News from Up North
June 15th, 2014 · 2 Comments · Posted in farming
Time to slaughter chickens.
Our Freedom Ranger broilers are so popular, we decided to double production this year. Here’s what one of our clients said in an e-mail: “We cooked the last chicken we had in the freezer on Tuesday and it was spectacular.”
I tend to agree. The Freedom Ranger, a European breed, is more succulent, firmer and just a bit darker than the standard, industrial U.S. model, the Cornish-cross. And incredibly moist. Doubling production for us is not terribly difficult, since we processed fewer than 100 birds last year. We just can’t keep up with demand. In fact, my wife was upset with me because I miscounted the orders for our first batch of 50. Turns out there are none left for us.
Oh, well. I offered to build another chicken tractor and order more rangers. Yesterday we butchered 25. They are 10 weeks old and many of our customers have requested birds on the smaller size. Otherwise, we would let them grow 11 or 12 weeks. We left another 25 in the field. Even so, we ended up with quite a few birds weighing five pounds or more. Normally they average four and a half pounds.
We started raising chicks earlier this year. We’re hoping for three runs in all, which would take us through almost to Thanksgiving. After being in the basement brooder three or four weeks, the birds move out to pasture and live in “tractors”–big cages–that we drag through the grass twice a day. So the rangers get to forage on grass and legumes and whatever bugs they find as well as being fed local, non-GMO grain.
When it comes time to slaughter, we set up near our future raised-bed garden. We have an electric scalder, a plucking machine, evisceration table, chill tubs, etc. I handle capturing the birds, killing them and bleeding them out in the “kill cones” you see on the left, while my wife takes charge of gutting and dressing them.
Yesterday was perfect weather for it: overcast, with temperatures right around 70 degrees. And then there’s the view….
What knives do you use, and how do you keep them sharp? I had a pretty awful butchering day last weekend due to dull knives.
Emily, there’s a scene in “Julie & Julia” where Julia Child talks about how awful stainless steel knives are and she’s right. They are terribly difficult to sharpen and keep sharp. Much better are the old-fashioned carbon steel knives. Good ones can cost a fortune. We spend a good bit of time the day before the slaughter sharpening knives. My wife uses an electric wheel on two stainless boning knives she uses for eviscerating. For bleeding out the chickens (slitting the carotid artery) I use a carbon steel pocket knife that was gifted to me by a farmer friend. It gets incredibly sharp very easily. My advice would be to invest in a couple of carbon steel knives, or, if you’re having trouble sharpening your stainless blades, take them to a professional.