Our Meat Chickens Are Ready!

Those are the "thumbs up" of Hannah and Sarah!

I didn't know when we began this journey if I was capable of doing this - raising live creatures for food and then eating them.  Well, I did it, and I didn't have a problem with it.  I kept the mindset from the beginning that this was for food, and never had any second thoughts about it.  As for the chickens, the process was extremely humane.  They are rendered unconscious with a stun gun, it takes a second, then while unconscious the processing begins.  In a matter of seconds they are finished and ready to bag, cut up, or whatever you want.  Quite an operation.  I'll let you know how they taste in another post.

I think that we will probably get a different kind of chicken next time, these white leghorns are a bit small.  Maybe Cornish x rocks or Cornish roasters.  I believe they will be ready for harvest much quicker and are much meatier.  We are learning as we go!  And it is so very interesting!

Carpe Diem! Lil and Bill

UPDATE:

We actually ATE our first farm raised chicken last night, and the consensus is that it was good.  Not as big a difference as I was expecting, but it was good, tasty, tender chicken.  I think the more important issue here is that the chickens had a good, healthy, well-taken-care-of life, they were slaughtered very humanely, and we know exactly how they were fed and what they were exposed to.  We now know that we can raise our own food if it becomes necessary, and THAT is a good thing!