Processing a Chicken
<Warning, a bit graphic>
If you have chickens for eggs, sooner or later youll need to deal with the fact that your chickens are aging and are no longer producing eggs. Ideally youve thought this question through ahead of time and are prepared to make some decisions. Many people who view their chickens as pets simply let the girls age gracefully; their backyard becomes a chicken retirement home and they return to buying eggs at the store. Other chicken owners, neither interested in geriatric hens, nor killing something theyve lived with, will find a local farmer who will process the chickens for them, perhaps to be returned to eat, or maybe the previous owner has decided to just pretend their bird will have a happy retirement on the farm. I opted to accept the fact that things die in order for me to eat, and I process my chickens for food.
Its not an easy step to take as those of us in Western countries are so comfortable with buying our meat wrapped in plastic that we tend to overlook the fact that what is in our pot was once a living being. Honestly, its even harder when you knew the being. Since Im not going to stop eating meat, I knew I had to face up to the real facts of life, and be part of the death process for what ends up on my table. If you decide to go the same road, youll have to find the philosophy that works for you, in my case Im trying to make it all part of the life cycle. My chickens have a good living, they give me eggs and entertainment, and their lives have meaning. Instead of just letting that life fade away with time, Ive decided that their deaths should have meaning too. I work very hard at making sure the end is quick, that theres a minimum of fear and hopefully no pain. I personally cant make the motion that ends their life, but my partner can. Heres the process we do.
Processsing a chicken for food
It just works better if their crops are empty, so do this in the morning before theyve been fed.
Start a large pot of water boiling. Outside is best if you can do it.
End her life quickly and painlessly
Catch your chicken and hold her upside down. Birds have very small brains, and all the blood rushing to their heads calms them down, and I think makes them kind of senseless. While Im holding the bird upside down, my partner puts one hand on her shoulder, the other around her neck near her head and does a very fast pull and twist. The quick twisting motion dislocates her spine and severs the spinal cord immediately. Even if shes still twitching, she is dead.
Next you need to remove the head and allow the blood to escape. You can use whatever method you want since the bird is feeling nothing at this point. A sharp knife set underneath the feathers works, a sharp ax and a quick blow, or a good pair of garden lopper. Whatever you choose, let the bird bleed out for a while after the head has been removed.
Pluck the feathers
Now you need to remove the feathers. To get them loose, dip the bird into the pot of boiling water and hold her in there for about two minutes. Pull on a feather to see how loose they are and dip longer if necessary. My pot is small so I have to dip first by the feet, and then hold the neck and dip again. Yuck, but I havent figured out a better way.
Pull the feathers off. This is a mess no matter what. If you have access to a defeathering machine, go for it, otherwise you have to hold up a bird and pull off handfuls of wet feathers that stick everywhere. Most come off easily, others youll have to pull off one at a time. The wings are the worst, I think.
Remove the organs
Now youll need to remove the guts. We go inside to the sink to do this. Slice around the anus being careful not to nick the intestine. Open the area where the spine attaches to the body at the chest. If youve opened everything correctly you should be able to reach in, grab a handful of chicken insides and pull everything out at once. My partner pulls from the butt end to avoid spilling anything that might leak from the intestine into the cavity if the chicken. Youll see all the expected bits; liver, heart, intestine, but youll also find dozens of eggs in decreasing sizes (if you are processing a hen). This is normal, and you can eat those egg yolk if you want to. I dont, although I dont have good reason. Im just not there yet. If you like chicken insides, these are perfectly fine to cook and eat, just like any bird youd get from the store.
Rinse and rest the bird
After youve removed everything, rinse the bird well, inside and out. Youll notice that shes gotten very stiff. This is normal. What youll want to do is let the bird rest in the refrigerator for three days before you freeze or cook her. Alternatively you can freeze immediately, but let your chicken rest for three days in the refrigerator after you thaw. Skipping this step will give you a tough meals since you didnt allow the muscle fibers to relax before cooking.
Cooking tips
If this is a spent layer, a couple years old, your only good option for cooking is soup. She will be tough, but very full of flavor. Put the bird in your crock pot, or on the stove on low heat and simmer all day/overnight. This long slow cooking will remove most of the flavor from the meat so I usually just cut up the carcass and put the meat back into the soup. You could try making chicken salad or some other meal that mixes the meat into something with flavor. The soup will remind you of Grandmas chicken soup from way back when. Wow. Flavor.
If youve processed a pullet, a bird under a year old, go ahead and roast her, or cook up your chicken any way youd cook a bird from the grocery store. Youll suddenly discover what chicken was meant to taste like.
If youve managed to put off doing in a bird until she is four or five, there isnt much you can do with her. Go ahead and do the broth thing, but shell be extremely tough and youll end up giving the meat to the dog, or back to the other chickens.
Really, the hardest part is the decision to do this, but it was important enough to me to try.
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