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September 11, 2009

Butchering Chickens (by Meg)

This morning we finished the last 13 of 70 chickens. ( trust me that was exciting:)
So here is a little photo journal of the morning.
First we pick out the chicken.
Then you've got to catch it!
Zachary hugging the chicken good-bye:)

Then the chicken gets handed off me :)

I get the lovely job of holding the chicken while...

Caleb chops the head off! ( this was set up:)

Jesse + Nathan bring the chickens from the

butchering block to the.....

Plucking table

Kerri and Jennifer are the official pluckers.

Then over to wash them.

Josh and Rebecca where helping today so they took over my job of washing so I could be a full time "chicken holder while the head is chopped off" ( isn't that just so sweet of them?)

Mom takes all the guts out, cuts them up, weighs and bags them.

After were all done the kids look like this:)

The happy bunch.

6 comments:

Dianna said...

That was interesting how you do the chickens. I noticed you don't put them in hot boiling water once the head if of we put them in hot water then pluck them. Do you use the chicken fat and boil it up for frying? That we also do even use it when baking bread. Then we put the chicken in freezing water then after a couple hours we put then out and bag them. I like to read how others do it. That is so interesting. I love when you write posts about life on the farm. I feel we have so many things in common.

Anonymous said...

I'll bet you guys are all very happy to have that over with.

Miss you all.
Rae

The Pauls' Family said...

Dianna,

Guess we left a couple of the steps out that we take to get these birds into the freezer.

We do boil them after their heads are off and then after washing them and cleaning them out we put them in two cold water baths for a few hours, dry them and then freeze them.

Thanks for the ideas about the chicken fat. So far I have not done that.

Rosalie

Laura said...

How come we miss the baby calves and now this...OK maybe I'd really rather see the Baby Calves :)

Great team work Pauls' and great post!!!

The Rowley Family said...

It's done a little differently here... from what I can gather. I haven't been able to work up the courage to buy meat at the market here yet... We'll have to post some pictures for you guys.
It looks like you all had a good day. I hope you enjoy all of the yummy chicken you'll have this fall and winter.

A Walk in My Flip Flops said...

That is so sad:( but I am glad you all got done I am sure it was hard to say good bye.

I miss you all
Amanda