Chicken coops plans

Once a year I collaborate with a friend who owns a ranch to raise, butcher, process and then eat chickens. Well, if truth be told I help raise, process and eat them and my friend does the actual butchering part.

Raising chickens for the supper table is an eye opening experience into just how much work goes into food production. As Americans we are so used to going to the grocery store and picking out our food in pre-packaged containers, it is simple, easy and abundant.

The real part of food production is much more complex. We receive our chicks when they are just one day old balls of white and yellow fluff. Before their arrival we spend a day cleaning and prepping the pens with fresh wood shavings, clean water containers and plenty of chicken feed.

Once the chicks arrive they are fed and watered twice a day and have heat lamps on to keep their little bodies warm. Twice a day feeding continue, along with daily cleaning. Once the hens reach a mature age they are butchered and then processed. This part is quite labor intensive as it involves several people for several days at a time.
I have to admit that I have never been in the barn for the butchering part. I do know that my friend gets up at the crack of dawn and she, with her husband, do the deed for several hours. The chickens are then placed in hot hot water to loosen their feathers for plucking. The plucking part is messy and requires an eye for detail. Once the feathers are gone the chickens are divided into sections: feet, legs, necks, backs and breasts. The feet are skinned, a pretty gross but fascinating process. After the parts are divided each one is inspected for any stray hairs or general chicken goo and then packaged and labeled.

The entire production is definitely time consuming and a bit gruesome at times. However, the experience of raising an animal from almost birth to the dinner table is an amazing one. When all is said and done we end up with about 15 full chickens to eat throughout the winter. It is not enough to get my family of growing kids through the winter, but it is good to know exactly what we are eating and where it came from.

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