Survived the Chicken Crisis!

[Kotiya]

I tried moving the coop without bothering my kids and ended up dragging the heavy thing over a few birds. One was dead when I got to it. One other clearly wasn't going to make it. So I ran into the house for knives and string. I was crying, trying to explain to my shocked kids. This is our first time. We started with 25, about 5 weeks ago.

I couldn't just *waste* them, so I strung them up in a tree and just cut them. I realized we need sharper knives! I've been worried since we ordered the chickens how we would process them. I guess God had it under control. I can do about anything when my kids are stressed! I just cut until the blood poured out. As the kids checked out their favorite, we realized he wasn't going to make it either and he joined the tree-crew. So they were hanging there and I did some quick reading on this site (thanks so much for all your info!). I brought them inside and cleaned them up.

My husband didn't think I could do it and wanted me to wait for him to be home later. He just wanted to bury them. I felt so awful for causing their premature death and I didn't want it to be in vain.

I started pulling feathers, but was worried it was going to take me too long. So I just skinned them. It was easier for me to do that and get out the innards. Now I have three birds soaking in brine. I threw away a couple of legs that were clearly bruised. The rest looks great. I guess we eat them tomorrow? I think the family needs a day to get over our loss. Yeah, they've become pets. by tomorrow the kids will have forgotten and I'll just serve them up!

I am so proud of myself right now!

 

[UncleHoot]

I'm not sure how to react, so I'll go sequentially:

Oh no! You ran them over? What is your coop made of?

Good job on getting them processed yourself, though! I still haven't done it. I've come close a couple times, when I noticed that the birds were dying, but I wasn't fast enough (I have a "real" job, too). By the time they are 8 weeks, I'd rather just pay someone else to do it right.

 

[chicklips]

OH NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
and YEAH!!!!!!!!!!
Sounds like dinner will be great!

 

[bja105]

I ran one over, too. It happens.

Don't let plucking intimidate you, its not hard. It is easier to justify the set up time if your going to do all of them, though. Get a big pot on a campstove for the scald, and another pot with cold water to tighten the skin. If you attack the feathers immediately out of the water, they come out faster.

We did our 20 last month. The first night, I set up and did two as a practice run. It took 2 hours for the two birds. The second day, we did 18 in 4 hours, so we got much faster.

 

[mmwb]

Accidents happen. Kudos to dealing with it and not wasting the birds.

 

[BluegrassSeramas]

Really! Good for you!! I hope that I can do it all by myself one day..... I keep getting pairs of meat birds and naming them.......

 

[morninggloryhatchery]

Congrats. It will be hard for me when i kill my first meat chicken next year....

i might hire someone to do it lol

 

[Brunty_Farms]

I think we have all done that a time or two... What I have found to help (got the idea from Salatins book) is to use a two wheeler in the back side of the pen to lift up the pen off of the ground about 3 inches.

The little ones just go right underneath with no problems... the older ones get a nudge from the back of the pen and up they go. By about 4 weeks or so they get the hang of it, mine pace the front when they know I'm about ready to move it, it's pretty funny to watch.

Congrats to you... isn't funny how you react to something when you have to? I bet if you woke up one morning and said hey I'm gonig to try to butcher 3 of these to try it... it probably would have been a lot harder.

Good eating....

 

[Kotiya]

Plz describe what you mean by two-wheeler a bit more. I do need to lift the back instead of dragging the coop over the silly birds. We have to move the coop every 12 hrs, but they still havent' learned. There are 20 Cornish Rock Cross Roos that might only live another couple weeks. I plan to weigh them today.

 

[Brunty_Farms]

All you do is put the two wheeler on the back side of the pen.... in the middle.

Push down on the handle and slide the pen onto the middle of the two wheeler. Basically using it like a dolly.... go to the front side of the pen... pick it up kind of like a wheel barrow and walk backwards....

It's hard to explain... in Joels book Pastured Poultry Profits you can see pictures of how it's done. If I can get someone to take pictures of me when I'm moving the pens I will post them.