**UPDATE** dead chickens... EATEN!

[pioneergirl]

To repeat....you will get better! I processed 50 meat birds by myself, and finally had the whole thing down by bird #45. I did manage to have the luxury of a homemade killing cone, which helped a lot. It will get better, maybe you could invent a device for those who can't fit their hands into the bird, that will help gut it? $$$!!!

 

[Farmfresh]

I had trouble gutting the chickens as well, because I have real big hands for a girl (mens large gloves!!). I solved the gutting problem by simply cutting the bird as I go. It is far easier to get the insides out with the chicken cut in half lengthwise!

 

[Beekissed]

Congratulations! An important milestone in anyone's life, to be sure....being strong enough to do the necessary things to insure there is food on the table. It's never fun, nor does it ever get any easier to kill a creature...but one does get more proficient at it each time and this makes things less traumatic, I believe.

Do you use a killing cone? When the bird is secure in a cone, you can grip the head in such a manner that your hands or fingers are never in harm's way.

I made one out of an inverted 2 gal. bleach jug after reading about them on BYC. I'll never go back to the stump and ax, wringing the neck, hanging them up by their feet, or any other method after trying the killing cone. Great results, easier death, less ugliness all around. You can cut a throat and let one bleed out while processing the previous kill. Makes things a little faster.

 

[Farmfresh]

I do use a killing cone for my turkeys. Works really well.

I would still suggest using poultry shears or the like instead of a knife. Works FAR better for me. I think I am always afraid of cutting myself with a knife. We use sharp loppers on the turkeys.

 

[freemotion]

You are an inspiration! All kinds of inspiring going on today!

I watched my dad dispatch two of my toms last summer....I needed to see for myself if it was really worth all the trouble of raising meat. I needed to assure myself that there was no cruelty or suffering involved.

It was FAR less traumatic than I could ever have imagined! He used a linoleum knife...the kind of handle that holds a trapezoid-shaped razor blade....and hung the turkey upside down, then quickly felt for the caratid pulse, then a quick slice and step back out of the splatter zone. I swear that neither of those turkeys suffered more than a grass cut....less, even. I react more to a grass cut than they did. They remained calm throughout. They expired quietly. The most activity was the flapping after they were no longer conscious.

I'm still a ways from doing it myself....you go, girl! It was a huge step for me to pluck 1.5 turkeys....then the smell was making me sick.

We plan on buying 50 chicks, and we will have the roosters from the hatches we plan to do, and the four from last year that just need to fertilize my spring eggs for my broodies, so.....keep inspiring me!

 

[bibliophile birds]

i think the knife was sharp enough (Dad used it without problem) but the more i think about the more i think it might have been how i was holding the head. like i said, i ripped the neck open on the first one and still missed the artery. i think what i needed to do was pull the skin tight with my left hand so that when i cut with my right the knife blade wasn't pulling the skin around with it. there was just too much give and movement of the neck skin for me to have a solid cutting area.

this time we improvised and hung them by their feet. next time i will make sure to have a killing cone. i think that will help with being able to get a more solid grip and help solve the above problem.

a gut scooping device would be QUITE nifty. i would like to not have to rely on someone else to do it when i can't physically make my hand fit and i don't want to always have to part birds (although i'm going to have to do some of them at least). i'm not into Men's large gloves, yet, Farmfresh, but i think that's just because i have short fingers. that was another hindrance on the one bird i could get my hand in- my fingers barely could reach the esophagus.

freemotion- Dad thought a box cutter (or linoleum knife) would be the best choice too, but when he tried it, the blade wasn't sharp enough. i'm going to get new blades and try that next time. i've used those a LOT so i feel much more agile with it than a big, unwieldy hunting knife.

i think this experience went a long way in helping my parents (and myself) realize that i can do this. for the longest time after i was a vegetarian, i only ate chicken and turkey. i always joked that it was because if i was stranded on a desert island, those would probably be the only animals i was capable of killing. pretty much everyone who knew me didn't think i could manage even that. live in a grass hut with no amenities- yes. kill my own food- no. well, i'm just that much closer to knowing that i can. and i know my father respects me a lot more for my effort.

thanks for the support and advice. you guys are wonderful!

 

[bibliophile birds]

ahh, more info and questions.

these birds were 4.5 months old. i had been wanting to process them for a few weeks but my Dad was out of town, so i waited for him to get home. i read that as they get older, the connective tissue gets stronger. it did seem like we had to struggle a bit to get some things loose. watching the Polyface eviseration video, the guts just came right out, but ours took some tugging.

do you think that was due to age or just that we are new at this? what age do you typically process spare cockerels?

 

[Farmfresh]

Older birds ARE slightly more tough.

Just keep practicing!

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

BB have you checked out harvey ussery's excellent instructiong on http://www.themodernhomestead.us/ ???

he says to kind of open the cavity before removing the guts. i've used this method and its works great for me.

but dont be too hard on yourself or over think it too much - you'll figure it out and next time will be much better.

if you spent some time over on the meat chicken section on BYC, to a person, you'll see that everyone says 'it wasnt as bad as i thought' - this is the big lesson that we homesteaders need to get out there. i think there has been so much dramatic music and gruesome pictures -- many folks think "i could NEVER do that. so we need to teach friends and family with its really like when you do it at home, humanely, with gratitude.

we actually think its 'fun' but now in that whoopee-whoo-hoo silly sense. but rather we usually do it as a team or with other folks and there is a great sense of community and being part of a bigger picture.

ps buster you are my axe-wielding hero
;-)

 

[Buster]

ps buster you are my axe-wielding hero
;-)

Why thank you, OFG. That is very kind of you.

Wait... that is a compliment, right?



BB, it is very important to realize Joel Salatin eviscerates thousands of chickens a year. Of course it looks easy when he does it.

I have very big hands, too. The secret to me is to rip open the cavity until I can get my hands in. I work my hand up over the top of the innards and next to the breast plate, slowly working them around until I have loosened them all around.

What is likely sticking is the esophagus. I decapitate so it is less of a problem. However, if you don't, you have to make sure you cut it in the neck before you eviscerate, then loosen it and the wind pipe from the neck wall.

Again, congratulations. Wait till you eat one, though. First time I did it, I was filled with a sense of satisfaction. Still am, each time I eat a bird I raised and processed myself.

It just gets better and better.