kill. It kind of surprised me, as I had psyched myself up for it and didn't cut all the way through at first. I did finish the job, boyfriend chopped off the head, then I settled to do a rough dry pluck followed by a wax pluck. That definitely took the longest!

Then my scientist side took over, the gutting etc was nothing. I think it was the actual slaughter part that got me the most.

My boyfriend had told our neighbor that we were butchering but neglected to tell them when. While I was doing the first bird, the neighbor's daughter came out with their dog. Dog was fascinated of course and stood as close as he could. Butchering station was located behind their shed, near our coop. It was the best place, as it was out of sight of basically every area around us in our neighborhood. I quickly told the neighbor girl to head inside, which she did. She is going to be hunting this year, but I didn't want to shock her with dead ducks in the backyard. I did hear her tell her mom that I told her to head in, and I think mom figured it out. They left their house pretty soon after, haven't been back yet. Hoping I didn't offend them.

I think next time we'll just chop the heads off...that'd be easier for me to deal with I think. The Cayuga's are currently drying right now after being in the cooler for a couple hours. I was able to pull off some more pin feathers after they had cooled, but I can see why Pekins are a cleaner carcass. The Cayuga's have quite a few tiny black hairs embedded into the skin where I can't reach them.

We're going to freeze one, then roast the other on Sunday when my boyfriend's parents come to visit.

I would gladly do this again, we'll eventually butcher our Khaki Campbells and Barred Rocks when it is time. I'm hoping we'll have a farm by then, as doing it in an urban environment is tricky. Maybe I'll tarp off an area. I did not want it close to another person's home though (our only other location we debated on). We could have done it in the garage I suppose, but I didn't want to freak the animals out by moving them to a completely different environment...

Congrats on processing your first ones. I have not done waterfowl, but now have about 18 chickens under my belt. It gets easier. Years ago we bought what was supposed to be a trio of geese, but ended up being 2 males and 1 female. We had the extra male processed and he made a wonderful Christmas dinner that year.

I have not been too worried about my neighbors seeing, but our yard set up is fairly protected from view. I was mostly concerned with finding some place I could get thru the whole thing comfortably. I dont think my neighbors would care anyway. The more I process, the fewer pooping and clucking in the yard.

 

[offgridhermit]

My experience went so well I'm going in with a neighbor and we are going to split a run of Cornish. They will arrive this Friday.

This time I will do all the work solo. And if any look like they might die of heart failure, (their skin color changes if that's going to happen), I will butcher that one sooner rather than let it die and be wasted.

I have one in the oven today in a turkey roasting bag. I'm also making dressing, mashed potatoes, gravy, green salad and potato salad. Only thing missing is a Thanksgiving day pie, and a relish tray and you would think this was November instead of August.

 

[Audio51]

My experience went so well I'm going in with a neighbor and we are going to split a run of Cornish. They will arrive this Friday.

This time I will do all the work solo. And if any look like they might die of heart failure, (their skin color changes if that's going to happen), I will butcher that one sooner rather than let it die and be wasted.

I have one in the oven today in a turkey roasting bag. I'm also making dressing, mashed potatoes, gravy, green salad and potato salad. Only thing missing is a Thanksgiving day pie, and a relish tray and you would think this was November instead of August.

Glad it went well for you! I will raise them again, but only in the spring. Our mid to late summers are just too hot for the poor guys...

 

[sonderah]

Hi all! New to this thread. We have been raising chickens for a yr and a half and are in the process of building coop/run #6. We have only raised for eggs, & breeding purposes, but have decided to begin raising some for meat.
We have only ever processed 1 turkey, & that was just because he kept attacking my bf, and he smacked him with a stick to stop him, & it killed the turkey, so we didn't want to waste the meat.
Right now my grow out pen is full, growing out 40 to sell EE laying pullets in the spring. And we will start with those cockerels. Then in the spring I plan to purchase chicks or hath ing eggs to start our meat bird/ eating egg pen. I've done much research and have chosen not to purchase "broiler chickens" because I do not want to have to purchase them each yr. I'm planning to use ( forgive the spelling) black Austrolops, NHR, and/or white rocks. And I will leave some to breed, hatch, & grow out for the following year. I sell LOTS of chicks and hatching eggs to pay for feed, so for the most part, after the initial purchase, it should work out well financially. We would really just want to begin the process if being more self sufficient.
I do however need to find a better way to feed. They waste SOOOO much lately! Considering the 5 gallon bucket with PVC pipes so they have to stick their head INSIDE the pipe to eat. Any suggestions that seem better?? Much appreciated!!!

 

[Tomtommom]

I finally butchered that partridge rock I've been talking about for ages. Her health seemed to be declining and she was so fat she was breaking eggs. Final straw kind of thing.

Boy am I glad I did. Her whole body cavity was filled with fat. No wonder she walked weird and seemed out of breath. Judging by her vent and lack of eggs inside of her, I am guessing she was entirely done laying (likely due to being so fat). 1 1/2 years old

I've been feeding mash twice a day, rather than free feeding pellets, for about 2 weeks now. They're not happy, but this just confirms it needs to be done.

I'm probably going to butcher the other partridge rock too. Although she's a bit smaller, she's been slow lately and laying very little. I may see if things improve if she loses weight... not sure.