Too Many Roosters

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!

A Time to Kill

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;  Ecclesiastes 3:1-3 KJV

Last year we let a few broody hens sit on some eggs and they ended up hatching out some chickens.  After they got big enough where we (thought we) could tell the pullets from the cockerels, we butchered the cockerels and put the hens out on the pasture with the others.  There was a problem with this plan.  We misjudged.  Two of the birds we thought were pullets were actually cockerels.  

This miscalculation was brought to our attention rather quickly.  With four other roosters on the flock, the addition of two more caused quite a ruckus.  A pecking order had to be worked out.  It's a vicious undertaking, to be sure, with fights and blood and intimidation.  Sometimes the roosters will kill one another.  Other times the victor rules and the defeated skulks around on the margins, trying to get food where he can and trying to keep from getting beat up by the bigger, more dominant roosters.

What will also happen is, well, we'll call it the "birds and the bees."  Roosters will seek out and breed hens in the flock.  The poor hens fall prey to this.  Lots of squawking.  Lots of feathers flying.  Two of them will be breeding and the rival rooster will appear and attack the romancing rooster in the middle of mating.  Shrill cries ring out across the barnyard.  Frightened, disheveled hens scurry off to find peace.

Tricia finally looked at me and said, "Kyle, it's time we help the hens.  Let's butcher those two white roosters that keep everything stirred up."  I agreed.  Saturday afternoon was the appointed time.  We walked to the barnyard and caught the raucous, romancing roosters.  We each carried a rooster to the chicken tractor from the back to the yard.  Tricia called it the "long walk."  The roosters did not know what was in store.  (Warning for the squeamish)

We tied them from twine in a tree and slit their throats, holding them over a bucket to catch the blood.  In a short time, their hearts pumped out the blood.

With one final flop of the wings, the roosters kicked the bucket, literally and figuratively.  Time of death: 1:52 pm.

We set the two formerly amorous birds aside while we waited for the water temperature in the scalder to reach 145 degrees.

Dishwashing liquid was added to the water and when it was 145 degrees (scalding), I began to dunk the birds beneath the water for about 2 minutes.  Up, down, up, down.  When you can pull on a long wing feather and a tail feather and they pull out easily, your bird is ready for plucking.  It's important that you monitor the temperature (hence the thermometer).  If the water is cooler than 145, the feathers won't come off in the plucker.  If the water is hotter than 145, you'll cook the birds.  We learned early on the hard way when we first started doing this years ago.

We toss one of our feathered friends in the plucker and spray with water as we turn on the plucker and the bird spins.  Soon, all of the feathers are gone.  It's an efficient process, much easier by hand, except it's a lot of mess and a lot of equipment to get out for only two birds.

Here is one of the roosters, devoid of feathers.  Minus all the feathers, the roosters are kind of skinny.  No where near the size of the Cornish Cross meat birds that we raise each spring for butcher.

The cavities are then opened and the birds are eviscerated.

Here is one of the roosters...  We're going to use the feet this year for the first time to make broth.

And here is the other.

Gizzards, livers, and hearts are lined up waiting for cleaning and packing up for freezing.

We cut up the roosters into pieces and put in bags for freezing.

With cold weather coming this week, Tricia is planning on making a big chicken and sausage gumbo.  Nothing like a good gumbo to warm you up on a very cold day.  One final note before I sign off tonight:  After these two roosters are now off the flock, you'd be surprised at how calm things are out at the barn.  There is no more shrieking, fighting, or violent breeding.  No more fearful hens running for their lives.  There is peace in the valley.

2024 Meat Birds By the Numbers

Each year after the butchering event, we compile data and look at the numbers.  Although I'm a Finance major, I don't care for numbers much.  I'd much rather listen to and tell stories or read books or listen to interesting podcasts.  However, numbers actually tell a story.  I firmly believe in budgeting.  I don't believe in purchasing something unless you can afford it.  Wouldn't things be different if our government would ask the question, "Can we afford this?" before spending money on boondoggles that rob people's futures and livelihoods?  Off on a tangent, I'm sorry.

If you've followed us during our annual meat bird project, we weigh the birds weekly to see if they are growing and if they are going to hit our target weight within the specified time.  Things must be measurable so you can determine if you've succeeded in whatever your endeavor is.  Raising birds for slaughter is no different.

Prior to cutting up our birds, bagging and putting them into the deep freeze, we weigh them.  The crude tally below tells the story:

We butchered 32 birds.  The total carcass weight was 159.1 pounds yielding an average bird weight of 4.97 pounds.  The largest bird was 7.25 pounds and the runt of the litter was 4 pounds.  Actually, this year was a good year as far as weight.  A six pound bird usually yields a 4 pound carcass.  That's what we shoot for.  The fact that our smallest bird was our goal tells you that from a carcass weight standpoint, it was a good year.  

The other good thing was we had 0.00 mortality.  No birds died!  Usually, some die.  Normally, some of the baby chicks are weak and others crowd them and suffocate them.  That didn't happen this year.  They were all healthy and strong from the start.  If they do die, you want them to die very young so that you don't have a lot of feed invested.  We were fortunate this year as all lived until slaughter.

The next form we use gives details that we just find are interesting like days at slaughter, costs, etc.

It cost $319.35 or $10 per bird to get the bird to slaughter.  That includes costs of the baby chicks, feed, supplies.  Note that the chicken tractor is fully depreciated.  Our cost per pound is $2.01.  Quick comparison shopping shows our birds are cheaper than at Whole Foods (comparable bird), but Wal Mart Tyson Whole Chicken beats the pants off of ours in the price war.  Textbook example of economies of scale.   

Lastly, here is our feed cost itemized:

Over the eight weeks, we purchased a total of 10 sacks of Chick Grower at a total cost of $179.15.  There are some other factors that don't really factor in the analysis.  First, we think our birds are healthier.  They were out on grass in the sunshine.  No antibiotics.  No hormones.  No medicines.  No vaccines.  I think (until the day they died) they were happy birds.  Their blood, feathers, and guts no doubt improved the garden soil.  Finally, it's a great family project.  We can all work together to achieve a common goal, and we'll all enjoy great, healthy meals all year long.  These intangibles don't really show up in the accounting, but they're important, nonetheless.

Finishing Up the Butchering - 2024

As the final bird in the chicken tractor is processed, there is still work to be done.  All the birds are chilling in tubs of water in the shade.  Meanwhile, we gather around the eviscerating table.  We dump out the bowl of livers on the table and spray them down.  They are mostly clean, but we make sure that they are clean and then pack them in quart bags for freezing.  We like to pan fry them in butter.  We also like to wrap them in bacon and broil them in the oven.  We did that today, in fact.  Liver isn't for everyone, but we enjoy it.  

Next, we pour all the hearts on the table, cut them in half and wash the coagulated blood out of them and bag them up to freeze.  It's just a muscle, so it's good eating.  I didn't get a photo of the hearts, though.  Livers and hearts are pretty easy to clean and freeze.  

The gizzards require a bit more time.  The gizzards are surrounded by fat.  We take our time and pull it all off of each gizzard.  We are kind of particular about getting them super clean.

Then we cut them in half and remove the yellow, plastic-like liner from the inside of the gizzard.  It is always interesting to see what's in the gizzard.  Chickens eat rocks and oyster shells to aid in the break down and digestion of their food.  You can see that these chickens weren't only eating feed and bugs.  They were eating their share of grass and clover.  Healthy birds.

All the gizzards are bagged and frozen.  But don't forget, we have tubs full of feathers, guts, blood, feet, heads, etc.  We've always put that right back in the garden.  I dig trenches in the garden, pour it all in, cover it back up, and it will rot and add good stuff to the soil.  There are sweet potatoes growing in abundance all around the 'gut pit'.  Healthy soil is the key to a good garden.

We go inside and take a break, while we are waiting for the next event of the day, I take the opportunity to sharpen the knives.  They've all been used all morning and have dulled.  I drip some oil on a whetstone and sharpen them and then use the steel to further fine tune.  In the end, the work results in a razor sharp knife, and we'll need that in just a little bit.

A final thing I want to discuss is the Buck knife at the bottom of the photo.  That knife was my Uncle Don's hunting knife.  It was given to me when he passed away, and we used it to butcher chickens today.  Don was a good man and while using his knife today, we talked about him and many fond memories of spending time with him.  I think he would have enjoyed all the flying feathers today.  We certainly miss him.

We brought the tubs holding 32 freshly butchered birds in the house along with the tables.  It was getting hot outside and the flies were bad.  We felt confident that we would be able to clean up any mess that we made on the tile floors.  The birds were on ice and went through the rigor mortis process during the afternoon.

In the late afternoon, we began the final task - cutting up the birds.  We do an 8 piece cut-up: 2 breasts, 2 wings, 2 thighs, 2 drumsticks.  It's actually a 9 piece cut up, because we keep the neck/backbone section for making broth.  I wish I would have taken some photos of that process, but my hands get so messy cutting up the birds that I didn't want to get all that on my phone.  We freeze them in gallon freezer bags.  We froze a couple birds whole (not cut up).  The rest we cut up and bagged either 1 chicken or a half chicken to the bag.

We weighed the final product and kept good records.  Perhaps tomorrow or the day after, we'll show you the results: total weight, average weight per bird, feed consumption, cost per bird, etc.

Blood, Guts, and Feathers - Chicken Butchering - 2024

Eight weeks from cradle to grave.  That's it.  That's how long it takes to raise a Cornish Cross Meat Bird for slaughter.  Saturday was butchering day.  Our sons came in to help with the annual process.  We were trying to figure out how many years we've done this and can't put our finger on it.  Our best guess is 15 years.  Each year we purchase day old chicks and raise them for slaughter and eat on these birds all year long.  In the past we've raised as many as 100 at a time.  This year, it's only Tricia and me at home so we raised 32.

Each day we made sure that they had access to feed and fresh water.  We also gave them an all you can eat grass and bug buffet by pushing the chicken tractor to fresh grass two times a day.  The night before the butchering, I pushed the tractor near the butchering stations I set up.  I stopped feeding them at noon the day before butchering so that their digestive system would be emptied.  This makes gutting them a cleaner process.  I got the whetstone out and steel and sharpened all the knives.  A sharp knife certainly makes the butchering process easier.

The Final Countdown

The first station is the "killing cones."  We use traffic cones that were abandoned on the side of the road and then screwed to two 2 x 4's.  The live birds are turned upside down in the cones with the head poking out.  The rubber cones hold them tight.  Buckets are placed beneath each cone to collect the blood.

Killing Cones

Benjamin runs the Killing Cone station.  After he's positioned the birds in place, he uses a sharp knife to slice the bird's artery on the side of its head.

One slice

The bird's heart will pump all the blood out of the bird and it will die.  We aim for the least stressful death possible.  This only takes a couple of minutes and the bird is pronounced dead.

A bloody job

Russ runs the scalding station.  We use our crawfish boiling pot that's been filled with water.  A propane burner heats the water.  A thermometer in the pot is monitored so that it stays between 145 and 150 Fahrenheit.  The temperature has to be just right.  If it is too cool, the feathers won't come off.  If it is too hot, it will cook the bird.  We add some dishwashing liquid to the water.  It is a surfactant and enables the feathers to come off a little easier.  We usually dunk the bird in and out of the water for about two minutes.  We make sure we dunk all the way down so that you get the joint of the let wet.  The test for making sure the bird is ready for plucking is to try to pull a tail feather out and try to pull a big wing feather out.  When each pulls off easily, you're ready for plucking.

Russ' Plucking Station

Teamwork makes the dream work.  Sometimes, when Benjamin is waiting for his four birds to die, he assists Russ in scalding.

Next up is the plucking.  Years ago we built this plucker.  It has rubber fingers mounted on the sides and on a disk on the bottom.  A washing machine motor powers this contraption.  You turn it on and the bottom spins.  Toss the bird in and spray it with water and while it spins, the rubber fingers take all the feathers off.  It's quite a time saver.

The plucker

The de-feathered bird is given to me.  I pull the head of the chicken off and cut the feet off.  Then I remove the gland on the top of the bird's tail, cut the neck and pull the crop and the windpipe out and make a cut across the bird's belly near the vent.

No head, no feet

Tricia runs the evisceration station.  She's quite the surgeon.  She reaches in the bird's cavity and pulls out the intestines, liver, gizzard, heart, crop and windpipe.  It all pulls out connected.  She cuts a U-shaped cut around the vent and the bird is gutted.  The liver, gizzard and heart are cut out and placed in iced containers for further processing later.  The gall bladder is carefully cut off the liver, being careful not to cut into the organ.  All the guts are put in a bucket.  She reaches in the bird and removes the lungs from along the back bone and, if a male, removes the testicles.  The gutted carcass is washed out good with a hose.

The surgeon in her OR

The birds then are cooled down.  They are thrown in tubs of cool water.  Keeping them submerged protects them from flies.  It also brings their body temperature down.  Toward the end of the process, we dump out the water and refill with cool, fresh water.

The chilling station

This whole process goes faster than you think.  We always say we're going to time it and always forget.  Finally, we look in the tractor and there's just one left.  The last of the Mohicans.  

Tomorrow, I'll show you Part II of this process.  It is a smooth operation that we've tried to perfect each year.  There's something to be said about processing your own birds in the backyard.  It's good to know what you are eating and what went into your birds.  No medications.  No hormones.  No antibiotics.  Join us tomorrow as we continue...

Final Word on Butchering AND The NUMBERS

This will be our final post on chicken butchering.  You can read the two previous posts HERE and HERE.  Before we wrap it up, we'll talk about organ meats, cutting up the chickens, freezing them and then finally, final numbers.  Here goes...

Once we're finished butchering, we clean up all the livers and bag them up in quart sized ziploc bags.  We'll wrap with bacon and broil in the oven OR pan fry in butter in a cast iron skillet.  We love chicken livers!  Now for the gizzards.  We cut them in half.  I wanted to show you what's inside - GRASS!  That's a very good sign.  The birds were healthy.  Yes, they ate feed (non-medicated), but they also ate grass and bugs and worms like normal birds are supposed to.  Once the gizzards are cleaned, we bag them up as well.  We eat gizzards and rice - a mighty fine meal. 

Now, we clean the hearts.  Fifty of them.  We cut them in half and wash out the clots that are in the ventricles.

It's a muscle and thus, meat.  We mix them in with the gizzard bags.

We'll take a coffee break and wash up.  A well-needed break.  Chicken Processing is quite a task.  Our work isn't done, though.  After coffee, I sharpen the knives one more time.  They'll be used in a heavy duty purpose now.  It's time to cut the whole chickens up.  After the chickens have chilled all morning and into the late afternoon, they've gone through rigor mortis.

We like to do an eight piece cut-up (with a couple of alterations).  Two drumsticks, two wings, two thighs, and two breasts.  Then we cut each breast in half AND we cut the neck off the backbone and ribs.  We save that for making broth.  We've found that when you cook rice, instead of using water, if you cook rice in broth, it steps up the flavor and richness of your rice and gravy.

Each of those birds gets put in a gallon-sized ziploc bag, labeled and frozen.

We number the bag, notate whether the bag contains a whole chicken or a half chicken, and then put the weight of the carcass.  We stack them in the freezer and we have meat to last us for a whole year, especially since Tricia and I are 'empty-nesters.'

Here's the interesting part - our analysis of the boucherie.

We killed 50 birds.  The total carcass weight of all butchered birds was 227.25 pounds.  That yields an average of 4.545 pounds per bird.  Our heaviest carcass was 5.5 pounds and our lightest was 3.25 pounds.  We're pleased with the health and size of the birds.

Here is detailed analysis of expenses to raise 50 birds from one day old chicks to their slaughter at 8 weeks old:

Chicks:

50 ordered        12/8    $139 or $2.78 per bird (Highest we've ever paid for chicks)

51 arrived

(1) fatality

------------

50 total

Feed:

We purchased 875 pounds of feed at a total cost of $292.33

Supplies:

Heat lamps/bulbs    $18.67

Ziploc bags             $  5.00

Bulb                        $  4.50

Propane                   $20.00

                                --------

                                $43.17

Total Costs:

Birds             $139

Feed              $292.33

Supplies        $43.17

                      ---------

Total            $474.50 / 50 birds =    $9.49 per bird COST / 4.55 lbs/bird = $2.09 per pound

For comparative purposes:

Whole foods Organic whole chicken            $3.99 per pound (our bird isn't organic)

Whole foods Heirloom chicken                    $3.99 per pound (our birds aren't heirloom)

Whole foods whole chicken                          $2.99 per pound (probably a good comparison)

Of course we didn't factor in our labor, but feeding them, pushing the chicken tractor to fresh grass each day, watering them, and butchering probably kept me gainfully occupied and out of trouble, so there's that!

We have a freezer full of chicken now and we'll do this all again in 2023 if the Good Lord's willing.

The Boucherie (Butchering) - Chicken Edition 2020

In Yesterday's Post we went over the fact that a sharp knife is critical and crucial for butchering.  In French, butchering is called the "boucherie" (BOO - SHREE) and on a beautiful Saturday morning, it was the thing on our agenda to get done.  We'll show you the process we've perfected over the years.  We're always looking for more efficient ways and improve every year.

WARNING: IF YOU DON'T LIKE TO SEE BLOOD AND ANIMALS DYING, DON'T PROCEED FURTHER INTO THIS POST.

Saturday morning it was 27 degrees.  Chilly, for sure.  The evening before I had set up all of our "stations" in the butchering process.  Tricia, Russ and Benjamin and me were the Slaughterhouse four, and we started the process after morning chores at approximately 9AM. In the photo below (from right to left) you can see:

1. The Killing Cones Station,
2. The Scalding Station,
3. The Plucking Station,
4. Decapitation (Defooting) Station,
5. Evisceration Station,
6. The Chilling Station.

We'll go through each one in detail further below:

The chickens in the chicken tractor have been rolled right up to the butchering spot.  The chicken tractor has kept them safe from predators and weather over the last 8 weeks.  Each day it is rolled one length forward so they are on fresh grass.  Now, they've rolled to their final stop.

1. The Killing Cones:  We have some roadside cones that we've re-purposed into killing cones.  The bird is placed head-first into the cone.  The neck is pulled through the hole in the bottom, and the jugular vein in the neck is cut.  The chicken's heart will pump all of the blood out of the chicken.  We capture all the blood in buckets in order to compost in the garden.  The rubber cones squeeze the birds and hold them firmly during this process.  In a few minutes, the birds have bled out and are pronounced dead.  The boys normally do the killing.

We have four cones mounted between two 2x4's and this enables us to kill four at a time.

2. The Scalding Station:    We have a butane burner with a crawfish boiling pot on top that is full of water.  We have a thermometer attached that we constantly monitor.  It must be at 145 degrees.  Any cooler and the feathers won't come off.  Any warmer and you'll cook the bird.  I have a bit of dishwashing liquid added to the water, and I dunk the birds 20 dunks, completely submerging the bird up to the feet.  When I pull it out the twentieth time, I pull out a wing feather.  If is comes out easily, it's ready for plucking.  If not, I dunk a few more times.  The boys normally do all the scalding.

3.    The Plucking Station:    Some friends and I built this plucker years ago.  It really makes this job easier.  You simply turn it on.  There is a plate at the bottom that rotates.  Numerous rubber fingers pull the feathers off the bird as I spray it with water.  I count to 25 and then cut off the plucker.  If you don't leave it in long enough, there will be feathers remaining.  If you leave it in for too long, you will break the legs and/or wings.  I usually do the plucking.

4. Decapitation / De-footing Station: I pull the head off rather than cutting it.  Cutting the head off exposes sharp bones which puncture the ziploc bag you store them in.  Most times I handle the decapitation and de-footing.

Then I cut the feet off.  Heads and feet go in a bucket for garden compost.

Then I begin lining up the birds at the evisceration station.  I'll make a cut in the abdomen from which the guts will be pulled and I'll make a cut in the neck and loosen the crop.  I'll also cut two glands off of the tail.  They are certainly some nice looking birds!

5.    Evisceration Station:    Tricia is the expert eviscerator.  With surgical precision, she guts the bird.  From the lower left you can see the crop, the heart, the liver, the gallbladder, the gizzard and intestines all pulled out.

The gallbladder is carefully cut off of the liver so as not to burst the gallbladder.  We save the livers, hearts, and gizzards for eating.

6.    The Chilling Station:   The birds are then submerged into a tub of clean water.  Normally, we have ice in it, but it was right at freezing.  The water tubs chill the birds as they are hot.  The birds go through rigor mortis.  Submerging them also keeps flies at bay.  We allow them to chill for about four hours.

Here are the hard workers at Our Maker's Acres Family Farm.  From left to right, Benjamin, Russ, and Patricia.  They are all carrying knives.  This crew gets it done.  Teamwork personified.  We got it all done.

Fifty Cornish Cross Meat Birds butchered.  We started at 9 and finished at noon.  We are tired!  Tomorrow, join us again.  We'll show you some more including gizzard, heart and liver processing, as well as the cut up and freezing process.  We'll even share our total pounds, average weight per bird, and cost data (total and per bird).