Bringing myself to do the deed.

[urban dreamer]

I'm catching alot of hell about this from my family so I thought I'd ask ya'll instead.

I have four chickens in my little city backyard. Three in the "big" coop and one lonely mean hen in the quarentine coop. Gladys is a very dominate bird and has been separated from the main flock for a few months now. She's a big time feather plucker and bullied two of my other hens almost to death. I've kept her for her eggs but now I have a more sinister idea- thanksgiving chicken? I don't have the emotional attachment to Gladys that I have for my other birdies. I want to raise meaties someday so I will have to get used to it anyways. How do you fatten up your eaten birds and how did you manage to do the deed? I have a hatchet. Should I get a killing cone/ board? Gladys is a two year old EE hen. Kinda skinny.

 

[walnuthollow]

We had a EE Rooster and boy was he mean!!!!
He cornered Emily Rose (hen) and had her at deaths door. Needless to say we had him for supper and Emily pulled through. If you don't mind her not laying eggs...You can feed some meat-maker to her and that should fatten her up some. This is what we feed to our meat birds.
As to butchering. We do about 100 at a time so we take them to someone who processes them for us. When I was growing up, we always did our own. My dad would lay them on a tree stump, chop off the head with a hatchet and let them flop around until they bled out. You can also hang them by their feet for this also. We then scalded them (not sure of the exact temp) then plucked 'em. I remember my dad always singed their pin feathers off. Where we take them now it's pretty cool. After he scalds them he puts them in the plucker and let me tell you those little rubber fingers get off 99.999% of the feathers. They come out as clean as a whistle...
Good luck with your butchering.

 

[ksalvagno]

At 2 years old, the meat is going to be tough. Great for soup. We butchered an EE rooster that was just over a year. I put him in the roaster and it was the toughest meat we had ever eaten. I was just trying it out to see if it was true about the older birds and it is.

 

[noobiechickenlady]

She'd make some meeeeeean chicken broth.

I used a new pair of pruning shears on the 5 we've done. They were not meat birds, so skinny, like you said. But they were awful tasty. I slow cooked the whole carcass, then pulled the meat off the bone & made broth with the bones. The meat got cut up & froze. I canned the broth.

Best chicken butchering tutorial EVAH. Graphic pics.

You can do it!

Oh, and my mom fusses at me for killing my extra roosters. "Because they're soooo pretty!"

 

[urban dreamer]

MIL's is "Just leave her in there! She still lays and you named her!" Yea, I changed her name to lunch.

 

[patandchickens]

At her age the best that extra feed is going to do is put some, literally, FAT onto her. Which is useful if you like stockpiling chicken fat to cook with, but not highly pointful in any other circumstance IMHO. (Chicken meat does not really 'marble' like beef, and at her age you're unlikely to be cooking her in any way that crispiness of skin matters either)

I would not suggest roasting a 2 yr old chicken though. They are WONDERFUL but I would recommend a pressure cooker or very slow long simmering with never even half a boil.

After you eat the meat, you can simmer the carcass in new water, producing almost twice the (super tasty! high quality!) chicken broth from the same material

As for mechanics of dispatching the chicken, a hatchet works good (recommend two nails in a stump, to hook the head between to keep neck stretched and still) but requires a good RESOLUTE ACCURATE chop. If you feel squeamish about your ability to do this, hanging the bird upside down (recommend rigging a cone for the purpose, as it will minimize flapping and mess) and slitting its throat with a sharp knife is more foolproof, with a bucket underneath to bleed out into. Recommend aging the cleaned chicken in the fridge for at least 3 days before eating; you could also consider brining or other type of tenderizing/moisturizing marinade, depending on cooking method.

Good luck, have fun, bon appetit,

Pat

 

[Wildsky]

I bought two chicks a while back to put under a broody, and told my kids it was one chick for each of them. The chicks got named: Woody and Jessie, and both turned out to be roosters..

THey're mean little hormonal teens right now and I just haven't got the heart to ..................... chop!

 

[curly_kate]

Speaking as someone who just did this not too long ago (and was asking for encouragement here, too!), you can definitely do it. We found that using the killing cone was very error-proof and not very traumatic for the bird, or for us for that matter. Just make sure you have a sharp knife, and are very firm in your cutting. You want a nice, strong slice to make it as quick as possible.

 

[miss_thenorth]

The most important thing you need, is THE sharpest knife or axe ever. I recommend the knife. We use and exacto knife, as you can change the blades quickly and easily. One strong slit through the jugular and it's over. We dont' have a killing cone. We hold the bird down on the ground, one slits while the other one holds. When flopping is done, we hang them upside down to bleed out. Then we dip them in hot water (not sure of the right temp), pluck then gut. Save all the goodies for the dogs/cats.