Learning to butcher a chicken

[Well-Prepared Witch]

So I'm excited and nervous.  Next weekend I'll be going to a local farmer who is going to teach me to butcher a chicken.  My husband's one condition for my getting chickens was that I at least once slaughter, butcher and cook a chicken.  I recently made friends with a local farmer who raises broilers.  She usually sends her birds off to be processed, but kindly agreed to hold one back and to teach me how to do it.  I'm nervous - I've never killed anything larger than a cricket (unless you count the suicidal rabbits that have thrown themselves under the wheels of my car).  But, I'm also slightly excited.  It's a skill that's necessary for self-sufficiency.  It will let me get my chickens and, though we're primarily getting the chickens as layers, if we ever decide to raise a brood as broilers (or need to due to lack of access to commercial meat) I'll know what to do.  I've done a lot of homework, watching videos and reading about it, but it'll be different actually doing it. 

Has anyone else done this?

[JohnyMac]

WPW wrote:
Has anyone else done this?

YES!

Chickens are a breeze turkeys are a pain! I am sending off our turkeys this year to a processor who will charge me $5- per turkey.

Now with that said...Taking a life whether it is a human life (someone trying to kill you or one of your family) or a chicken is a scary proposition. It is the cycle of life though.

Contrary to some opinions we are omnivores and need protein (Especially growing children) to grow and prosper. IMO it's all in how you treat the critters you plan to eat.

Our turkeys and the homesteaders across from us raise their critters as "free range." Whether it be pigs (They are penned but eat like kings and queens and their range is 1/2 acre) to chickens, goats and cattle.

May I be so bold to recommend a book to you and your husband. The tittle of the book is: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food life by Barbara Kingsolver. 

I do not buy into the authors liberal leaning's however, it is a great coming of age book of someone who finally realized where food comes from. She and her family lived off the land (Including harvesting chickens for food) 100% for a year. 

Trust me here...It is a great book and everybody who I loan it to loves it! My wife who is a retired chef LOVED IT. And she has no problems harvesting any farm critter. 

[Well-Prepared Witch]

I love that book! It's one of the first ones I read when I started looking into a more sustainable lifestyle.  That and Michael Pollan's Omnivore's Dilemma.  Both were transformational for me.  There were several others I really found eye-opening like Fast Food Nation, Food Inc, Radical Homemakers and Nickel and Dimed.  I love that there are so many books on sustainable living and the issues with our current paradigms.

[JohnyMac]

I have read all you mentioned and yes...It is the circle of life.

Our family goal, is to make sure future protein lives a good life under our hands.

Not trying to push any religion here however we always pray before we harvest domesticated critters. We thank the good lord for the bounty we are going to receive.

When our family goes hunting, we always pray for the game we harvested. It is truly a bounty. 

With that said, now a days, most folks do not know where protein comes from...Too bad as they might treat animals and their neighbors better if they knew.

I am done preaching....
 

[crudos]

WPW, I can sympathize with you on this topic.

[hjmoosejaw]

I've hunted ever since I could WPW. Anything I've hunted, I never really had a problem with shooting, but, you do , in a small way, feel the loss of life. I mean, like when I shoot a deer, I feel it's loss. I respect the heck out of the animals I hunt. But the love and respect for that animal, has nothing to do with the harvesting of it. When you thin out some animals, it benefits the remaining ones. Also, you get supplied with some great meat. Now with livestock, those ones are raised for one purpose only. (well, other than eggs or milk) Remember, that one that is being left behind for you, will be meeting the same fate as the ones that headed out a little sooner. So keep that in mind, whether you do it, or somebody else does, the results will be the same. But with that one, you will be a little more knowledgeable, and a little more self sufficient. Good luck, and I hope you let us know how it goes. 
P.S So, what are you going to name the chicken? LOL, just kidding!

[Well-Prepared Witch]

lol!  Not naming this one, but I've told my husband I will be naming our layers.  Thanks for all the advice & support.  It's definitely going to be a learning experience.

[APX808]

Your husband should ask you to at least once slaughter, butcher, cook  AND EAT a chicken 

Good luck with your first kill Wellie

[Well-Prepared Witch]

Yep - that was the agreement.  From clucking to cooking.

[crudos]

Yep - that was the agreement.  From clucking to cooking.

Nice one Wellie!

[Well-Prepared Witch]

  Of course, we got rescheduled again.  Not sure when it's happening now, but will post about the experience as soon as I make it happen.

[JohnyMac]

A few pictures would be cool too. 

[Well-Prepared Witch]

I did it!  It was a great experience.  I'm going to write up a blog post about it and I'll link it here.  I was surprised at a) how non-traumatic it was and b) how quickly the whole process went.  I didn't feel nauseated or want to cry or anything.  It's weird, but I kind of felt like a lot of what I'd been raised to think about animals was kind of bullshit (pardon my language).  I mean, I LOVE my pets and would do anything for them, but I guess when you are going to kill something you can't think of it as a person.  I guess that's why we dehumanize our enemies in war and why we don't name our stock.  All in all, it was a very positive experience (for me, not so much for the chicken) and I am really looking forward to preparing the chicken for my family on Sunday.

[APX808]

Great Wellie
Chickens are an easy first kill, because they are nasty animals, they are bad, ugly and dirty LOL
Killing rabbits can be more emotional because of the cuteness factor

Did the chicken walked headless? You need to try that one

[Well-Prepared Witch]

No, I held on to it while it drained out.  The death flap was a little unnerving, and getting blood spatter on me wasn't my favorite part, but it was deal-able.  I did wear old clothes for just that reason.  I don't think I'd want the running around - it'd be messy!

I don't know if rabbits will be harder.  I think chickens are kind of cute - then again, I haven't kept them yet so that opinion may change.   I used to think deer were cute until they ate my garden down to bare bones.  Now I'm tempted to get a gun and shoot the buggers. 

[JohnyMac]

A cleaner option that I have used is:

I have two nails driven about half way into my chopping stump that I use to spit logs or make kindling. I have ready a sharp knife, cleaver or hatchet (Tomahawk) and a bushel basket that is turned over.

Grab the checked by the legs, put the head in between the nails; pull to extend the neck and cut the head off. Put the chicken in the inverted basket while they bleed out and die. 

[Well-Prepared Witch]

As promised:

In which I blog about the Great Chicken Experience: Butchering. WARNING: This post is going into graphic detail about butchering a chicken, including pictures. It may not be suitable for all audiences. Also, it?s really, really wordy.

http://wellpreparedwitch.blogspot.com/2013/08/from-clucking-to-cooking.html

[hjmoosejaw]

Great Job WPW! Great Blogpost, well written, with a lot of good pics. A karma for all your effort. You know, living here in Pa., deer season is right around the corner, and in this state, it is literally like a national holiday. A lot of businesses close, as well as the schools, for the first day of the season. Now you need to get somebody to teach you to shoot a rifle, and hit the woods. You get a lot of good meat with a deer. Deer steak, bologna, jerky, roast, liver, hamburger, stew meat, etc. Deer hunting, that's magical! The heritage, traditions, comradery, storytelling, pride, and memories, are just a few of the things it provides. I remember vividly, my first deer hunt with my dad, about 43 years ago. He's 92, and we still hunt together. You could always start off with squirrel hunting, or something like that. Have a good one! Thanks for sharing.         On a side note, I have a couple of nieces that are wiccans.   

[JohnyMac]

Great writeup Wellie! Thanks for sharing. I agree whole heartily with hj comments on deer hunting. It's the whole experience not just the killing.

I am going to share JohnyMac's fried chicken recipe here. It is easy and is guaranteed to be crispy.

Need:
Cut up chicken parts, I use only thighs though
Three paper plates
Poultry seasoning, kosher salt and black pepper
flour
bread crumbs
milk, cream or canned evap milk
Good sized skillet with metal handle
Olive oil
1 cup chicken stock

Directions:
Turn the oven on to 375 degrees
Line up the three paper plates and in the first plate put some flour, second plate some milk and third plate bread crumbs.
In the frying pan put O-Oil, just enough to coat the pan and then maybe a dollop more. Heat to when if you sprinkle a little bit of water from the tips of your fingers into the hot oil the water sizzles ones it hits the ht O-oil.
Take your chicken pieces and liberally coat with pepper, poultry seasoning and salt. Now grab a piece of chicken and roll it in the flour, then milk and then bread crumbs and place in the hot frying pan. Repeat till all chicken is in the pan.
Cook chicken pieces on all sides until golden brown.
Once all of the chicken is golden brown throw the hole pan into the oven and cook for 35-45 minutes. As you clean up save the flour as you will need it later.

A moment of caution here: When you grab the handle of the frying pan to take it from the oven, it will be VERY HOT! It will be VERY HOT for about 30 minutes after you take it from the oven!

When done, take the HOT PAN from the oven and place on your stove top. Remove the chicken from the HOT frying pan and grease with the exception of maybe 2 tablespoons. Then throw in two tablespoons of your left over flour and mix with grease to form a roux. Then stir in your a fore mentioned chicken stock. Keep mixing until the gravy is the consistency of heavy cream. Please note: I never wrote, "make gravy over a medium flame" as the frying pan IS VERY HOT!.

Serve with smashed potatoes, wide egg noodles or spaetzle

Enjoy!

PS: The same recipe will work with thick cut pork chops. I like my pork chops 1 1/2 inches thick. 

[Well-Prepared Witch]

HJM, thanks for the karma!  Glad you liked the write-up.  I'm definitely open to learning deer hunting, though I doubt it will be this coming year - I only have room for one big project a year and the chickens will be that.  The year after, though...  I know we have a ton of deer hunters around here, including a few I might trust to ask to teach me.  We'll see.  Tell your nieces "blessed be" from me.

JohnnyMac, that recipe sounds DIVINE!  I will have to try that.  I roasted the chicken (should have taken pictures, but it disappeared pretty quickly) stuffed with half a lemon, fresh sage, rosemary and thyme, and some butter.  We had real mashed potatoes and green beans, and I have enough potatoes left to make Chantilly Potatoes (fill big casserole dish with mashed potatoes, put cubes of ham on top, whip up some heavy whipping cream until it's thick and creamy and spread it over the ham and potatoes, then sprinkle cheese over it; put it in a 350* oven and bake until the cheese is bubbly and starting to brown).  I've got the carcass in the stock pot boiling away for stock right now. 

[hjmoosejaw]

Yum Yum! 

http://youtu.be/MR3kI_LHMDI

[JohnyMac]

We will be right over! 

[Dungeon Master]

There is nothing like having a wife and mother-in-law from overseas who both are efficient at this craft. Although I don't know the first thing about it.

[gapatriot]

One time saving tip..... Unless you are planning on frying it skin the bird! No need to spend the time pulling feathers.

[JohnyMac]

I hear ya' Gap however much of the flavor that comes from chicken is the fat between the skin and the meat.

Similarly, fat in beef and pork is important for flavor. When I buy a rib roast from a super market I always buy some suet and wrap the roast with it. The suet adds a lot of flavor. If I buy one from a real butcher I ask them to NOT REMOVE the cap of fat on top of the roast.

Yes you pay dearly for the fat but we only have a rib roast 2-3 times a year. You might as well enjoy it.