On Thursday I slaughtered chickens for the first time! I'm wishing I'd taken my camera because my family likes gross things like that. My chiropractor told me he had six roosters that he needed to get rid of, and didn't have room in his freezer for them, did we want them. So Jason and I went over (he lives just across the highway from us) Thursday night expecting to just pick them up. Well, they weren't dead yet. They were just 6 or 8 weeks old. It takes that long to tell if they're male or female, I guess, and too many roosters in one yard cause problems. His daughter caught them in a big net. Then he showed Jason how to hold it by its feet, put his foot on its head, and pull the head off. Then they just threw the body off to the side to let if flop around and bleed out, and threw the heads to the dog. Ew. They finished catching and killing (I couldn't do that part) and then he showed me how to skin them (Jason couldn't do that part, so we make a great team). It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. It was kind of like skinning a chicken from the store, except that the skin was covered with feathers, it was warm, and the skin actually comes off more easily. And the guts are still inside. That was gross. After we skinned them, his daughter (she's 12) did the gutting. She's been doing it her whole life, and likes that part for some weird reason. There wasn't as much blood as I thought there would be. It wasn't bad. And we took home 6 fresh tiny young chickens. I haven't cooked them yet. I've been told by lots of people that fresh young chicken is the best, and there's a noticeable difference from store chicken. It'll take 3 of them to feed us, they're so small. I'm looking forward to it!
-Mindy
Tadd's 6th Birthday Party
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