Butchering Day on the Farm

Our seven little broody hens sat fervishly through out the spring and summer months. They diligently hatched out sixty-three eggs over a coarse of a couple of months. We had several generations of certain breeds that we had systematically crossed giving us a nice dual purpose feather footed variety.
For those of you who live on a farm, you are well aware that you can not keep a multitude of male animals or the rivalry can result in death. Often times, I see man intruding on what G-d has naturally designed in the wild but in this case, I believe we are taking advantage of G-d's provision.
As the chicks grow we can usually tell the males by the sparring between the sexes. At a very young age they already show their ability to fight with one another. We take advantage of sorting them into a separate pen to be raised for meat. The young hens will be raised for future egg layers and the cycle repeats itself.
On butchering day, we catch the chickens one by one. Holding them upside down causes all the blood to flow to their head and relaxes them. We cut the bottom of a plastic milk container entirely off and tie it carefully with wire to the fence for a make shift funnel. Each chicken is placed head first with it's head securely through the spout of the container. The head is quickly sliced off and the chicken begins to flap inside the container. This is entirely caused by reflexes as the chicken is completely dead. It is important for the chicken to remain upside down for the blood to leave it's body cavity completely. Leaving the blood in the body of the chicken will cause your meat to be tough. We carry them upside down by their feet to be dipped in a scalding hot pot of 180 degree water. Each chicken will be held by there feet and dipped for 15 - 20 seconds. This process loosens the feathers and the hand plucking begins. Once they are plucked there are rinsed and the internal organs are carefully removed. You never want to disturb the gallbladder as the toxins can contaminate your meat. The bird is rinsed again thoroughly and placed in a bucket of water filled with ice. We add just a small amount of Clorox as a disinfectant. The birds are removed from the ice water and the excess water is drained from the bird before wrapping in butcher paper. Next, they are sealed carefully with tin foil to be frozen for a hearty winters meal of chicken soup or a variety of delectable chicken dishes.
There are certain days on the farm that are filled with hard work and often times not pleasant tasks. These are the times that we prepare a delicious meal to follow the event that are all to familiar for those who live on a farm.. A hard day of work can be rewarded with a festivity and change the entire perspective of another work day on the farm.
C.A. Bresin

Did You Know?
Eggs have been called the perfect food. One egg contains almost all the necessary nutrients.
If you break a fresh egg into a dish, the white is compact and firmly holds the yolk up. In an old egg, the white is runny and the yolk will flatten out.
A good way to tell if an egg is fresh is to put it in cold water. A fresh egg contains little air so it will sink.
A batch of eggs that are hatched together is called a clutch.
To have fertilized eggs, you will need to have 1 rooster to 8-12 hens.
When storing eggs in an egg carton, place the larger end up.
Hens lay best when the temperature is between 45-80 degrees (F)
Hens lay best at 1 to 2 years of age.
A lighter weight hen eats about 4 lbs. of feed for every dozen eggs she lays.
All hens lay eggs, but some will lay more eggs than others.
Hens with while ear lobes lay white eggs and hen with red ear lobes lay brown eggs. There are some exceptions.
A hen thirty weeks old can lay at least 2 eggs every 3 days.
A pullet is a hen that is under 1 year of age.
All pullets lay small eggs at first then they lay 1 egg every 3-4 days. 21 weeks
Chickens will molt at about 18 months of age. Molting is where they loose all or some of their feathers and stop producing eggs. This is a natural shedding of feathers. Molting may take 2-4 months.
A group of chickens is called a flock.
A chicken can live between 10-15 years.
Chickens can start sparring to establish the pecking order at about 6 weeks of age.(And I've seen it in 1 week old chicks.)
A chicken kept for both meat and eggs is call a dual-purpose chicken.
Hens will start producing eggs between 5-7 months of age.
Depending on the weather and the chicken's size, they can drink 1-2 cups of water each day.
An ideal chicken perch is about 2 inches in diameter. If you have bantams, a 1 inch diameter is big enough.
Bantam chickens are popular as pets because they need less room and eat less than larger breeds.
Araucana chickens lay green eggs. They are call the Easter Egg Chicken.
Some people think that Araucanas lay a lower cholesterol egg. This isn't true. Eggs are all the same in amount of cholesterol.
http://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/index.html