When we first got chickens several years ago, it was because we wanted eggs. Funny how quickly things progress. Our small garden got bigger and we began looking at more ways to be self-sustainable.
We came to realize that we wanted to start raising our own meat instead of relying on others to do it. We liked knowing what the animals were fed and how healthy they were.
We decided to start with chickens because they are more cost effective for small land. There is a challenge with chickens though in that processing places are very few and far away. This meant we would have to process ourselves. My husband enjoys hunting for meat so it isn't completely foreign, but there is still a lot to learn.
Last year we purchased and processed 25 meat chickens and with some improvements and things Glenn researched we were ready to try it for real this year.
In August we bought 50 Freedom Ranger chickens. We chose Freedom Rangers because they don't grow as quickly as the typical broiler. Most meat chickens are ready to be butchered in 6 weeks. Freedom Rangers take about 10 weeks. Why would you pick slower growing broilers? It boils down to quality of life. The faster growing breeds have more trouble with their legs and have more heart problems. We wanted ours out on grass, eating bugs, and doing what normal chickens do.
We started out with an old water trough for the first day or two and then we moved them into the new brooder Glenn built.
We decided to start with chickens because they are more cost effective for small land. There is a challenge with chickens though in that processing places are very few and far away. This meant we would have to process ourselves. My husband enjoys hunting for meat so it isn't completely foreign, but there is still a lot to learn.
Last year we purchased and processed 25 meat chickens and with some improvements and things Glenn researched we were ready to try it for real this year.
In August we bought 50 Freedom Ranger chickens. We chose Freedom Rangers because they don't grow as quickly as the typical broiler. Most meat chickens are ready to be butchered in 6 weeks. Freedom Rangers take about 10 weeks. Why would you pick slower growing broilers? It boils down to quality of life. The faster growing breeds have more trouble with their legs and have more heart problems. We wanted ours out on grass, eating bugs, and doing what normal chickens do.
We started out with an old water trough for the first day or two and then we moved them into the new brooder Glenn built.
After a couple of weeks, we divided them into two movable tractors that Glenn also built. Chicken tractors are pens on wheels with an open bottom. If you choose to keep them closed in they have fresh clean grass at all times and you don't have to clean up after them.
We have been pretty lucky so far to never have issues with hawks or coons or any other animals that like to eat chickens, so after another couple of weeks we opened the doors during the day and they were able to come and go as they pleased.
Before we go any further I should say if you don't like the idea of eating animals, you should probably not read any further if indeed you are still reading. The next few pictures go into some, but not super graphic detail, of the butchering. We love meat and that is not going to change. While the processing part is not fun, we do it as humanely as possible and as far as the meat goes, the flavor is undeniable.
Glenn, being the talented guy that he is, did some research and found some plans for making his own chicken plucker. He built it himself and I have to say after seeing it work, it was impressive.
Glenn, being the talented guy that he is, did some research and found some plans for making his own chicken plucker. He built it himself and I have to say after seeing it work, it was impressive.
Without sharing a lot of details, I want to show how well the plucker works. After the chickens are dead you have to put them in a pot of scalding water. This helps the feathers come out easy, kind of like opening your pores when you wash your face with warm water. This next set of pictures shows the chicken after it has just been scalded. You move it from the water right into the chicken plucker, turn it on and after a few rounds, the feathers are completely plucked. It's pretty amazing and saves a ton of time and work.
The last picture is blurry,but you can see how clean the chicken is. From here it just a matter of continuing the cleaning process and packaging them up. We had some great help and ended up with 46 birds in all. The best part of it is that we know how the birds lived, what they ate, and how they were processed.