Tomorrow is the big day

twigcrafter · May 26, 2017

Tomorrow I will be harvesting 9 Cornish X and a little bantam rooster. He is a 100% BLEEP!!!. I tried chicken jail, but he keeps going after my sweet little 6 yr old nephew. That is NOT acceptable here on my tiny homestead.

The bantam rooster is in a cat carrier for the night so he can't escape his destiny in the morning. He will be my "test the scald water" chicken. Last weekend I processed my runt Cornish X, and my tempiture gage was way off. BTW the runt made a fantastic chicken and rice soup. I was going to make chicken salad, but it was a cold and rainy day, on cooking day.

I will be channeling the strength of my ancestors.

The runt was a mercy kill.
These are for their true purpose. Food. Food raised in a kind and humane way, to feed myself and my family. My ancestors foraged and raised live stock for food. There were no super markets. Chicken does not come from a super market, it comes from a farm/homestead. Not preaching here

, just channeling strength from my ancestors.
And Rambling. lol OK, I'll stop now. Please think good thoughts for me :fl

Thanks!

Kiki · May 26, 2017

We (I) want pictures please!
Perfect learning opportunity (for me!!)

Good luck!
:fl

Ridgerunner · May 26, 2017

twigcrafter said:
Tomorrow I will be harvesting 9 Cornish X and a little bantam rooster. He is a 100% BLEEP!!!. I tried chicken jail, but he keeps going after my sweet little 6 yr old nephew. That is NOT acceptable here on my tiny homestead.

The bantam rooster is in a cat carrier for the night so he can't escape his destiny in the morning. He will be my "test the scald water" chicken. Last weekend I processed my runt Cornish X, and my tempiture gage was way off. BTW the runt made a fantastic chicken and rice soup. I was going to make chicken salad, but it was a cold and rainy day, on cooking day.

I will be channeling the strength of my ancestors.

The runt was a mercy kill.
These are for their true purpose. Food. Food raised in a kind and humane way, to feed myself and my family. My ancestors foraged and raised live stock for food. There were no super markets. Chicken does not come from a super market, it comes from a farm/homestead. Not preaching here , just channeling strength from my ancestors.
And Rambling. lol OK, I'll stop now. Please think good thoughts for me
Thanks!

twigcrafter · May 26, 2017

Thanks.

I just finished making 5 disposable kill cones.
4 were made by folding plastic feed bags into a cone shape, cutting out the corner, and securing with 2 zip ties. The top zip tie is a loop to hang on a tee post. the 5th cone is a 2liter soda bottle cut on both ends with a zip tie loop to hang on the post for the bantam. it's dark outside here. I will take pictures in the morning.
I will be drinking a wine cooler in the morning like I did last time. To toast to the birds, and calm my nerves. I'm pretty sure MY ancestors would have approved. lol

Kiki · May 27, 2017

Update please!!

CooksCritters · May 27, 2017

It would be a great learning opportunity! I have 5 Rhode Island Red Roosters that will be meeting their destiny in a about 8 more weeks, maybe less. (They'll be 16 weeks old by then)

twigcrafter · May 27, 2017

It's done. I now have 9 huge chickens and 1 tiny chicken resting in my refrigerators. I will post pictures tomorrow.
It took all day! lol Ok we started later than I hoped. After doing only 4 I took a long break. Thank goodness my hubby convinced me to do the last 6 all at once. Catch and kill. Catch and kill. Till they were all done.
Once the hard part was over the rest went pretty well. I still can't get my temps right and the last 2 the scald was too hot and it tore the skin but not horribly. I will use them to test my cutting up a chicken into parts skills tomorrow.
My yardbird plucker worked great on the smaller ones, but the monster sized ones were too heavy and wouldn't flip all around like the other ones. I tried putting 2 in at once but that didn't work either.
I'm tired. To be continued tomorrow.
Thanks for send good thought my way

CooksCritters · May 27, 2017

You go twigcrafter! That's a lot of chickens to do all in one day! Now you've got some delicious home raised chicken to look forward to, but now, if I were you, I would be heading to the nearest pizza place for take out!

twigcrafter said:
It's done. I now have 9 huge chickens and 1 tiny chicken resting in my refrigerators. I will post pictures tomorrow.
It took all day! lol Ok we started later than I hoped. After doing only 4 I took a long break. Thank goodness my hubby convinced me to do the last 6 all at once. Catch and kill. Catch and kill. Till they were all done.
Once the hard part was over the rest went pretty well. I still can't get my temps right and the last 2 the scald was too hot and it tore the skin but not horribly. I will use them to test my cutting up a chicken into parts skills tomorrow.
My yardbird plucker worked great on the smaller ones, but the monster sized ones were too heavy and wouldn't flip all around like the other ones. I tried putting 2 in at once but that didn't work either.
I'm tired. To be continued tomorrow.
Thanks for send good thought my way