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 Well, I did it.
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Hosanna
True Blue Farmgirl

466 Posts

Hosanna
Alton Virginia
466 Posts

Posted - Jan 19 2010 :  09:21:50 AM  Show Profile
We butchered chickens today. I had incubated our own eggs last spring and had a bunch of roos. We kept 2 roos and the only 5 hens I had. We got a total of 6 chickens in the freezer. I was little grossed out, watching my DH do it; but I guess I need to get over it. He's done it his whole life; he didn't even blink. Whew! I'm just glad it's over....

www.happilyeverafterhosanna.blogspot.com
www.thewindofheaven.blogspot.com
www.CarolinaRoses.etsy.com

paradiseplantation
True Blue Farmgirl

1277 Posts

julie
social springs community Louisiana
USA
1277 Posts

Posted - Jan 19 2010 :  10:03:09 AM  Show Profile
I'm with you Hosanna. I participated for the first time a few months back. Ugh! But, it is a part of farm life, and I can't always leave the gross stuff up to dh. I'm proud of you farmgirl!

from the hearts of paradise...
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Lynner
True Blue Farmgirl

225 Posts

Sheri
Missouri
USA
225 Posts

Posted - Jan 19 2010 :  12:25:18 PM  Show Profile
Hosanna,
Good for you. I had to help my hubby kill and dress a rabbit about 31 years ago, and I was pregnant and sick at the time. I Could not eat it, or chicken for months afterward. Now we are discussing raising meat birds, and I really want the more natural safer meat. So, my time is coming. So I say, kudos to you. And you inspire me to press forward. I know the benefits outweigh the difficulty. Besides, organic chicken is not cheap. That alone should be encourgement enough.
Sheri

Deeperrootsfarm.etsy.com

The best fertilizer for a farm, are the farmers footsteps...
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1badmamawolf
True Blue Farmgirl

2199 Posts

Teresa
"Bent Fence Farms" Ca
USA
2199 Posts

Posted - Jan 19 2010 :  1:00:57 PM  Show Profile
Ok , you call yourself Farm Girls, lol, butchering poultry and rabbits is womens work. Please do yourself favors, and learn all aspects of farm/ranch life, and I hope you never need to know it all, but if you do, you know how. Some hints; never name what you are gonna eat, do not handle them any more than you need to to keep them semi-tame in order to check their health. Take a deep breath and do what you gotta do in order to feed your families the healthiest way possible. If you raise it, and butcher it yourself, you know exactly what is in it.

"Treat the earth well, it was not given to you by your parents, it was loaned to you by your children"
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happydaze
True Blue Farmgirl

136 Posts

lorraine
atlanta ni
USA
136 Posts

Posted - Jan 19 2010 :  5:23:09 PM  Show Profile
So this year I am going to raise meat birds, BUT I will take them to the Amish nearby for butchering.
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Hosanna
True Blue Farmgirl

466 Posts

Hosanna
Alton Virginia
466 Posts

Posted - Jan 19 2010 :  5:27:49 PM  Show Profile
I guess I'll never be a real farmgirl according to some people's estimations - butchering is not something I think I will ever get used to. Period. Whatever happened to "Farmgirl is a condition of the heart?"


www.happilyeverafterhosanna.blogspot.com
www.thewindofheaven.blogspot.com
www.CarolinaRoses.etsy.com
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Prairie Princess
True Blue Farmgirl

1075 Posts

Jodi
Washington
USA
1075 Posts

Posted - Jan 19 2010 :  6:02:39 PM  Show Profile
Guess I'll never be a farmgirl, either, then...bleck. I don't have a problem with the concept (even tho I'm mostly vegetarian), but it would have to be Justin doing the butchering if we ever kept critters for meat. But that will never happen. Because if we do get chickens or whatever with the intention of raising them for meat, I will name them. And fall in love. And then it's all over.

But roosters do have attitude problems....that might make it easier...

~Jodi

"Women are like teabags...you never know how strong they are until they get into hot water." Eleanor Roosevelt

www.jodielyzabeth.blogspot.com
www.patternprincess.blogspot.com
www.jodieliza.etsy.com
I'm engaged! Follow my wedding planning and sentimental musings at:
www.justinandjodiforever.blogspot.com
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LisaTwo
True Blue Farmgirl

127 Posts

Lisa
Hampden Maine
USA
127 Posts

Posted - Jan 19 2010 :  6:40:23 PM  Show Profile
I struggle with this so much. I can cut up a fryer and clean the guts out of a roaster after they're dead, but man GETTING them dead just does me in (no pun intended). And women's work?... I haul hay, shovel poo, haggle with breeders, medicate and castrate- Please define "men's work" 'cause I think I'm getting the short end of the stick here!

Smiles,
Lisa

http://pinkporches.blogspot.com/

http://www.etsy.com/shop/PinkPorches

*And you know when the truth is told-- you can get what you want--or you can just get old.* (Billy Joel)
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chaddsgirl
True Blue Farmgirl

843 Posts

Sarah
Farmgirl Sisterhood #639 MO
USA
843 Posts

Posted - Jan 19 2010 :  7:39:07 PM  Show Profile
Jodi- your signatures says it all! Women are notorious for doing whatever task presents itself. I always say, a woman's work is anything that needs to be done. Sometimes, in a fit of frustration with my own DH, I even consider woman's work to be anything a man has left undone long enough to make you mad. :) I have always prided myself on my ability to outwork almost any man. My father used to tell my sister and I "The two of you are better men than all these guys you've dated." And he was right. Made finding a husband pretty tough. LOL!!

While butchering animals is a skill I personally value very highly, and strive to learn more about and perfect in myself, it is not for everyone. I know there are many farmgirls on this site who cringe at the idea, and that is o.k. Being a farmgirl IS truly a condition of the heart.

I am very happy to have seen such a wide variety of skills possessed by the farmgirls on this site. From sewing and cooking and gardening to doctoring their own herds and flocks. We all possess valuable "Farmgirl" skills and it is our ability encourage one another that really makes us shine as a group.

Hosana - Congratulations and Kudos to you!! I'm hoping to do the same myself this summer before the grand Hog Butchering takes place in the fall. All I can say is, You Go Girl!!!

Teresa - I have a friend who has lost many a calf to his wife and daughter making pets out of them then refusing to eat them. He put a stop to it by making them name the calves This and That. So once they were in the freezer they could have "a little bit of This or a little bit of That" for supper. Your post made me think of him. LOL!!! It does make a big difference though, if I know we're going to eat them, I do tend to distance myself from them emotionally. I think about the fact that I wouldn't eat one of my dogs, so I don't develop relationships with the "dinner". :)


A person is a success if they get up in the morning and get to bed at night and in between does what they want to do. Bob Dylan

Deeperrootsfarm.etsy.com
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chaddsgirl
True Blue Farmgirl

843 Posts

Sarah
Farmgirl Sisterhood #639 MO
USA
843 Posts

Posted - Jan 19 2010 :  7:51:41 PM  Show Profile
By the way, when Sheri (lynner) said she was sick and pregnant the first time she had to butcher a rabbit, she was pregnant with ME!!!!

A person is a success if they get up in the morning and get to bed at night and in between does what they want to do. Bob Dylan

Deeperrootsfarm.etsy.com
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