WELL THAT WAS A MISTAKE!
I don't know how many of you have ever butchered a chicken, considered raising them or even eaten one...but let me tell you that it is not a fun process to butcher them. Now Herrick Kimball makes a good tutorial and equipment plans for butchering them, and I am incredibly grateful for his work... but next year, we'll be paying somebody to do that work.
The process:
Killing a chicken... I turned it upside down in a killing cone and slit both sides of the neck. Pretty easy.
Scald the chicken... keep the water between 145 and 150! When the wing feathers come out easily, time to pluck.
Pluck... check out the Whizbang Chicken plucker. I borrowed one from a guy at work... Thank God!
Butcher... http://www.butcherachicken.blogspot.com/ - Nuff said, good job Herrick!
Freeze the bird...
Be exhausted and have to clean up...
I need to get better at bringing in pictures to post!
