Friday, July 2, 2010

Huge weird freaky mutant chickens

I've had an unbelievably busy two days. Yesterday we spent the entire bloody day housecleaning and yard cleaning because we had somewhat unexpected houseguests coming in, not to mention it was our turn to host our weekly neighborhood potluck.

Then this morning I got up at 4:30 am to file my column with WND, then left at 5:30 am to get to Coeur d'Alene in time to drive my parents to the airport, since they're flying home after a two month visit (they'll be back in October). After that, a zillion errands in the city, then home to do some work here, then in the afternoon I went to a nearby town where a fellow has a business doing custom butchering.

I brought in our eight meat birds because it was time to butcher these babies. They were at the stage where they could hardly walk (I call it the "huge weird freaky mutant" stage), so that meant it was time to put them in the freezer. Last year I had to bring the chickens to a town two hours away to get them butchered. This year it was much closer.

The box to transport the chickens.


Ready to go?


Not sure about this...

7 comments:

  1. Gives a whole new perspective to, "a box of chicken to go, please."

    Anonymous Twit
    USA

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  2. A.T. you're a humorist after me own heart.

    A. McSp.

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  3. If it's any consolation Patrice. I read your work this week on WND and liked it. Back when I decided to not keep chickens anymore a friend of mine and me got a bit over extended trying to kill and clean the whole herd in a single evening. Beer drinking and chicken cleaning do NOT go together well. It was messy in the yard the next morning but we got it done and they were delicious!

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  4. My husband and I make stock out of chicken bones and we can it, it is wo wonderful for soups etc. I was wondering if you made stock at all I read before where you do clean the meat off the bones of your chickens.
    It is highly nutritious especially for when you have cold or flu to drink hot with salt added!

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  5. Patrice,
    Those birds don't look that big and freakie. I took mine into the butcher on friday. Average dressed out weight was about 10 lbs each
    multiplied by 21 birds ... They went longer then usual. Almost 11 weeks( butcher was booked up) and I was careful feeding them as I worried about them breaking their legs . I can't imaging how big they would have been if I feed them like normal. Next year I am going to try " Freedom Rangers" instead of Cornish CrossX.

    Tina

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  6. I know what you mean by "huge weird freaky mutant". We've raised meat birds for quite a few years now. We do the butchering ourselves (on two of my five paid holiday days). We can do 25-35 birds in 2 days, but we made a chicken plucker which cuts down on the processing time tremendously. This year I hope to cut some of them up into parts... legs and thighs, which my husband likes, breast meat (boneless and skinless) which I like and the rest which we both like stewed and then made into soups or pot pie. Yummm.

    Our birds usually dress out at 10-14 lbs after raising them for 4 mos. We usually have one or two that go lame and we will butcher them as needed, but most go the distance. They don't usually travel too far in their quest for food or water so their yard isn't too big, but they are allowed free access to the outdoors.

    Last year we ordered our chicks from a different company and the birds were much lighter, but I must say they were also more healthy. We were a little disappointed they were not bigger. This year they are lumbering around in typical Cornish Rock Cross Giant fashion, so I suspect we will have plenty of chicken this winter.

    I really have enjoyed reading your blog... just don't always have time to comment.

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  7. We bought a bunch of those...disgusting creatures, but they taste great! We always butcher our own, to save money. Takes me about 30 minutes, from beheading to washing off the finished bird.

    LOL...the first time I did it, it took about an hour and a half...but I didn't know about scalding tanks at the time. My fingers were incredibly sore.

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