The Meat Birds
Its been about a week since the new dorpers joined the flock and so far they have been acclimating beautifully. After a few days we rotated them into the electric netting with the Tunis and put the goats all together in the permanent pen. Its quite adorable to see the little dorper yearlings following their adopted mom and dad around the pasture everywhere they go. The goats appear to have gotten over whatever was causing their drama previously and now it looks like our lady goats may actually be pregnant. After witnessing their union as well as the pigs getting friendly we may have a bountiful spring on the ranch.
Speaking of bountiful things, our broiler chickens have finally reached processing size. This was something we felt very strongly about making sure we could work ourselves into in order to make the ranch worthwhile. We have not made it a secret that we are not just doing this whole farming business for fun. It has a purpose and that purpose is self sufficiency and production. We are working to build a legacy for our daughter and future generations to take with them.
Our long term goal is to raise meat sheep for market, hence our starting to brand ourselves toward American Lamb. Our gateway into the practice of animal processing however since we are still building our herd is chickens. If you remember several posts ago we mentioned ordering some broiler chicks from Tractor Supply and the whole ordeal getting them from the post office to the house (thank goodness for good neighbors and family).
We managed to raise six out of the original ten and get them through two freezes, a broken incubator heater, a flood, and stray dogs. We have fed these chickens good clean food every day, kept them safe from predators, and strategically placed their coop where they get the most gorgeous sunset each night. We know exactly what has gone into their bellies and cleaned what has come out the other end. These chickens have never had to stress for anything. As the saying goes, they have only had one bad say in their entire lives…processing day.
My mom was able to come down to babysit Hope for us for the day so we could be completely focused on the task ahead. We got our supplies together: a large pot and propane flame stand, cutting boards, knives, buckets, ice chests full of ice, cones, screws, screwdriver, and headed to the coop. Our plan was to screw the cone (which was a milk carton with the top and bottom cut off) to a tree near-by but mostly out of eye site of the coop with a bucket underneath it. We would collect a chicken, place it head down in the cone, dispatch it, let the blood drain into the bucket, and then place the chicken in the ice chest till ready for plucking.
A solid plan honestly and really couldn’t have gone any smoother. The first chicken was quick and easy. The rest followed suit with the exception of one feisty redhead who got out of the coop and led us on a mad chase through the woods. After successfully getting five chickens in the ice chest we were down to the last one. Arguably the prettiest of the six and my heart got a little soft there. Her beauty hath saved her though because we decided if she could integrate with the laying flock then she could stay. Once we caught her she left me cuddle her a bit before introducing her to the buffs who initially weren’t super friendly but warmed up to her soon enough. Side note: she now comes up to me and lets me hold and pet her freely which is fun. We named her Priyanka after “Bless this Mess” on Hulu. Highly recommend watching that show if you haven’t.
Once complete we then took our ice chests of chickens to the giant pot where we got some water up to 150 degrees before scalding each chicken to encourage the feathers to be removed easier. We have decent success but still struggled to get all the pins out. Nest time we will go a little hotter with our water and see if that helps. Once everyone was plucked (like 5 hours later and lots of ice chest rotating to keep them at temp) we had five naked and headless chickens. The next step, cleaning out the organs.
We both studied pretty hard to see the best ways to get this done cleanly and after testing those out on the first one we got in a groove with the other four taking turns on who did what area based on our strengths. We managed to harvest all the necks, five gizzards, four livers, five hearts, and the meat itself. We kept three bird whole and broke the other two down into breasts, legs, wings, and thighs. After we got the food saver out and vac-sealed them up we labeled them and put them into the freezer.
The whole process ended up taking the entire day but the reward at the end was so worth it. Our little family can eat on a whole chicken for a week. So we easily created five meals. We did however decide to give our first fruits to those who gave us the land. Meemaw and Pawpaw. We gathered up a carton of our eggs and one of the chickens that looked the best and brought them over to Meemaws house as a thank you and proof of our success so far working towards what we promised her we wanted to do. She was thrilled to see the “groceries” we brought and we spent the evening visiting with her and Pawpaw.
A week later we decided to thaw the breasts out and cook them up. We grilled them and topped them with a chimichurri and served them with sides of grilled carrots and new potatoes. We were initially nervous because we did see the whole process from chick to table and were worried we had messed up somewhere in there. But then rationalized that people have been raising and butchering chickens for hundreds of years and that sobered us up. Jaken heated up the cast iron on the grilled, salt and peppered the breasts, and cooked them.
Our very first bite was just that, pure grilled chicken with nothing further than salt and pepper. Instantly we knew, this is the way to live. It was easily the best bite of chicken I have ever had in my life. Jaken said “there is something different there and I can’t figure out what it is but I love it”. I’m not sure we will be able to go back to store bought chicken any time soon but luckily, we won’t have to.