Saturday, July 20, 2013

Meatiness-Harvesting our Cornish X




We are wealthy beyond description. In spite of my poor health, a bad economy and extreme isolation, we have God’s presence wherever we go. It’s a comforting and reassuring feeling.

Living as simply as we can, in a small rock house provided by our employer, I have found untold riches in the things we do. First of all, the boss and his fanily have been more than generous and allow us the privilege to live as we like, painting or doing whatever, on the little house and yard, as well as keeping my dogs, milk cow and other critters in the pastures around us. They have even made donations from time to time.

 What was originally dirt and thistle is slowly becoming a back yard full of flowers and a vegetable patch. One day it will be my sanctuary where I can sit in the shade and let my eyes lazily follow the flight of the many butterflies who grace the landscape. Even now, I revel in the glimpses of flowers in rioting color, purple coneflowers, white and yellow daisies, pink zinnias, red hollyhocks, blue flax and others. It’s pleasing both to the eye and to the soul. I love to look out and see the climbing roses, 7 and 8 foot tall sunflowers and hollyhocks against the backdrop of the old rock wall, with 4 O’clocks and lavender resting at their feet. The emerald green of the backyard lawn keeps things cool and keeps the dust down while providing a beautiful background for the old water troughs full of marigolds, foxglove, petunias and trailing sweet potato vines. The vegetable patch has had a rough year this year, between the odd weather, the heavy winds and my back injury which allowed the weeds to get a foothold and provide fierce competition with my corn, potatoes, broccoli and other plants, but they will do the best they can. The strawberries were struggling this year as well, as my water system for them is less than adequate and they are too crowded and full of weeds. I’ll have to dig them all up and replant them later this year. Nevertheless, they were sweet and delicious. The raspberries however, have been practically giddy. I have picked a couple gallons of them and they just keep coming. It looks like we will get our first blackberries this year too. I can’t wait.





This was meatie week. We had to process all of our CornishX chickens as they are nigh onto 9 weeks old and that is about the age their hearts begin to fail them. We usually like to process at 8 weeks, but I wasn’t able to do it because of some bad flares last week. We’ve got a system going. We get up early and do about a dozen before it gets hot, then Randyman can go to work and I can clean up and rest. We withhold dinner from them the night before we process, so their crops will be empty, as its kinda nasty otherwise.They have all day to forage so it’s not hard on them at all. They just go in the shed with their water for the night. We grab two at a time and quietly carry them to the traffic cones which hang upside down from a piece of fence by our BBQ. We slide the chickens in, and they get quiet and woozy from being upside down. They are then dispatched by cutting the main artery on the neck. Having been in several accidents myself as well as having graced a few surgery tables, I know that the initial cut may be uncomfortable, but unconsciousness comes rapidly. Their death is quick, sure and pretty trauma free. It’s not a bad way for them to go. I’m happy knowing my chickens lived a happy and carefree life with only a brief flash of discomfort in their passing as opposed to commercial chickens who live a miserable life from beginning to end. Ours are appreciated and I even say a little prayer over each one before we dispatch them. Some people might find that silly, but not me. If He knows every sparrow that falls, I think He cares about chickens too. 

The process is pretty clean cut. Dispatch, let them bleed out, then dunk them in the turkey fryer which is full of water at about 150 degrees. When the wing tip feathers come out easily, they are ready to throw into the drum plucker. We turn that on, use a hose to spray the feathers off the sides as they are removed, and after about 45 seconds they are clean as a whistle.


The set up.




Next, onto the table where I do the eviscerating as Randyman’s hands are too big and clumsy. I only told him they are too big though. Once the insides are all cleaned out, the heads, hearts and livers are thrown in a bucket for the dogs as we don’t care for them ourselves, the cat and her kittens clean up the gizzards and some of the other entrails. The clean bird is put in a cooler full of ice water to quickly chill. We do only about a dozen a day as Randyman still has to go to work. We got up early in the morning so we’d be done before then and before it was hot. Once they are chilled, they come in the house. I rinse them again with cold water, set them two at a time on a ‘beer butt chicken stand’ to drain, while I heat more clean water to 180.






I bag the birds in a shrink wrap bag, tie the ends off, make a little hole in the breast then dunk it in the hot water. Lots of bubbles come up, the bag shrinks and tightens and after just a few seconds, I pull it up out of the water and shazaam!! A beautiful, professional looking bird. I weigh them then use a label with the weight and date to cover the little hole over the breast and they go in the fridge for 48 hours. After that, they go in the freezer. Our biggest bird this year was 6.7 pounds and the smallest was 5.15. Not bad.



I always part out a few birds instead of freezing them whole. This makes it a lot easier to make meals with as we don’t always roast them. Wings are separated, thighs and legs go in a bag for frying and breasts are individually wrapped and frozen. There are still a few of the Red Rangers or Freedom Rangers to process, but they are not yet ready. They will be parted out for frying and a couple of them will be canned. There will also be a few culls from the laying hens that will be canned as well. These are great for using in casseroles, quesadillas, BBQ sandwiches and other things where shredded chicken is good.



The left over carcasses and feet will be used for stock. The feet will be cleaned by scalding and removing the ‘socks’ and nails. The best stock in the world is made with feet because of all the good chondroitin and glucosamine in it. Once chilled, it becomes a beautiful golden gelatin. This gets canned and put in the pantry. Not much is wasted. Blood goes in the compost pile and feathers go to the dump. I haven’t yet found a use for wet chicken feathers and they take too long to break down in the compost. That is all that is wasted.

The 23 birds we have done so far have produced over 120 lb of meat for us. In addition to that, nothing tastes better than pastured poultry...except maybe pastured lamb...or raw milk and butter from grass fed cows...well...its good stuff, to say the least. If you ever get a chance, try it!

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27 comments:

  1. Oh My Goodness. What a lot of good chicken meat your meaties have provided. You have a great setup for dressing them. I once helped dress chicken and not as effectively. Plucking by hand is NOT fun or effective.
    It is amazing what you manage to set by for winter. How wonderful it must be to open jar and taste the goodness and God's grace.
    your yard is looking amazing a little bit of paradise in the high desert. :)
    Hugs....

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    1. If we had to hand pluck, I'd be buying chicken LOL

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  2. Aw Petey, I've missed your blog! Been out of internet for a while and just now am getting a chance to update mine and go visiting..

    As usual, you always have the most peaceful pictures, one of these days I'll have to go road trippin and pay you a visit.

    Good looking meaties, how wonderful it is to be able to stock your freezer with such wholesome food :)

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    1. I'd love if you came road trippin on in! Glad you are back, Crystal! I've missed my Noodleville updates!

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  3. Glad to "see" you back! I'm going to process my own "meatie" chickens in two weeks. There's a lady that lives in my town that raises her own meat and loves to help people learn how to raise and process their own chickens. She let me come over in May to help/learn. She is going to let me bring my own over use her equipment. I decided to raise a heritage breed this time, Delaware. My thought was if I get attached to one I can keep it and it will lay eggs for us!!

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    1. That's great that she is going to do that! I haven't tried the Delawares yet. I did get a couple of Jersey Giants to see how we like them. Let me know how yours turn out!

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  4. I think that we will just stick to chicken eggs, although if the Prospector reads this he might get excited about the whole idea and buy some. He use to work on a chicken farm when he was in high school and he knows how to dispatch a chicken quickly, without too much distress to the chicken.
    Thanks for the post on this. It's interesting.
    Are the meatie chickens a particular breed or are they just called "meatie"? I've had never heard of this kind of chicken before I read your blog.

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    1. There are 2 specific breeds that are 'meatie' chickens. They grow at extremely high rates and are very heavy. They are also hybrids so cannot be 'bred' but must be purchased from the hatcheries. Tyson, etc has a patent on them. We prefer the CornishX. They are table ready at 8 weeks of age and ours are usually 5-6 lb carcass weight. The other breed is the Red or Freedom Ranger. They aren't as heavily breasted and don't grow as fast, but have fewer leg and heart problems which the CX are famous for. We never have those problems because we 'free range' our chickens. They are loose and do more foraging for food instead of standing and eating. Think of todays youth. TV, videos and fast food makes for an unhealthy kid. Same thing for meatie chickens. Thats why ours get kicked outside and have to entertain and fend for themselves a bit. Makes all the difference! There is no comparison in flavor or texture between commercial birds and homeraised pastured poultry though. We will never go back to buying grocery store birds again :)

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  5. Wow. So industrious. How long have you been living where you are now, and how long have you been 'growing' the meaties?

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    1. We have been here for going on 7 years and have grown the meaties for 3 of them :)

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  6. Nice to hear you were successful with your meaties this year. Just can't beat the taste, and the feeling of independence and accomplishment you get from taking care of your own needs. We processed 43 meaties a few weeks ago. They were 7 weeks old, and I wanted to go a little longer, but we were getting 112 weather, and I was losing some, so we butchered. We used the traffic cones, also. Worked great. Although, the tub plucker wasn't ready so we plucked by hand. Next time, though..... I saw online where I could order the plastic bags for heat shrinking the carcass. Was too tight to order any, since we had vacuum bags on hand here, but next time will use the heat shrink bags. So nice to have meat in the freezer! We hadn't done chickens in quite a few years, and I wanted to try the composting of the parts not to be eaten. They are all in one of my garden beds not used this year, covered with dirt, straw, and leaves, all of which I water every day or two. Not real excited to hear that you have problems with the feathers. Oh, well, maybe it will take two years? I am curious how you feed your dogs the parts you give them. Do you give it to them raw, or cook it up? Do you can any with rice or anything to make a sort of dog food for later in the year?? Just curious. I dislike wasting anything, and was wondering what else I could do.
    So, thanks for the update on your little spot of heaven.
    ~~Lori

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    1. My dogs eat raw meat. They crunch up the heads and can eat any part of the chicken safely, provided it has NOT been cooked. They can chew and digest the uncooked bone, but once it has been cooked, it becomes brittle and can puncture intestines or choke. They eat some pretty nasty stuff around here, as they drag home coyote kills of deer and calves and some of it is pretty ripe. Their systems are very different from ours. I don't feed them a steady diet of raw because I am unable to, so they have free choice kibble available at all times and the raw is a treat. Let me know how your feathers compost out!

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  7. These meat birds are a lot of work. Yours look wonderful. Only 2 weeks left on mine until they get to go to freezer camp. I anxiously await the blessed rest that day will bring.

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    1. They are a lot of work indeed, but oh, what a payoff!

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  8. What an awesome feeling! 120 pounds of meat in the freezer. Good stuff! It sounds like you have the process down to a science. I bet the dogs where happily waiting. Just a side note: I take all of the shavings out of the hen house, when I clean it and put it on the potato plants. It contains feathers and everything else that the chickens leave behind. Have done this for two years now. Not that there is a huge number of them, but I never see the feathers when I plant. So they must decompose over the winter or I have just missed them with the spade. Enjoy that view today! Staci

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    1. I may try tossing them on the potatoes next time then. I don't have enough stuff to cover them with the way I would like this year...I do take everything from the chicken pen to throw in the garden though, there just isn't the huge amount of feathers I have from processing. The Maremmas don't get too excited when we process (they actually grieve a little to find their chickens missing, and suspect foul play on our part...) Cider, on the other hand, stares out the window drooling...

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  9. Petey, I always look forward to each new post and love 'em all! I love the way you live and admire how much you get done despite your illness. I grew up on a farm and we put up garden produce, chickens, beef and pork. I learned how to do it all. We certainly did not have such a good set up for processing chickens as you do but we got it done! Some were frozen and some canned. I remember mom frying sausage then putting them in jars and covering them with hot grease. I don't remember her processing them any more than that but surely she must have......Stay well....Ginny

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    1. I love this life. I am so glad I get to live this way and am not forced to live in a city, like when I was a kid!

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  10. When I grow up I want to be like you! :)
    Kristi

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  11. I have never heard of those heat-shrink bags - what a great idea! I will have to track some down. It IS a lot of work but the payoff is wonderful. I've gotten to the point now that I will not eat any meat unless I (or a friend) has raised it. I had canned a few chickens a year ago and just opened the last of the jars. Still wonderful - but now it's no chicken until the fall :(. Good thing I have plenty of vegetables! (And a friend who raises organic Tamworths...) Hope you have a good week, without those darn flare-ups.

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    1. here's where I got the bags...http://www.cornerstone-farm.com/equipment/poultry-packaging/shrink-bag
      Thanks, I hope I don't have any flares either :)

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  12. Our new maremma, Alvin, has been dining on offcuts from my friend's first home grown sheep :-) Hopefully when he settles in we can raise a few meat birds to share with him too !

    There's a guy in Aus breeding a line of meat birds for free ranging so I will be happy not to have to do the commercial ones :-)

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    1. Congrats on your new Maremma! I love my meaties :)

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  13. How wonderful! We are planning on processing our dual-purpose heritage chickens (Dominiques) for the first time this fall. We will process the extra roosters we don't plan on keeping for breeding purposes. You sure do get a lot of meat for your CornishX birds!

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