The chicks we incubated back on March 18th have resided in the chicken tractor in the backyard. Oh, how they've grown. There are 6 hens and 6 roosters. The roosters' courtship of the hens is loud and raucous. There is no peace in the backyard. Time for the birds to be introduced to the flock running free in the pasture. One problem is that we have two too many roosters for the amount of hens. Too many roosters means lots of fights and violence.
What will we do with the two roosters? Sometimes to avoid violence, you must act with violence. We will put those two roosters in the freezer. I cut the arteries of the two and let them both bleed out in a bucket.
The roosters' hearts beat out all the blood. Once dead, we wait for our water to get hot enough.
In my crawfish boiling pot, I'm looking for scalding water that's 145 degrees. Any cooler and the feathers won't come off in the plucker. Any warmer and you'll cook the birds.
Dish soap is added to the water once it's scalding and the bird is dunked in the water for about two minutes. A tail feather and wing feather is pulled to test. Once they pull out with ease, the bird is ready for the plucker.
The plucker's turned on and the bird is dropped in while we spray it. The rubber fingers de-feather the bird.
What a nice job our plucker does?
The roosters are de-headed, feet cut off and gutted.
Then we do the 8 piece cut up that we normally do, saving the neck and back for broth making.
We clean up the liver, hearts and gizzards...
And bag them up for eating. These will make tasty gumbos and soups this winter.
We were all done and had everything cleaned by 10 AM. The next morning we both remarked how nice and quiet and peaceful it was in the backyard!
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