Butchering Chickens

If you're like me, then you should be getting close to the time to think about putting those plump birds in the freezer.  A good fryer size should take about 8-10 weeks, roaster to maybe 12-14 weeks.  Use your best judgment, but don't let those biddies get too large and tough!  Keep a check on the size of the breast meat, that's usually how I judge the best time for butchering.  While you're waiting, start getting the things you'll need together.  Basic bird butchering equipment should include the following:

• Killing cone (this can be as simple as a bleach bottle or milk jug washed out with the nozzle and bottom cut out, hang it bottom-up and lashed securely to a fence, board, or other surface)
• Non-serrated knife (keep it very sharp)
• Knife sharpener
• Butcher scissors or garden bypass pruning shears (to cut cartilage and bone)
• Very large pot (big enough to immerse the entire bird in it) filled with enough water to cover whole bird
• Plastic bag for feathers & offal
• Blowtorch, candle, lighter, etc
• Cooler filled with water & ice
• Bucket to catch blood
• Hose

Prepare the water bath for scalding, it should be as close to boiling as possible.  Start it early, large amounts of water can take awhile to boil!  If you have an outdoor boiler, so much the better!  It's best to try and keep things as serene as possible.  Cut feed at least 12-24 hours before butchering to reduce the risk of bacterial contamination, do not remove water availability.  Select your bird and hang them upside down by their legs until they calm.  Place them into the killing cone so their head is exposed out the bottom.  Open the beak and insert your knife into the mouth through the back and into the brain. Hold the head so the throat is exposed and slice evenly and deeply from one side to the other. 

Alternatively you can also break the neck prior to placing in the killing cone: Hold the bird cradled in your left arm (if right-handed) facing your right side, place your right hand palm toward the beak in a V behind the bird's head, with your first and second fingers around the back of the head/neck.  Holding the head in your hand, stretch the neck down and the head back.  Do this quickly in a fast motion to break the neck cleanly. You should be able to feel the bones separate.  This can be difficult for people with small hands or if the bird is especially large or older.  You can then place the bird in the cone quickly and slice the throat to bleed out.

If you did not break the neck prior to bleeding, use the shears to break through the spine and the knife to remove the head.  Place the head in the refuse bag for disposal.  Wait until the bird has bled out and is no longer exhibiting large spasms (these are involuntary results of the spinal cord, the bird is NOT alive!)  Remove from the killing cone and immerse in the boiling water for a couple seconds.  Do not leave too long as you merely want to loosen the feather base, not cook the meat!  Check the large flight feathers frequently, these are the hardest to remove.  After dipping, immediately start pulling the feathers.  I recommend cutting the tip of the wings off, those feathers are VERY difficult to remove without causing damage to the skin.

When you have most (if not all) of the feathers removed, hang the bird by it's feet in a safe area.  Use the blowtorch or candle and run the flame over the carcass to remove the 'pinfeathers' or hair-like feathers that detract from the cleanliness of the bird.  That and they are kind of gross to see on your plate!  Pay special attention to the legs and groin area, they seem to be more common there.

You can now remove the feet of the bird, use the knife to cut around the hock joint, bending as you go to remove it cleanly.  Toss feet into the offal/refuse bag.  Place the bird on a clean, disinfected surface to prepare to remove the innards (offal).  On the top of the tail you'll find an oil gland, carefully cut the whole thing away from the bird (or remove the tail entirely).  Cut down the front of the neck and pull the skin away from the neck bone.  Pull the esophagus and trachea away from the neck itself and to the front.  Use your shears to cut through the bone and rinse the neck thoroughly.  Toss this part into the ice water or feed raw to dogs.  Hold the breastbone in your hand and make a horizontal cut into the lower body cavity, this ensures you don't cut the entrails.  Reach in with your hand and gently pull the intestines out of the body cavity, be careful not to rip any of the parts.  Set these aside for later.  Make sure you pull the trachea/esophagus out with it.  If you are careful, you should be able to remove all of it together.  You may have to pierce the diaphragm to get to the lungs/heart.  Cut down to the anus and cut it away from the body with the entrails still attached.  Double check the inside of the carcass to be sure you removed all of the lung tissue (this can sometimes be difficult to do), if not consider using a fork to scrape them out.  Wash the carcass inside and out with cold water and place carcass in the ice-water bath.

Before tossing the offal into the refuse bag, consider taking the liver, heart, and gizzard from them.  To prepare the gizzard, cut length-wise and remove the internal matter (if any), use a knife to also remove the white inner lining.  Wash well and chill.  For the heart, remove the valves close to it and the thin membrane encasing it.  Wash thoroughly to remove any blood clots and chill.  For the liver, flip the folds of it carefully until you locate the small, greenish, grape-like appendage, this is the gall bladder.  Using a sharp knife, remove the gall entirely without damaging it.  Wash the liver and chill.

If you have an older bird on your hands, or one that you have no intention of roasting, consider skinning as an alternative to plucking.  Be sure to clean up your work area thoroughly when finished and bury or dispose of any offal.  Make sure to store the meat in the fridge or freezer as soon as possible.

Preparing the Garden

Early spring is when you need to start thinking about getting your garden ready to plant.  This article will help you with choosing the area and preparing to plant your garden.  If you've never put in a garden before, prepare yourself, gardens are a lot of work.  There is a lot of personal satisfaction and ultimate reward, but definitely a lot of work!  And always the kind that will get you into a hard sweat and have you filthy and worn out at the end of the day.  The first thing to remember is that gardening has regional aspects that you need to investigate.  If you live in the north, you really need to wait until the danger of frost has passed and the ground has thawed enough to work.  Farther south will be best to work the ground as early as possible to take advantage of the cooler spring days .  Be careful in areas that have a specific wet season, planting too early could mean the death of your plants to drowning!

Some questions to ask yourself when getting ready to put in your garden should be: how large of a garden will I need to plant the crops I want to grow?  How large a garden can I physically install and maintain?  Where can I install my garden such that it will be exposed to the maximum amount of sunlight each day?  Don't rule out some of the alternate gardening concepts such as vertical gardening for running plants (using a trellis for cucumbers, beans, tomatoes, squash, and even melons), container gardening (great for a wide variety of plants), raised garden beds (best when your soil isn't the best to work with or grow crops in), or square-foot gardening (share-cropping, or planting compatible plants in small areas).  In truth, the best homesteader should consider employing all of these methods, especially if you are dealing with a restricted-space issue.

Once you have decided on the size and placement for your garden it's a good idea to mark off the corners.  This will give you a real-time idea of the amount of space in which you will be working.  If there is grass growing in the area, leave it long and uncut for a little while.  This seems to make it easier to remove later, especially if you'll be working the soil by hand.  Some essential tools you will need to have include a sharp shovel, garden rake, hoe, and hand-trowel.  It's nice if you know someone that has a tiller that will either help you or lend it to you.  Regardless you will still need to break up the soil.  Use your shovel and use your foot to push as far into the soil as you can, push forward and then back to loosen the chunk and then move to the next spot.  If you are not using a tiller, then you'll need to lift these chunks and turn then over.  When the entire garden is either loosened or turned you'll move onto the next step.  If you are using a tiller, now is the time to get it going and till the plot.  The loosened soil should till fairly easily.  If you are not using a tiller, get your hoe out and use it to break up the dirt.  If using a tiller, plan to turn the soil at least twice.  In between tilling use the garden rake to remove as much vegetation as possible, start in the center of the garden and flatten out the 'rows' that the tiller creates.  The more wild plant matter removed at this point, the less you will have to pull out later.  Turn the tiller the other direction and turn the soil again.  At this point it's a good idea to wait a week.  You can then walk through and pull out anything left wild that tries to grow.  Most of what was left should die off from the paired tilling.

If your garden is on an incline, it's best to setup your rows perpendicular to the incline, so that water and soil will be retained and not permitted to run downhill.  If you are using a tiller, till the garden into even rows all the way across.  If no tiller, use your hoe to accomplish the same thing.  Even running crops can be planted into the rows, you do NOT have to create fancy dirt mounds as the seed packets claim.  Just be careful of your spacing.  At this point, try to avoid stepping on top of a row mound.  Use your hand trowel or the corner of your hoe to create a furrow in the top of the rows you plan to put seeds into.  You can then sprinkle your seeds carefully and evenly across the row and use both hands to cover them with dirt.  Plant any seedlings purchased spaced carefully apart and well into the soil.  Put up any necessary trellises.  Set up your watering system to insure that all of the garden will benefit from the extra water.

Keep an eye on your garden over the next week.  Your seedlings should sprout in even rows.  Anything growing out of place can be pulled carefully out.  Careful weeding, watering, and pest control will give you the most abundant yields.  Above all, enjoy!