Another reply-Humane butchering

Image by TenderBranson via Flickr

Well 6512 and growing, has posted another chicken question and I will do my best again to reply. The question is about humanly butchering a chicken. So here we go....

Chance and I had always used a stump with two nails and an axe for butchering our chickens.This is the way we did it at my Dad's house so we were following tradition yet again. I also learned how to butcher a chicken by simply holding on to the bird by the wings and slitting its neck with a very sharp knife,not my favorite way but in a pinch it works. This way takes two people,one to hold and one to cut.

Last year when Chance and I were asked to teach our butchering class it was requested we use a Killing Cone/Funnel because it is thought to be more humane.We had never heard of this cone and had to do some web surfing to figure it all out. This is what we found.

First, the cones are steep in price to buy one which would have cut into the small amount of money we would be making by teaching our class. Chance is a handy guy and started really looking at how the cones were made and came up with his own pattern to make one. Here is the blog entry we did on building your own. Instead of paying 60 or so dollars you should be able to build one for around $20 total by using Chance's how to. That blog posting is our number one search that brings people here to Hrafinstaad.

We also discovered we like using the cone because it simplifies everything and makes things go quicker.

To use the cone you tie your chickens feet together,turn your bird upside down and slide it into the cone. Turning a chicken upside down kind of calms the bird down and the snugness of the cone also helps it. You still have to stand close by to where you have hung your cone,the bird will try and wiggle out.
So there you are with the bird in the cone with its head sticking out the end.The next step is to take a hold of the chickens neck and gently pull it our straight and cut. PLEASE the most humane thing is to make sure your knife is VERY SHARP.( Chance keeps our knives razor sharp so much so that they will slice a sheet of paper with ease.) The sharp knife will insure you only have to do one slice.
Now the next part is to bleed out your bird. Once you have cut your chickens neck it will flop around a bit inside the cone,the eyes may blink at you and sometimes you will hear growling or gurgling.All of these are simply the life going out of the bird, all of it is the body's natural process and only lasts a moment or two. You can take the bird out of the cone and hold it by its feet while it is going through this if you are worried about to much flopping around. Once your bird has gone limp you will hang it by its feet someplace to let it finish bleeding out.

Finally you are ready to pluck and gut your bird, a blog entry I have yet to figure out how to write.The plucking is easy but the gutting is all done by feel and I have just not found the words to describe it well. Google and Youtube are your best bets on those.

Once you get online and start looking at the millions of ways to butcher a chicken out there it is a bit crazy.For every culture on the Earth there is a different way of doing it. Chance and I are now Cone users,it is easy and dose seem to be a more humane way of doing it.We are still taking a life to further our own but the doing of it is swift.

Another point about humanely butchering is to do the deed where your other hens can not see it happening. There is an old farmers tale that the other hens you are keeping won't lay if they see their flock mates going to the soup pot.I am not to sure this is true but I don't test it either for two reasons.One is how un-nerving for the chickens being kept, and two I want my hens to lay so why test it.

I am going to bring up our boys and butchering at this point because it may be a question someone may have. We always give the boys the choice to help/watch when we butcher. Chance and I choose to do this but do not feel we should force it upon the boys. So far Issac the eldest has manged to be gone when we have butchered,not too sure why but he's been gone never the less. As for Sol the younger one,he is our sensitive soul but a curious fellow.So far Sol has been home on butchering days but will not watch the killing of the birds. Sol is interested once we have plucked the birds and are gutting them.Like Sol many people end up being interested in this part because it is fascinating how all living creatures insides are arranged pretty much the same and the organs are too.We no longer Homeschool Sol but with both boys we have always tried to use moments like this to talk to the boys about the world around them. Since both Chance and I have the attitude that butchering is a part of the life cycle and are calm and mellow about it we have seen that both of the boys have this same mind set.Butchering has also given us as a family the opportunity to really talk about where our food comes from and the choices we can make as a family regarding the sources our food comes from.
6512 and growing, I hope this helped you out with your concerns.Thanks for starting a conversation and feel free to keep posting your questions, I like it!

Everyone else, I am working on a posting about Potatoes and will hopefully get to it later today.
My Mother is on to me,she knows I have her Chicken planter and she is plotting her revenge so it is game on! I had better make sure our doors are locked.What else?....The sun is radiant this morning, I have the day off of work and will be baking later on.I also wish I had a good camera to take some better photos of our newest garden beds.I look at them and I am so pleased but getting them to look right in photos is proving to be trickier than I thought.
Enjoy your day.
Rois

Culling your flock.A reply to a comment

I received a comment asking me for more about culling our flock of hens. From the comment I am gathering they are wanting to know more about the emotional side of it.
The need to cull your flock of chickens is something that will come up eventually as chicken owners. Those of you new to chicken keeping need to understand that before you bring home your chicks.It is easy to fall in love with those darling little peeps and the dream of having your own birds happily living their lives out in your backyard.
The need to cull our flock is just presenting it's self to us this spring.Although we have had chickens for 7 years now Mother Nature has graced us with the hens dieing on their own for whatever reason chickens die. We have had a couple taken by raccoons which makes me mad as all heck. And now it looks like my hens are all laying again so culling may not happen after all.
We had thought 2 of our older hens, who are 3 years old now, were not laying so what were we going to do? Abby our Black Sex Link is a sweet little thing and will follow me around like a dog,I am kind of attached to her if you can't tell.Then there is Joan the Barred Rock who seems to hear voices in her head and is an odd ball,I am not so attached to her. But both girls have been good layers and have given us no troubles. But we have only so much room here at our suburban homestead and we have the hens for their eggs and the farm sensibilities my parents raised me with overrode any of my feelings for the hens. If they were not laying they would have to be culled.
Now I am not a heartless person we do have one hen left from our first flock who is excused from culling,Miss Cleo. Miss Cleo is 7 years old and has not graced the nest box with an egg in a long time but that darling is one awesome hen.When we have had new chicks she has taken them over and showed them the ropes of the chicken yard,acting as a mother and protector from the other hens. That trait is valuable in a hen,it gives her a purpose beyond the laying of eggs. I just wish she would go broodie and set some other hens eggs,she would make an awesome Mama.
The down side of not culling your non-laying hens is you are left with a flock of pet chickens.Most of the chicken books out there will tell you that hens only live to be maybe 4-5,not true at all. My Dad had a hen much like our Cleo whom was excused from culling because she was such a great Mother to the chicks.My Dad's hen lived to 15,no kidding,15 and she lived through being moved 50 miles away, a cougar on the prowl and the coyotes that lived near by.15 years is a long time, so think it over do you want livestock or pets?
I don't know what to say about how to get your mind set for culling your birds. Culling hens is something I grew up with and is kind of "normal" to me,a part of keeping chickens. I think it is important to start out with some clear ideas of what you are getting yourself into.I tell new chicken owners all the time at work,Chickens are just like any other animal you bring into your life,they need care and are a long term commitment. What are you going to do when your hens are old and need to go? Like I have said in some of my postings about butchering can you do it? Have you thought it ALL the way through?
I have read that in some cities the local animal shelters are filling up with unwanted hens,most likely the ones that are no longer laying or people did not think it through and gave in to their whim. I have a feeling that pretty soon here it will become a problem just like the trend of Pot Bellied Pigs a few years ago. This comes around once more to my burning request to people think it ALL the way through first.
There are other reasons to cull your flock of course.A bird with a bad temper has got to go a peaceable kingdom makes for happy hens who lay. An egg eater needs to go,sometimes a Rooster or one who has become lame. The reasoning needs to be done with a bit of logic applied to your own situation. Try and set aside your emotions and think of the greater good for the flock and your family.
I don't know if I have given the reader who requested this posting any help, maybe my practical side is too strong. Pracicality and old school farm smarts are what I try to bring to my blog,if you are going to live this kind of life you need a dose of both to make it work. This is not a hobby for us it is a life style,hobbies you can set aside and forget but your life is your life. Life is not always peaches and cream so roll with the punches and think things through.

Rois

Culling the flock and Coq au Vin

Image by Lenny Montana via Flickr

The day has come,Big Red our Rooster is finally coming to meet his end.It's time to cull our flock of chickens, too many mouths to feed and the desire for more eggs has over come my superstition about eating Big Red,so the deed must be done.A part of keeping chickens is knowing when to sort out the non-laying hens and the pig of a rooster.

Not only are we motivated by the our own need but our friends
Rooster has turned into one mean dude, you know it is time for a Roo to go when you have to take a BIG stick with you out to the coop everyday,to protect yourself from a snapping beak and sharp spurs. So Mr Dave and Ms Rachel asked for our help in taking care of their rooster by teaching them how to butcher.

I know not all of you want to hear me talk about butchering chickens but it is the real side of Homesteading no matter where you live. Maybe I'll take pity and not get into the butchering part tomorrow once we have done the task but maybe I should go ahead and be real about the whole thing and post it anyway.

Since both roosters are no longer young and tender in mind or body,although Big Red is a bit dim witted, some creative cooking will have to happen to make these fellows worth all the feed we have been feeding them.Chance has decided that he wants to try his hand at Coq au Vin (this link was suggested by another friend not sure if this is the one Chance will use.) a dish made famous by that cooking Deva Ms Julia Childs. Neither Chance nor I have ever had it. I am hoping it's not one of those dishes you hear so much about, raving reviews , takes days to make and you end up yucking someone's yum. Never the less we say "Game on" lets do it!

If I remember right Chance said the Coq au Vin calls for some bacon which we currently don't have on hand but Chance recently made that bacon like meat made from Pork Jowls with a name I can never remember because it sounds a bit like someone is gargling not speaking a word, so we will substitute the bacon with that.The recipe also calls for mushrooms and I am wondering about using the Chantrell mushrooms we have in the freezer,giving a list of 3 of the main flavors from our own stock pile of home grown foods.
**** I just clicked over to the recipe and once I took a good look at the ingredients I think we may be able to pull most of what we need from our pantry of things we have put away.Everything else on the list could easily be found locally..hmmm something to think about.

It will be the weekend before I can report back on the Coq au Vin.The culled rooster must chill for a couple of days giving the muscles time to relax and become a bit more tender.Then the Coq au Vin must marinate in its bath of wine but I'll be sure to come back with the review of it.

I must say I am enjoying working at Urban Farm Store.I am learning so much about chickens and gardening that it is exciting. I am also learning about the veterinary side of taking care of chickens. We have been fortunate and have not had any sick chickens ( knock wood.) here so it is not something I have had to learn. So far the only chicken care I have learned that makes me a bit weepy for some strange reason is Pasty Butt in Chicks.That is when a chicks backside gets plug with poo and you have to clean it away and sometimes cut it off.Those poor babies,they don't feel good in their tummy's and then they have to go through that.Never fear,there's drops we put in the water to cure them of their woe's. Taking care of chicks is no different than caring for a baby,it is full time work and not always charming.
Beyond everything I am learning there have been some funny moments that you had to be there to laugh about,some VERY interesting questions both serious and ones that left me wondering "Are you really asking that?" I think the last time I talked so much about butts, poo and feeding was when the boys were babies. I really should do a posting all about chicken butts,you can learn a ton about your chicken and it's health by looking at its butt.Is the hen laying,dose the chicken have mites or worms? Yup,this is a big topic at work and I just have to laugh about it.
I have finally made up my mind about which chicks I want to get this year.I have chosen
Black Australorps and Araucana's (which have multiple names all a variation of Araucana.) Both breeds are good layers and reliable birds in general.I have missed our old flock of Araucana's pretty colored eggs and their great personalities so I want some more.As for the Australorp's I am interested in them because they are a beautiful bird to see,great layers and are used for meat. We won't be raising these chicks for meat this summer but I want to try out an Australorp to see if we would want to raise some later for their meat. First though we must butcher not only Big Red but two of our non-laying hens to make room for the new chicks.

Our house is not ready for company this afternoon,I badly need a haircut ,I need to dig out our biggest kettle and bake a dessert so I really must close now.

Rois

Chicken raising- part 2

After my last posting I was left wondering about our choice in Chickens for meat.I don't like the whole idea of Cornish Cross Chickens; they have been bred to grow quickly and deformed in the end,as our friend Jen says "They are Franken-Chickens." We don't want Franken-food on our table why promote Cornish's, the whole point behind the breeding of these birds goes against every thing we are trying to accomplish here.Why stick with them?

Why? Well it goes back to what we already knew,my Dad always raised Cornish's,they were easy and reliable. But like lots of other areas in our life we are and need to rethink the old ideas we are still holding onto. We got rid of our BIG gas hog truck and down sized as a way to follow our "new" way of thinking now it is time to address the meat chickens as well.

Jen whom I mentioned above sent me an email after reading my last posting with an inquire about raising a larger number of Chickens for meat together. It was a bit of a ponder because they live 3 hours east of us on many acres of land outside of Sister's Oregon.Could we do it? After a phone call we decided it could be done.

Our plan is to share an order for a dual purpose chicken like the Buff Orpington's which will live at their house until butchering time.We will split the costs of both the chicks and the feed.

Jen and her family's chicken coop is a better set up too,their coop is the size of our garage and the run area is the size of most of my front yard.Lots of room,no worries about the neighbors complaining about a large number of birds and oh darn we will have to spend an weekend at their house visiting folks who are part of our family,swim in the creek,cuddle their little ones and drink coffee to die for.It will be hard so very hard but you won't have to twist our arms to do it.We love it over there and coming home is always hard because we rather stay...forever.

We still won't be raising 104 chickens,our estimate for a years worth of chicken dinners. We will still raise a few meat birds here but will most likely rethink the rotation to fit around the birds out east butchering.

Tinker, tinker, tinker, we are always tinkering what we are doing here.We try and take what we know of farm life and skills and apply them to the Suburbs.We have no map,book or school to show or teach us the way,we are writing our own story here.
Rois