Chicken Butchering

Warning!

This post is about butchering chickens.  If you do not agree with eating animals or the killing of animals do not read.  If you can not stand to see a animal killed do not read.  I will delete any posts calling me and those that were here murderers.  I believe in the freedom of speech, but you have been warned.  Back to our regular scheduled post.

 

 

 

 

Chicken Butchering ♫

I feel a deep need to get back to the "old ways".  That includes having a garden and raising chickens.  It is an amazing way to beef up your food storage I just saved $30 off of my food bill by butchering these chickens, plus I dont' have to buy feed for them.  I like to hatch out my chickens here at home, its just more fun.  It is also a great for teaching my son about work, life, and loving animals.  On the other hand I don't need more then 4 rooster right now.  What to do with the rest, I know there are some that will say "Give them away so they can be pets.....".  I don't believe that chickens are pets, they are livestock.  I do have my favorites, but I believe that they were put on Earth to be eaten.  So today we butchered 21 chickens between 3 families.  Now that is not enough for even one family for a year, but it is a start. 

 

 

The first rule of butchering for beginners is to find an expert, someone who has butchered thousands of chickens.  That's where I began.  Next is to set up a time and day to do the butchering.  On your butcher day find all of your big pots and have them filled to the top with water and boiling. 

 

 

Then select the chicken that will be feeding your family, and kill it.  We chopped off their heads. 

 Next you scald them in the boiling water

 

 

Then you pluck, pluck, and pluck.  It seems like you will never get to the end of plucking the feathers.  I promise you will.







Beautiful, looks like they are from the store don't they?

Now they get a bath where the rest of the pin feathers are pulled out and all of the dirt comes off.

 Then it is time to start gutting.  This is where the picts stop and you will need to find an expert.  There is so much that you can do different while gutting a chicken.



Juli and Sheryl try their hand at gutting a chicken while Sharon gives instructions. 

Now its my turn except we are cutting them into fryers.

This guys is about   to loose his wing.



 Not really a tutorial I know, but it was an amazing experience for everyone that was here.  I feel more connected to my food chain, and happy to have some home grown chicken headed to my freezer tomorrow.  Happy Homesteading!  ♫