One of those roosters was the Easter Chick. Go ahead, shed a tear if you must. I might have felt just a smidgen guilty, but the peckerhead got in one last bite on the tender flesh on top of my hand. Had he not already bought a reserved seat in the pressure cooker I would have rung his neck right then and there. Go ahead, go all PETA on me. But if you've ever had to deal with a jerk rooster, you know you'd do the same thing. Or at least daydream of bashing it's head against the barn door. And then flinging it across the yard. And kicking it's sorry rooster-ass down the gravel driveway like one of those red kick balls from grade school.
Sorry. Got a bit carried away. Where was I?
Oh, the reduction of the rooster numbers.
Easter Chick and his partner in crime were butchered, plucked, pressure cooked and made into a wonderful Enchilada supper for us and some friends. The heart & liver went to the dogs, the offal went into the compost pile. The bones, skin & leftover bits from the cooked chicken went back into the pressure cooker with some onion, celery and a bay leaf and made some wonderful chicken stock. Then the leftover-leftover bits were given to the chickens and the bones buried in the compost heap. Normally I would have zipped the bones into a slurry in the blender, but they didn't soften up as much as I wanted them to and didn't want to break my blender.
So not only did I eliminate two jerk roosters & slightly lower my chicken-feed bill, I got almost two pounds of shredded chicken, about six or so ounces of cat food, a half-gallon of chicken stock, and a bit of food for the chickens. I LOVE being able to make so much food for our family with so little waste.
We still have ten roosters running around the homestead. And we do not need that many. Time's a tick'n for about six of them. And I'm thinking chicken pot pie, BBQ chickens sandwiches, chicken 'n dumplings.....
So not only did I eliminate two jerk roosters & slightly lower my chicken-feed bill, I got almost two pounds of shredded chicken, about six or so ounces of cat food, a half-gallon of chicken stock, and a bit of food for the chickens. I LOVE being able to make so much food for our family with so little waste.
We still have ten roosters running around the homestead. And we do not need that many. Time's a tick'n for about six of them. And I'm thinking chicken pot pie, BBQ chickens sandwiches, chicken 'n dumplings.....
90% of the chicks we hatched last spring were roosters. We have sold 70 roosters and still have about 6 we don't need running around. Wanna come butcher them for me??? LOL I have one I want to football kick down the road and your post hit home.
ReplyDeleteCan we all say "self-sufficiency?" Yay-yay for Carolyn and Clan!! Way to go, Girl.
ReplyDeleteCarolyn,
ReplyDeleteNo tears, I would have processed that peckerhead the first time he decided to peck me in the head. Yum, enchiladas! Damn, I'm to late, I could have brought you and hubby some nice homemade sangria, and homemade flan :-(
Well a couple years ago when we had the extra rooster issue and they were really nasty to us I killed them even though they were small and went right to my 2 bird dogs.
ReplyDeleteHaving been on the biting end of a nasty rooster (or three) myself, I can totally relate. I am very thankful that I have one nice rooster who gives me a wide berth. He knows which side of the bread is buttered and has no intention of becoming a sandwich spread.
ReplyDeleteI love eating evil roosters!!! I have a couple (one named Peckerhead) that need to go to the freezer right now. I don't do the killing so I have to wait on the hubs to feel better and be in the mood LOL! Seems like your roo to hen ratio isn't TOO bad. I have five roos and 16 girls it gets a little crazy in the yard several times a day! It's driving me batty!!!!
ReplyDeleteWay to go! I haven't had a mean rooster in a very long time. The last one attacked DH one time too many and he lost his temper....that is all I will say but a 5 gallon bucket was involved.
ReplyDeleteWell, at least they were good for SOMETHING and good ol' chicken enchiladas sounds like a very good thing for them to be good for! (Hmmm...that's a lotta goods)
ReplyDeleteHave you mastered the art of killing them by yourself? If so, please tell me your secret. I can hold feet or wield the ax, but cannot seem to do both. I thought about putting one foot on the head, but am afraid I will hit my foot instead of the neck. Maybe I should get a hatchet as the axe is too heavy for me to safely wield with one hand. Any suggestions? I cannot bear the thought of trying to swing them around to wring their neck.
ReplyDeleteThis is how we do it if there's more than one person doing the butchering:
ReplyDeletehttp://krazoacres.blogspot.com/2011/11/chicken-accomplished.html
But I've done several on my own the same way, except when alone, I usually just skin them instead of having to get the scalding pot ready for plucking. It takes some time, and although I'm not sure I'd call it an "art", I'm getting pretty good at it.
Thank you so much for that information. I can certainly hang them from the clothesline with some baling twine and slit their little throats. My Dad always held them on the chopping block and it was off with their heads with the axe. That is the only way I have ever seen it done. Once the head was off, he would give them a toss so they could finish flopping around. My brothers and I then had to grab them, dunk them, and get the feathers off. One time, one took off running without his head. We thought it was the funniest thing we had ever seen.
ReplyDeleteIt's that time of year! I don't envy you all those roosters, our one was enough. Still, all that meat and byproduct goodies. :)
ReplyDeleteWe butchered 2 Saturday and had chicken and dumplings last night and soup today. We butchered 2 more yesterday and I'll do something with them tomorrow. I asked my husband how many days a week we could eat chicken before we get tired of it. He said a long time. I'm afraid I've got you beat as we still have at least 15 to go! Most are banty cross as my banty cross hens that I keep to hatch eggs hid several nests and hatched their own eggs instead of the ones I would have set. Oh well. They're still good eating! I know my hens will be glad to see the extras go, as will my feed bill.
ReplyDeletea jerk rooster... I'm going to be laughing at that for awhile! I wouldn't mind cleaning them but hubs is going to have to do the butchering for awhile I think. I'm determined to do it myself someday though.
ReplyDelete