The broilers were 8 weeks old which is the usual time for butchering. A couple of weeks ago I tried to get Jim to tell me which day we wanted to butcher them. Jim responded with telling me about this place he heard of in Garnett which will process them for you. We did a little bit of research and found that it was relatively cheap, and that you just make an appointment, show up and come back with flash cold chickens ready for the freezer. Jim couldn't have been more pleased! He was worried that he wouldn't be good at chicken cleaning! I let Quincy and Preston take today off of school. They were shown how turkeys and chickens are processed. We got to see the very beginning of a lot of thanksgiving dinners! Sometimes you have to leave the school to learn things! We were very impressed and I am completely sold on this method of chicken cleaning! Of the 50 we started out with, we had 45 chickens left. They are averaging in weight of 3-4 pounds (a bit smaller than our original 5 pound goal). I believe we are about 7.50 per bird, so I feel that we will save money on chicken overall. Not to mention, our kids learned a little about poultry processing, meat raising and work that goes into a small farm project. I think we may do this again in the spring. Before we decide, we may have to taste test them!
The chicken place is about 12 miles from my parents farm!!! I admit friend, I am a little jealous of your "little farm/ piece of country"so wishing we made the space for it all on our town lot!
ReplyDeleteI often buy whole chickens that way because we love them roasted in the oven! Yum!