I am sharing this post because I want to chronicle the good the bad and the ugly as I travel on my little journey towards a more self sufficient lifestyle. Life and death are a part of life on a farm and I want to record things the way they happened.Yesterday my grandson's chow/shepard mix puppy decided to play ( I don't think he really knew what he was doing) with one of Rhode Island Red Hens. He played with her so hard that the only humane thing to do was to kill her to end her suffering. When I picked her up and saw the damage I could not help but feel that she probably weighed 12 lbs. I knew that it would be an absolute waste to just kill her and bury her so I decided the time was now to get my hands dirty and get her from the yard to the pot. I wanted to raise my own food right? Time to put my money where my mouth is.
In the back of my head I kept thinking our grandmother's generation or at least our great-grandmother's did this probably once a week if they were lucky enough to have some land and a yard full of chickens. Since the damage to her skin was so bad I decided the easiest thing to do at 7 in the evening would be to skin her. With a decent skinning knife from my son the whole thing went pretty fast. I will spare you all the gory details but will say the directions for the whole process are easily found on the Internet and really not that bad.
Once she was cleaned up she was washed seasoned, put in the crock pot overnight with a hand full of fresh herbs from my garden Rosemary, Oregano, Basil and Thyme stuffed inside the carcass for flavor. The only mistake I made was to cook it on high all night I should have set it on low for a more tender finish. Never the less it looks and tastes just like any other chicken. I think with a slightly more gamey flavor since she was free range, but that may be my imagination. I will be taking a chicken wrap for lunch today and a sense of satisfaction knowing I did what I said I was going to do. She lived a happy life and she died quickly at my hand. ( after the unfortunate dog event), I don't enjoy anything about taking a life, I did a stint as a vegetarian because I am appalled at what goes on in the meat processing plants, but I do eat meat ,and I feel good about moving in this direction when it comes to where my meat for the table comes from.
Off I go to make the money to buy the chicken feed.
Ahh yes, this is part of life on a farm. Be it accidental or intentional eating what we grow is what makes us more self-sufficent. We process our poultry along with extra wethers (castrated male goats)so this is post surely does not offend this yodeling goatherder at all!
ReplyDeleteI tried to comment once..but I think google ate it..I was trying to say Congratulations on your first homestead chicken dinner!
ReplyDeletehey girl you've got way more chutzpah than I do that's for sure! I am a vegetarian but one that is willing to raise meat for my husband, but I cannot process my own animals, I'll have to send them off for that. You should be proud of what you were able to do, not many could. Way to go!
ReplyDeleteYour post brough tears to my eyes for the chicken and for you, and for the little grandson who's dog destroyed the chicken. I think you did the most noble thing! and I applaud you for EVERYTHING! Eating your own produce is part of the farm thing. good post! ...debbie
ReplyDeleteYep, been there done that, and it's never fun! The only chickens or turkeys we don't eat, are the ones who are ill and I can't determine what their ailment is, not worth getting sick from tainted meat. Our neighbor's dog killed one of ours and injured another( but we were able to doctor her back) We had chicken salad and soup from the killed hen.
ReplyDeleteSorry for your loss.:o(
What you did was the right thing to do. I butchered my meat chickens for myself for the first time this past summer. And it made me feel good to know that I can humanly raise and butcher my own chickens. Don't be ashamed for that. Oh by the way I'm new to your site. I enjoy reading it. You are welcome to come by my site for a visit.
ReplyDeleteKelly
I say good for you for not wasting the chicken. Ya I am a vegetarian but I surely do not believe in wasting a perfectly good chicken or any other food for that matter... and its surely not my place to decide what anyone else eats :O)...
ReplyDeleteYou gave good use to that chickens life. or lack there of.
:O)...
Are you sure we're related ??
ReplyDeleteGood on ya! We had a similar incident with my MIL's sheltie/corgi mix Bull. 'Cept he annihilated over half my flock of the first batch of chicks I raised! While I'd never personally processed anything myself, it felt like the right thing to do and it really didn't bother me. I'm one that takes death very hard, but it seems natural to me harvest my animals. Like a PP said, "Waste not, want not!"
ReplyDeleteWell way to go butchering your first chicken.
ReplyDeleteI used to do this as well. I did the same thing you did...butchered the chicken and then cooked it the same day....Tough as shoe leather. We were very disappointed. Didn't have anything to do with the temperature you set the crock pot on...it had to do with the fact that you need to let the meat sit over night before cooking. This what the muscles have time to relax. Found this out for an Amish friend of ours.
I admire you ability to do the right thing. To end her suffering and allow her body to nourish your family is merit-filled.
ReplyDeleteI am a sometime vegetarian but having grandparents who farmed and raised their animals with kindness and dignity..I say... you are a fine woman and one stronger than I.
Ama
oh my...being the owner of a full blooded chow chow, i can identify with this story. i had two 15 year old kitties when i got teddy. for the first few years teddy just ignored them. then one day she decided to play with one of them. chows like to do two things when they PLAY! they like to flip the other animal over and stand on their chest. teddy tried to do this to the kitty. my poor old kitty weighed about 7 pounds and was no competition to the 80 lb. teddy. thank heavens i was right there and grabbed the kitty. teddy just wanted to play but shows play hard. the kitties then moved to my son't house. thank heaven's she didn't decide to play the more typical way which is shaking the other animal until their neck is broken. chows have the trongest neck muscles of any other dogs and sometimes i don't think they know how powerful they are. and then sometimes i think they know exactly how powerful they are!
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear about the lost life but you deserve congratulations for handling it practically and for sharing the lesson.
ReplyDeleteHi Laura, I haven't been by in awhile and thought I'd 'chick in' to see what you were up to. I'm glad you wrote about what real life is like with animals. Sometimes folks have an idealistic view of life in the country... it's not all sunshine and kickin' back. You did great. I once witnessed what it meant to see a 'chicken with it's head cut off' running around... won't forget that sight!
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