View Full Version : A first for me all on my own- wish me luck
It's been years; one of my earliest memories is of helping on 'checkn killn dai' as my grandmother would of pronounced it.
I've got 12 cornish that I've been raising. These are the kind you only need to wait 5-6 weeks before starting to process them (they fall over from too much weight).
Anyway.....tomorrow is the day! And I'm on my own....no help. I helped some last fall at a friends and I've been watching youtube videos so I'm ready to go.
They had their last meal this morning and I'm sharpening my knife tonight as well:0!.
Hooray for you, Float On, for being so self-sufficient! Good luck with everything. I remember being a total failure at scalding, hope you do better than I did :)
Good Luck.
I thought by your post title you were taking off on an adventure soemwhere by your self!
Oh I think I'd rather do that ctg! I keep getting rid of stuff so someday I can do just that, drives the DH buggy but me and my truck, a little camper, and can't forget my kayak. Sounds good to me.
pug, I think I'll be skipping the scalding and just skin them. DH has an huge dislike of 'chicken skin' so as a compromise to me turning the backyard into my mini-farm I promised no chicken skin on anything I make for him.
Gosh I haven't done that since I was a kid, but we used to do it every Sunday morning. This thread reminds me of the smell of scalded chicken wings.
I've never considered skinning them.
Good luck Float On! You're braver than me. I'm a wimp.
Right on, Float On! This reminds me of a documentary I saw about the Miss Navajo contest, and one of the tasks each contestant had was to slaughter a sheep and cook it up for the judges and everyone else. Impressive! My grandmother told me that when she was growing up on the farm in Oklahoma, she was given the same task with the chickens, and she used two broom handles and a quick twist to do the deed.
iris lily
10-25-11, 9:59pm
Right on, Float On! This reminds me of a documentary I saw about the Miss Navajo contest, and one of the tasks each contestant had was to slaughter a sheep and cook it up for the judges and everyone else. Impressive! My grandmother told me that when she was growing up on the farm in Oklahoma, she was given the same task with the chickens, and she used two broom handles and a quick twist to do the deed.
I saw that documentary and that part was very interesting, agreed!~
FloatOn are you going to freeze all the chickens?
Float On
10-25-11, 10:55pm
We'll see how many I get thru tomorrow. Some I'll freeze (after chilling in the fridge for a day), some I may go ahead and crockpot for shredded chicken for the freezer. A couple may go on the grill Thursday afternoon. I'll probably save 4 whole ones for Thanksgiving, little individual cornish hens on everyones plate has kind of become our tradition.
If I do good with these 12 then in the spring I may be brave enough to do a 1/2 order (25). There is a lot less smell from these chickens in the fall. I built a temporary chicken tractor for them out of PCP pipe (about $20 for pipe, fittings, glue) and a roll of green garden wire I got at a yardsale for $5. I already had 40 lb weights for each corner (gotta keep the coons out) and stacked hay (1 bale $5) around one end and covered that top area and added a light for warmth (and so I could see them at night incase anything tried to get in). 3-50lb bags of grower feed ( $8. each) and I moved them around a bit for fresh grass). I paid my friend $1 per chick. So I've invested $66 this round. My friend usually charges at least $8 per dressed chicken when he sells them so if I counted that ($96) I should be ahead $30....... I think.
How did it go Float On? If you're all done, I have a question for you. Didn't want to ask it ahead of time though. ;)
well, I had to put it on hold a few days. Got news that a friend who has been fighting a rare cancer was being sent home that day on hospice and we needed to move bedroom furniture out so they'd have room for the hospital bed. I've been trying to help out with a few things and get a plan of action in place for them.
I'm planning for this Tues or Wed now. In the meantime they have almost finished another 50 lb bag of food.
Was thinking of you Float On. Very sorry to hear about your friend.
Finally..... got around to having a bit of time and my 14 year old helped me do 2 chickens this afternoon. Killing the first one was a little hard and I asked the LORD to bless that chicken a little more for my learning curve (felt bad). 2nd one went much easier. Dressing them wasn't too hard, we didn't scald and pick feathers we just skinned them (very easy and not as smelly as the other way). The hardest part was the wings - ended up sacrificing the entire wings on the first one and 1/2 the wings on the 2nd. It was really hard to pull the skin off those parts and I ended up cutting into the meat a time or two and worried about contamination. Thought it was better to be safe than sorry. I am also not a fan of liver and gizzards so those just went in the bucket as well. Maybe by the 12th one I'll figure out how to save every bit of meat but I'm happy with what I did.
These two will go in the crockpot tomorrow for shredded chicken for pot pies, BBQ sandwiches, and maybe a little chicken salad.
Will do some more on Tuesday or Wednesday.
Eek. Add me to the wimp group.
But good for you in being self sufficient!
I did 4 more on Wednesday and 3 more today. There are 3 left in the pen for tomorrow.
I'm getting better at it.
I'd say that I didn't really save any money through this process but I know where and how our chickens were raised this time around. 12 chickens will give us at least 36 meals (meat is always a side item not the main item on our plate).
I've got white chicken chilli in the crockpot today.
Wow, good on you for getting the task done. Count me in the "wimp" crowd.:~) Come to think of it, I got some laying hens in the spring of 2010, and I now have a really hard time eating chicken. Good thing I don't own any cows or pigs.
I think it is great you are killing and cleaning the chickens, I know in the same situation I would be feeling some fear. You might not be saving money but the quality you are getting has great value, good for you!
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