Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Roosters to the freezer!
Mom's dream has come true! She has her very own hand-raised, fresh chickens in the freezer.
When we were building the coop and ordering the birds, besides wanting fresh brown eggs, she told me she really looked forward to "good, old-fashioned chicken" she could bake. She's so tired of the fatty, pale, tasteless store-bought stuff.
Sunday, Cindy and James (the neighbor boy) and I dispatched 11 cockerels (young roosters) to the freezer.
Saturday at dusk, Cindy and I selected and captured the "roo's", placing them in a holding pen. With only water, and no feed, they'd be much less messy to butcher. Since our "butchering station" is pretty primitive, we thought it better to skin the birds and simply cut away the best parts (each wing, both boneless breasts, and the leg/thigh) and discard the rest this year.
It took about 20 minutes per bird from start to finish. James was in charge of keeping us in ice water, and running the finished birds into Mom, so she could do a final wash, pat dry and pop into the freezer bags.
All in all, the job wasn't nearly as messy or traumatic as I thought it could have been. One of the neighbors happened by when they saw us "hanging out" by the trees. I think he was impressed. I think I remember him telling Bev to put him on "Mom's Egg List".
You see, we've promised her that she can have all the "egg money".
Labels: Chickens
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