Butchering Chickens

A lot of folks have slaughtered & butchered a chicken this year.  As more and more are becoming aware of their food choices, more are wanting to have some hands-on experience on what they eat.  Knowing how is half of the battle.

Here you can find a link on how to slaughter, step by step, a fresh pasture raised chicken.  It’s a great resource for anyone wanting to raise their own poultry!  If you want to raise extra for sale, Washington State Department of Agriculture has a Temporary Slaughter Permit that is very attainable: affordable, quick, and legal.  If you need info, I’d be happy to share our application with you.  We used this permit before we bumped it up to our permanent license.  You can rent equipment from Elaine, or possibly from us in 2011, if interested.

If you’re not up for the task on your own, you have a couple of options.  We are licensed and able to harvest for you.  We are fairly booked – so contact us early on.  You can also contact Harringtons, in Boring, Oregon.  They do a good job, and are a family-owned operation.

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This year has been an adventurous one for us and poultry.  As many of you know, Scott, myself, and our children manage the poultry (broilers, eggs, and turkey).  We have started smaller, working our way up – debt-free as we go.  “Sustainability” is as much financial to us as it is earth-friendly, or is highly inter-related.

We decided early last winter not to raise more birds than we did in 2009.  With the possibility of building our ‘real house’, we thought we ought not push it.  But since we got a late start in the house arena, we did add on to our poultry-raisin’ mid-season.  We ended up with several hundred more chickens, and 50 more turkeys than we had originally planned.

We also switched our meat flock from Cornish Cross to Freedom Ranger chickens exclusively.  After a couple years of research on the part of our farmer friend Loren of Greyfield Farm, this seemed right.  Now, after raising them this season, we have understood that it was absolutely the right move to make, and do not anticipate raising Cornish Cross again in the future.

Each year we invest any and all profit from our meat chickens into an upgrade on the farm, rather than putting into our pocket (for now).  Two years ago we bought our grinder mixer, which allowed us to begin feed-making on the farm (and we’ve incorporated sprouted peas into their diet this season).  Last year we bought much more electro-netting, for more effective pasturing.  This year we were hoping to invest into a new, commercial-sized scalder.  Next year?  Siding the poultry unit.

Loving up before packing in for harvest.

Well, we’ve been keeping our eye out for a good deal on a scalder, but they’re hard to come by, and shipping can really be a doozy since they weigh a heap.  But we are in luck!  We landed ourselves a great price on a set of professional equipment.  Yeah, that’s right, a set.

We’re now in a conundrum.  We couldn’t not get the whole set, but do not need all that it includes.  So we’ll regroup, figure out what we’ll use, then sell the rest.  Stay tuned, if interested!  Meanwhile, check out our upgrades:

Ashley Scalder – top of the line, stainless steel, Cadillac of scalders.  No more hand dipping turkeys into our current borrowed (from Mom & Dad) scalder.

Pickwick / Ashley Plucker – also absolute top of the line, stainless, FAST and holds lots.  Much bigger and ‘badder’ than our current, perfectly-capable-of-mid-size-farming Featherman Pro.

A new eviscerating table, a few long stainless tables and carts, knives, aprons.  A gizzard peeler, and a Cryovac vacuum bag sealer!  All valued at well over 25 thousand dollars new — which is much, much more than our annual net income from broilers – but we got for an incredibly amazing price that was completely manageable!  What a deal!!!  We’re super duper excited – and will try to get things set up and in use before the beginning of next season.

Though we don’t often open up harvesting days to the general public (for bio-security, permitting, and insurance reasons), contact us if you’re interested in participating.  We’re setting up a program for those who want to learn and experience this aspect of a carnivore’s food chain.

Tonight, we celebrate our stepping-it-up-a-notch and efficiency – we couldn’t do it without you!  And so we toast our community of friends and supporters as well!  A special thank you goes out to all who have been involved in our farm!