Butchering Day

Yesterday was the big day. The night before, Kevin loaded the meat chickens and the laying chickens into separate cages.  They spent the night in the cages, in our garage.  I got up at 6 a.m. yesterday morning and as soon as I came downstairs, I heard our rooster crowing indignantly.

Kevin asked the kids if they would like to come, and Lydia, Isaac, and Joseph said yes. So by 8:10 a.m., they had all piled into the minivan, which had the trailer attached to it, and away they went!

 
I know it is a long distance shot...you can just see the hens and rooster cage.

Kevin had to drive an hour to the butcher, wait 4 hours for processing, and then drive back.  It was a strenuous day as one child had a rough time.  But, it was successful!

This is one of the meat chickens.  They were HUGE.  HUGE.  They were only 8 weeks old.  Amazing how much they grew in 8 short weeks.

Our freezer is full of chicken now. We butchered 23, 10 of which were the meat birds and others were hens (except for at least one rooster.)  The hens were much smaller than the meat birds.  They will also be tougher than the meat chickens, probably. I have 2 simmering in a crockpot right now, as I know from experience that long cooking is the best thing for older hens.

I have gotten very practical about the chickens and I mostly feel fine about them being supper.  I do look forlornly at the chicken coop fairly often. It seems strange for it to be empty.

Naomi and I are both feeling sad about our guinea hen, though. She was kind of a mascot and a lot of fun...ugly but amusing.  We got her when she was old and that was a few years ago, so she was VERY old.  She got "the illness" that killed so many of the hens last fall, though she survived it. However, we knew we needed to get rid of her since we need to make a clean sweep to insure the survival of the next batch of chickens. We would have been really upset if the new batch caught "the illness" from her.

All this is to say that Kevin killed her 2 nights ago.  We asked around previously to see if anyone wanted her, and the answer was no.  It is Ok.  She had a really GREAT life with lots of hens to boss around, and a free range life. But we still miss her.

New chickens will be here in about 3 weeks...