Chicken Butchering Day :) (Pictures)

After our little birds last year Papa decided that we were not butchering at a certain age this year but at a finished state. Makes sense right?? Well it worked great and the birds were FABULOUS!! I have no idea what they weighted in at as we did not weigh a single bird but at 12 weeks they were the healthiest birds we've ever had and a very good size. I guess that is what a diet of grass, milk and grains will do!! Even though it was wet all spring and they stayed inside longer then we've ever kept birds these birds did amazing!! We did have a few road runners as we did get unsexed birds and some of them did revert back to the Cornish game hen side of their ancestral parents. We did have a bit of a hard time planning chicken butchering day as we were not sure WHEN it would be but it all worked out in the end and we had quite a crew on the actual day. BONUS, it only rained for about 30 minutes in the afternoon when we were already totally soaking wet and we didn't even have to stop production :) The forecast had been for thunder showers all morning and rain all afternoon. I think the Lord knew our plight and whisked those rain clouds away before they dumped their load :) Thanks Lord!!

Here are the birds out on pasture a week or so before butchering day. The clover was over their heads and they did a great job of eating it down. They ate the leaves even off the ground after the clover had been walked over. Amazing job!!

These boys start the whole process. They are the bird catchers. This year we used some wire panels to keep the birds in a small area and away from food over night and to make catching them for butchering MUCH easier and it WORKED!! :) They weren't the only kids who took a turn!! 

My Uncle Ray.. as far as I'm concerned he has the worst job.. He gets the birds from the catching kids, puts the birds head down in a killing cone (behind him you can see the legs of a bird out the top of a killing cone) slits the vein in the throat and when the bird is done passes the bird on to Mr. B.

Mr. B takes the birds from Uncle Ray puts their legs in the cool leg holders on the board and dunks them up and down, up and down into 145 degree water for about 60 seconds or until the wing feathers pull out nicely. This is a stinky job, or at least it is if you are me and pregnant :) The water is heated from the bottom by a propane torch. Cold water is added if needed. Mr B also takes care of the plucking. We rented a drum plucker for the day and this little girl was in charge of the water hose to rinse the birds off while they plucked. Mr. B places the hot birds out of the scalder into the plucker and turns it on. This little girl sprayed them off while they go around and around. This plucker is amazing and saves us hours of time. Totally worth the $20.00 we rent it for. Papa and I dream of having our very own plucker and scalder!! 

I like this next picture as it shows a lot. The girl is spraying into the plucker, the kids in the background are catching birds or watching outside the fence. The boy standing by the table cuts the legs and heads off the birds before they go to Papa to be eviscerated. The buckets on the tables are for hearts and livers. 

A better picture of Papa eviscerating.. or gutting!! He is pretty quick and can do a bird in about 30 seconds.. consistently. He had a great teacher.. Joel Salatin :) http://polyfacefarms.com/

Then the bird goes to US!! Yes us cleaning girls, and sometimes children and men!! We look each bird over, cut off the tails (we prefer them gone), take extra fat off  (that's what is in the bucket), pick pin feathers, clean out insides and generally get the birds in TIP TOP shape for the freezer. Papa rigged up the water system which is SO nice and we have running water the whole time. As I'm the only one of the bunch who's done A LOT of birds and as most of the birds are mine :) I'm at the very end of the line. I check every bird that goes through! Actually that's not true!! I did have a little helper on this day and she took my all done, nice clean birds and placed them in the cooling tanks for me!! Saving me extra steps and boy I was grateful as these boys kept us pretty busy!! 

Here is a pretty good over view picture!! BTW THANK YOU VANESSA for taking pictures. I'm normally much too busy to even think of them!! The kids helped clean birds and the stack of pallets with the bucket on it is where they could stand to reach the table. Mr. B also did help with the cleaning whenever he wasn't busy which really helped some of the boys with the idea that only girls clean birds. 

Awesome picture of some of the little helpers babysitting and keeping little Miss Miller happy watching the boys catch birds :) 

The chill tanks :) After the birds have chilled we start bagging and cutting up. Cutting a bird into pieces is no fun alone but as a group it can be a fun activity!! We cut up about 90 birds after butchering on this day. The most we've ever done. Chicken butchering helpers receive birds for helping, as did my mom for babysitting through out the year and on butchering day. It sure was nice not to have to be a parent and head cleaner at the same time!!  Our wonderful neighbors who gave us the wire panels that made our lives VERY MUCH EASIER also got some birds :) 

After the last bird is bagged it's time to clean up the mess!! Because we do our butchering on grass there isn't as much mess as there could be. Working in mud is no fun!! And after the cleanup.... PIZZA!!!! Thanks everyone who helped make chicken butchering 2011 a great day!!  Oh and total birds done.. 176 in about 5 hours!!