Butchering/canning chickens with Blast & ClarkTX

It was actually Clark's idea. He mentioned he wanted to learn how to butcher chicken. I happened to know how to butcher a chicken. Next thing we know we are pulling into my driveway with five young, live chickens. We could have picked up a live goat from the same place for $50, but decided against it...

The complete story as well as many tips are on my blog .

Special thanks to ETS member "Librarian" for letting me try her pressure cooker! It worked great for canning the chicken.

-Blast

Nice.

Nice blog! We raised chickens and ducks for a time. If you thought getting feathers off a chicken was bad, a duck was worse...

Been there, done that. My dad lives for duck and goose hunting so I've put my hours in cleaning them. I'll stick to chickens (or any other non-waterfowl type of bird)!

I really want to cook a goat over a fire sometime. I'm hoping Aloha will see this and have some pointers on goat roasting...

-Blast

Most things roasted over a fire seem to taste better. Ever notice that?

I bet a roasted goat would taste pretty good.

I had goat once in Zappatio (not spelled correctly), Loja Providence, Ecuador. The mayor himself made us dinner and it was very good. I belive it was stewed, a little greasy and bony, but very tasty.

Pete

I lived with a Tibetian (spelling?) family for a nine months. Oh man, could the father roast a goat! His lambs were bone-chewing good, too.

Dang, now I'm hungry again. Oh hey, a spider!

-Blast

Awesome blog post Blast, and thanks for the link to butchering a chicken. It brought back some memories. It's not like riding a bike for me I guess, I forgot one or two of the steps I learned as a young'un. Maybe it's different when you're starring at a plucked chicken, but...

Anyway, thanks!

how much did the chickens cost??

The chickens were $7 each with a minimum purchase of five birds, which is a bit pricey. Considering his price for a goat started at $75 and dropped to $50 before we left, I'm sure there was room to haggle on the chickens.

-Blast

$50 for a goat doesn't sound bad. You should have took it.

I can always go back, he's only 10 minutes from my house. We are thinking of getting a goat for our next big multi-family campout.

-Blast

Just don't let the kids name it, or you will never get to can it...

That sounds extremely pricey... considering chickens are 5.99 for a HUGE one on the rotisserie @ Costco or 7.00 at other super markets around here ready to eat. Night and day difference in taste?? I dunno you bought them already fed and grown so they could have come from who knows where (you probably know exactly but from my POV). Not bashing you, just ranting or going on? I dunno Don't take it personal.

I would like to say Blast I enjoyed the blog, the write-up was awesome and has helped me learn a lot. Funny thing we had a chicken from supermarket then ight before and were talking about how much work it was to do what youdid and then bam your post, and now I know what it really takes

Great job.!

Toddw,

Yes, the chickens were outragously priced, but these are normally sold as egg layers (plus ClarkTX was paying ). You'd get an egg a day for several years before they'd end up in the broiler, so the price works out if you follow that route. Of course the seller also talked about how they were all organically grown, no chemicals, blah blah blah. That's probably another reason why they we so puny. Considering the seller dropped the price of the goat by a third before we left I suspect we can get the chickens cheaper from him next time. Sidenote: he sells over 500 chickens a week from his location on the north side of Houston.

I'm very glad you liked my blog. My goal with it has always been to educate while entertaining. Plus going back an rereading my adventurers while at work helps keep me sane(ish).

-Blast

Great blog post, Blast.

We tried raising a pair of ducks in our back yard (right in the middle of town) a few years back. We got some hatchlings from a teenager down the street who used to raise them. We called him "Duck Boy".

Unfortunately, just about when they were due to start laying, a predator killed one and then the other a day later. I think it was a hawk - the ducks were just decapitated and not really eaten.

Too bad, we go through a lot of eggs around here.

I really enjoy all of Blast's blogs... Very entertaining!

Definitely a taste difference from poultry you raised as compared to store bought.

Even a taste difference in duck eggs from chicken eggs. Not much, but still there. We typically used the duck eggs for baking as they are bigger. Very common to do so.

Looks like everyone was entertained and educated very well. Thanks for posting this on your blog. I am having flashbacks of visiting my Grandmother's when I used to be decades younger.

Misseswethers (did I spell that correctly??) has demonstrated once again why a man should NEVER argue with a lady holding a knife or gun. I swear ALL Ladies are naturals with those two instruments of death and dismemberment!!!!!

Not in this case. After two whacks I had to take the machete from her and finish the job. She's awesome with a gun but her knifework needs a lot more practice. I felt bad for her chicken but pleased that she didn't shy away from trying it.

-Blast

My grandmother could get a chicken to break its own neck. Birds keep their heads on the level when flying, and she'd hold the chicken so its wings were pinned to the body, then wave it around in a certain way so that it was constantly keeping its head level, then she did a maneuver so fast I never figured it out and snap! The bird broke it's own neck trying to keep its head level.

Then off with the head with the wood-splitting hatchet, and she hung the body from its feet from the clothes line to let the blood drain out.

Excellent. Thanks for informative writeup.

I am not doubting your word one little bit. Just trying to envision a flying chicken...

This thread brings back a lot of memories. Having grown up with parents who were kids in the Depression, I learned the skills in volume. I think I could pluck and draw a chicken in my sleep.

FWIW, hanging a live chicken upside down by its feet will stun it in about 20 seconds. Then a quick, sharp hatchet ... it's probably as humane as any method I can think of.

We always had a huge tub of ice-cold well water to chill the birds quickly after drawing.

Note that you can get egg layers at the end of their productive life for next-to-nothing. They're tougher, but enough time in a pressure canner makes them entirely edible. Potentially a big money-saver if you do the work yourself.

Side note. If you draw a line in the dirt, then place a chicken near the end of the line, and put its beak on the line, it will just sit and stare at the line forever. Makes it easy to whack them...

What did you do for the broth /liquid?

I used some of the liquid left over from boiling the chickens with a little salt added.

-Blast

While this is true, but he is very close and that is worth a little these days. I did go back to the guy and buy 5 black australorps and a dozen farm eggs for $18, which was a much better deal. And a complimentary glass of fresh milk. I mean fresh from the cow. The black australorps will provide 25 eggs a week.

Then a couple weeks later I went and got 4 dozen eggs, but they wanted $3/doz each. They didn't have too many that day, so the price was high.

Definitely supply/demand pricing going on.

These guys are semi-pro, and being in Houston makes it cost a bit more. They had butchered 30 goats the third time I was there, to sell to local restaraunts as organic goat meat. Houston is a city where people eat out A LOT, I believe it holds a record of some sort for eating out. I can tell you that they probably made well over $1000 that day. And in Austin, they sell the eggs for $5/doz and people actually drive to get them for that price.

Anyway, sometimes its worth it to pay a little more, to make good contact and friends with people who are living that sort of lifestyle. Especially in a metropolitan area like Houston.

I was trying to find a place to buy new zealand rabbits and most of them were quite far away. It was disappointing.

"Butchering/canning chickens" ....

Wait a minute ... "butchering" ... Is that required, or is it more like just a suggestion?

I have always just grabbed the live chicken off the yard and pounded them head first down into the jar with a rubber mallet. They always make that odd clucking sound and look at me through the glass with those sad eyes before I get a few solid swings in ...

But after that it has always has gone pretty smoothly. Once well packed into the jar its a quick trip through the water bath and on with the lids.

They look quite decorative on the shelves. With the speckled black, the earthy brown and regal white of the different breeds all arranged neatly in rows. On closer examination the festive yellow of the legs and beaks and the demented and comical look of their faces pressed against the inside of the glass. Each its own small piece of art.

It has gotten to be something of a theme. My canned alligator is famous in these parts. Took a while to get the technique down. A lot of broken jars, and a few trips to the ER to get it down pat, and my hand reattached. Brings a whole new meaning to having an animal 'eat off your hand'. But the surgery took and the therapy went well so it worked out in the end.

First thing I had to learn was that an eight foot alligator is much bigger than a chicken. Something I didn't know. (I have subsequently invested in something they call a ruler. A handy device for making such comparisons.) And alligators put up more of a fight. Who knew? Bigger jars and working on cold mornings, when they are less active, helped a lot. That, and using both a large funnel and a substantially bigger mallet. I can tell you it has been quite the learning experience.

But I diverge. I don't want to distract from this thread with my version of this time honored practice. I shall enjoy reading how you do it.

"...the therapy went well..."

It did? You sure?

I've never heard chicken eyes described as sad. To me, they look like they are always sizing you up, trying to decide if they could take you. There's no doubt that if chickens were larger it would be you in the can.
Chickens remind you just how close to dinosaurs birds really are.

Attack chicken...

Art, as intriguing as your canning methods sound, the proof is in the pudding - and it sounds to me like your method pretty much turns anything into pudding.

How close are your nearest neighbors, by the way. The sound of your canning chicken or alligators must be quite entertaining.

How about sharing some of your favorite recipes for using these delicacies?

"Organic" in vegetables is mostly about taste. "Organic" in animals is also about ethics: whether the animal had a pleasant life before it died.

There's a been a lot of fuss about organic chickens in recent years here in the UK, eg celebrity chefs exposing the conditions cheap non-organic chickens live in. It can be inhumane on an industrial scale.

"Ahhhh" the joys of youth, we had a neighbor across the street from us and four times a year he would "kill" the chickens, we thought it was really cool, we would watch and want to help Mom always "put her foot down and said NO"

(singing) Memories all alone in the moonlight

Ok Ok uncover your ears now

Mike

And the poison. Don't forget about the poison.