"Here, Chicky, Chicky"

The Warnocks had over a dozen chickens about 8 of which needed to be butchered.  I was so excited when Pat took me up on my offer to help.  I really wanted to know if I had it in me to butcher one and I did. 

The kids were also excited. I know, we are a pretty morbid family.  What can I say?!

Now when it came to the actually killing part, Jim took care of that.  It took some patience to catch the bird.  Somehow they know when it is time to go.  Jim would then grab the bird by its feet and hang it from his tractor.  A noose was already set up to hang them with.

A swiff stroke of the knife and the chicken was beheaded and yes, the chicken will flop around for quite a time.

Now off to the tables to be de-feathered, gutted, and cleaned. Yep, everyone got involved with the process.  True to form, Bonnie did everything.  She dipped the bird in the boiling water to make the de-feathering easier, she defeathered the birds, and gutted them.  Brian decided to be the photographer.  He had no desire to get involved in this messy business but was always close by to see what we were doing.

We defeathered the roosters and skinned the hens.  I don't know which way I like best.  They are both very messy.

Pat did a good job of teaching me how to cut the chicken to gut it.  I was so scared that I would cut too deep and puncture something that I shouldn't like the intestines or gall bladder, but I did ok.  The kids had fun naming all the parts of the body as we pulled them out. 

The gizzard is so nasty when you clean it out.  I can't believe people like eating them.  I think I will pass on this one.

Once it is all gutted, we took it inside for a final washing and then placed in the freezer. 

On the first hen I gutted, I noticed something hard inside.  It was an egg, ready to be layed.  If you look inside this hen you can see several yolks - eggs in the process of being formed.

I lost track of how many chickens we did this morning.  Something like four roosters and four hens.  Pat left at least 5  hens so that she can still have some fresh eggs this winter.  What a wonderful way to spend a school day.  This was the best lesson yet.