Posted in Homestead Barnyard
This is NOT a lesson in the butchering or cleaning Â… just preparation for the deed.
IÂ’ve read several accounts on butchering chickens and sometimes the trouble lies in catching those quick little buggers.
Now, I will not claim to be the best authority on these matters, but here’s what works for Norm and I. Even chickens that are “tame” are difficult to catch; they will become stubborn and shy when you want to catch them!
So, the night before (or even earlier – later on that reasoning), have a small crate to hold your chicken and have it handy near your chickens unless you want to carry them to the crate. Be sure that once you crate the chicken, to store the crate in a safe place. Raccoons and other beasties are known to reach through crates and kill the poor defenseless birds at night.
Take a flashlight and have two people, if possible. One will hold the flashlight to show the path; the other will be the chicken catcher. The flashlight holder beams the light a little past the chicken planned to catch – if you don’t know where said chicken is, then beam along the roost and feet of all chickens. There should be enough light to be able to identify the right one. Chicken catcher reaches UNDER said chicken, quickly grabbing by the legs. The chicken will SCREAM! Don’t let it startle you into dropping the animal. They almost always scream and croak something noisy. You can carry them upside down for quite a distance without hurting them. Or you can cradle them in your arms, but just make sure to hang on to those legs! Some will scream all the way, others will just quiet down and go with you “quietly into the night.”
The chicken catcher puts the chicken in the crate, with flashlight holder following along to shine a path. Hope that the chicken catcher goes slow enough for the flashlight holder to keep up! Flashlight holder normally is responsible for opening and closing the crate as the chicken catcher has his/her hands full of chicken.
In the morning, now, you have a chicken primed for butchering. And here is a secret that will help the butchering immensely. Give the bird just water – no food – for at least 24 hours. This cleans his tummy out.
Now, my favorite part of the whole process is cleaning the birds out after they are dead, de-feathered and ready to go. (Yes, for real!!) When you stick your hand inside to pull guts out, there is a lot of junk in the intestines and the gullet. If that bird has been fasting, there a much less chance of a mess if you slip and break the intestines.
So, there you have an easier, quicker way to catch the birds and a cleaner, more pleasant way to clean them out in the end.
