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Barnyard Buddies:  Chicken butchering…advice needed…  |
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Garden_artist
True Blue Farmgirl
182 Posts
Tammy
Southern Coast Oregon
182 Posts |
 Posted - Oct 26 2007 : 12:36:12 PM
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My hens have become egg eaters. They are wiping out the eggs as they fall from the hens. It’s our fault, when I took my daughter to fair, by sweet hubby was so busy with work he wasn’t getting home until after dark. So the hens got a real taste for their eggs. I’ve tried checking every couple hours, oyster shells, cleaning and new bedding and I can’t get them to stop. So I am at my wits end, I think we will be butchering chickens this weekend (23 of them). My parents are coming over to help. My mom and I are going to pluck, my husband and step dad are going to butcher and clean.
It’s funny we’ve had the hens for about 4 years, replenishing them as needed because of critter issues (mainly hawks and raccoons in the daytime). Because of the critters, we haven’t really needed to butcher and I wasn’t all that thrilled about it, but now I am thinking if this goes good this weekend, maybe I will start raising both types of hens (eggs layers and broilers) again. I don’t mind the idea of eating what I raise, but the idea of butchering it’s kind of hard .
What is your experience with it? Do you have any suggestions, to making the plucking process any easier?
When I feel spring coming I have to plant or I’ll go crazy! |
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Canadian farmgirl
True Blue Farmgirl
482 Posts
Lori
Ontario
Canada
482 Posts |
Posted - Oct 26 2007 : 1:11:14 PM
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You bring back memories for me. My hens became egg eaters once, when they were older and started laying eggs with thinner shells. I know what you mean about being at your wits' end--I used to sit in the hen house waiting for them to lay, so I could get the eggs right away, but they still managed to eat them. I remember even crying in there! Butchering them became the only solution, but I couldn't do it myself. I had to take them to an abbatoir and pay to have it done. The first time was the hardest, because we had named them all, and I felt awful seeing Martha in the freezer afterwards (she was noticeably bigger than the rest, so I could pick her out).
The flocks after that were also butchered when their time came, but we never named them again, and it was much easier.
Good luck.
Lori |
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Aunt Jenny
True Blue Farmgirl
11381 Posts
Jenny
middle of
Utah
USA
11381 Posts |
Posted - Oct 26 2007 : 2:27:12 PM
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I will be butchering the last of my meat chickens on SAturday...they are WAY big now...like small turkeys..but I will be canning up their meat in chunks for handy cooking on weeknights.
I hate hate hate plucking so I have taken to skinning nearly all my meat chickens. If I roast one I lay bacon strips over. When I DO pluck I dip the bird in a big kettle of boiling hot water for about 45 seconds..swishing to get the hot water all ove the feathers...and that helps loosen them. YOu have to be careful not to cook the skin though.
It is good that you will have lots of help. I have a husband that refuses to help with chicken butchering any more. He didn't want me to order any more meat chicks but knows me well enough to know I will do it anyhow..so he just says...I will milk, I will feed, I will help catch things and muck out pens, I will haul animals, and haul hay, and load and unload feed..but I WON"T kill any more chickens. So I have a girlfriend who has helped me this year and that is how the last of them will get done too. It works for me. Next year I plan to get less at once though. It is a big job. I have 15 left to do. I try to do 10 at a time..just an easier amount of meat to deal with at a time.
Good luck! It is SOOOOO nice when it is over with!!
I purposely have banty hens...too small to butcher so they get to live out their lives here. I get meat chickens separate and keep them penned up separate..and they don't get named EVER. It IS hard to butcher your hens..but don't you just hate the egg eating. I have had bouts of that happen here too...really frustrating!
Jenny in Utah
Inside me there is a skinny woman crying to get out...but I can usually shut her up with cookies
http://www.auntjennysworld.blogspot.com/ visit my little online shop at www.auntjenny.etsy.com |
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Garden_artist
True Blue Farmgirl
182 Posts
Tammy
Southern Coast Oregon
182 Posts |
Posted - Oct 26 2007 : 4:33:50 PM
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It's so good to hear from you Jenny I always look so forward to your posts...I'm very interested in skinning. Can you tell me your process? I've asked so many people here that hunt fowl or have domestic fowl if it's possible to just skin and they look at me like I am kooky . And by the way how is lovely Mona???
When I feel spring coming I have to plant or I’ll go crazy! |
Edited by - Garden_artist on Oct 26 2007 4:34:23 PM |
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PlumCreekMama
True Blue Farmgirl
730 Posts
Heather
Iowa
USA
730 Posts |
Posted - Oct 26 2007 : 6:43:10 PM
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| I also skin my chickens when I butcher. It takes so much less time! I need to do some butchering myself. I think I should be able to manage skinning, I know I wouldn't be able to pluck after having carpal tunnel surgery. I just cut into the skin around the knee and pull and cut away until it's all off. Most parts just pull right off. |
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Aunt Jenny
True Blue Farmgirl
11381 Posts
Jenny
middle of
Utah
USA
11381 Posts |
Posted - Oct 26 2007 : 11:34:13 PM
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That is pretty much how I do it too..I do usually slit the skin up the back too...just makes more flap to grab to pull on..not neccessary but easier for me.
Mona is doing great Tammy..she is just as perfect as always. I wish I could catch her in heat though! She still isn't bred so we are looking at an early August calf at this point..yikes!! BUT...a dry cow in early summer may be nice...little league and camping trips without milking will be a whole new world..haha.
Jenny in Utah
Inside me there is a skinny woman crying to get out...but I can usually shut her up with cookies
http://www.auntjennysworld.blogspot.com/ visit my little online shop at www.auntjenny.etsy.com |
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LadyCrystal
True Blue Farmgirl
593 Posts
Alicia
Rhode Island
USA
593 Posts |
Posted - Oct 27 2007 : 06:38:56 AM
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Did you try putting a dummy egg in with the hen to see who the culprit is? If I am too late it is worth a shot if it happens again. We also raise our own broilers but we do a 100 a year. I am lucky my hubby is handy and built a whiz bang chicken plucker. It makes it super easy.
Aunt Jenny,
We just sent Patsy and Etta to be bred. Izzy is getting big but sad to say he is going to end up being a steer. So I can't get attached. Good luck with Mona though!
Alicia
http://fromcitytocountrygirl.blogspot.com/
follow your dreams |
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Barnyard Buddies: Chicken butchering…advice needed… |
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Chicken butchering…advice needed…
