It pays to be rural!

HeidiHeidi
edited February 2009 in Food, Nutrition, & Health
A rancher I know was kind enough to save me a bunch of meaty bones from some cattle he slaughtered. Now I have a whole big box full of fun for the pups!

A lady who raises chickens also told me that she has a bunch of layers that don't lay anymore but are too skinny to be worth the effort of getting them ready to eat. She says I can have them for free to feed to my pups, so I will just behead them and give them to the pups as is. I've never purposefully killed an animal (except bugs) so... this should be interesting.

Comments

  • brandon_wbrandon_w
    edited November -1
    Nice score.
  • KFontaine04KFontaine04
    edited November -1
    Creepy to me, but good for you!
  • tsukitsunetsukitsune
    edited November -1
    really nice score! I'm jealous (is that weird?!)
  • lindsaytlindsayt
    edited November -1
    "Behead them", it makes it sound as if you are planning to do them in execution style. Maybe the lady or a neighbor can slaughter the birds for you and you can dress them out to the dogs. I never mastered the ringing of the neck or the pith, so good luck with the ax.
  • JessicaRabbitJessicaRabbit
    edited November -1
    Are you going to remove the feathers?

    I had considered raising chickens for the dogs. I just know myself well enough, I would end up loving the chickens and would end up keeping them as pets.
  • sujewelsujewel
    edited November -1
    I think you should definitely remove the feathers and I would assume you would have to drain the blood too. I'll ask my mother, I know there's some trick to getting the feathers quickly off the bird - I think you soak the bird in cold water so the pores swell. I have to check though. Hopefully, she remembers. If not, I'm sure you can find it online easily.
  • CaliaCalia
    edited November -1
    Gross, but nice...I heard someone removing feathers in a similar fashion as waxing your legs. Big piece of cloth and a lot of sticky stuff.

    Wouldn't the blood be good for them...I don't live where I need to kill and prep an animal, but I know my mom would always take the blood from meat and use it as stock. She'd also knead the blood with some flour, or something to thicken it, and feed it to the cats.
  • EdgewoodEdgewood
    edited November -1
    Well, nice find.

    I don't think that I could kill them though. My husband grew up on a farm (and we still live on one and he works the land), but he said when he was growing up, his Dad used to slaughter the chickens and it left a lasting (negative) impression on a young boy. Dan said he could not slaughter them and he hated seeing them with their heads cut off (and the beak still moving...yuck).
  • EdgewoodEdgewood
    edited November -1
    A thought, do you have a confined area that you could let Rakka lose with a live chicken? I am sure that she would dispatch it quickly with a quick head shake. I know Kuma would and he would easily give it up to me.
  • GreensageGreensage
    edited November -1
    Here is a link to a very good demonstration on how to kill and clean a chicken. It is a step by step pictorial and is quite graphic; please do not click on the link if you are faint at heart.

    As for the stronger stomached individual I think you will find that this person is masterful at his craft. I only wish I were as confident.

    http://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=109583

    Ron
  • tsukitsunetsukitsune
    edited November -1
    Just a thought, when we buy from hare-today.com, we'll get whole ground rabbit - fur and all. THey also sell goat and chicken this way. They ground and freeze. I assume they do not drain the blood because its mighty bloody when it thaws. The dogs have never had an issue (digestion, parasite, etc) with the whole rabbit.
  • sujewelsujewel
    edited November -1
    Ron, thank goodness you found that link I TOTALLY forgot to ask my mom! Graphic is a bit of an understatement! Whoa.
  • KirbysmomKirbysmom
    edited November -1
    I couldn't do that. Ewwwwwwwwww.
  • HeidiHeidi
    edited November -1
    The chickens' owner says they hardly have any feathers for some reason. One of the reasons she doesn't want them anymore is because laying breeds aren't as hardy as dual-purpose breeds, and she said they have been losing their feathers like crazy. I'm not going to worry about a couple of feathers. I'll just hang them upside down to drain the blood.

    And yeah, it's gross. I want to start raising my own meat and meat for the dogs, too, so I'm just going to have to get used to it.
  • DizKaiMoDizKaiMo
    edited November -1
    No feathers and low weight?

    I'd be careful, then. I dont know about chickens in particular, but when I kept birds both of those were immediate cause for concern about infection. It's that way with any animal, really. Low weight and losing fur/feather/hair.....yeah. I dunno. I'd be kinna nervous about feeding that to them.
  • HeidiHeidi
    edited February 2009
    Well, one reason why layers lose their feathers easily and have low weight is because they're bred to put their calories into making eggs, not putting on weight or growing feathers. It's the same reason that a beef cow is plump and a dairy cow has its hip bones sticking out. It doesn't mean they're sick, that's just how they are. They've always been skinny and they're getting older.
  • JessicaRabbitJessicaRabbit
    edited November -1
    I would 2nd that. Unless someone here knows something about raising chickens. I would be very hesitant to feed animals that are losing weight and feathers to my dogs just in case this is caused by some illness.

    I know you are thoughtful and want whats best for your family (furry and otherwise) but just please be careful.
  • HeidiHeidi
    edited November -1
    I should clarify, they aren't losing weight, layers are just skinny to begin with and don't make very good eating.
  • NekopanNekopan
    edited November -1
    Layers and chickens in general also like to pluck out each other's feathers. It's not an uncommon site to see mostly-naked hens running around.
  • JessicaRabbitJessicaRabbit
    edited November -1
    That makes me feel better. Keep in mind I am a vegan so I know very little about chickens. I think they are cute. I had one as a friend when I was a kid. I feed them to my dogs now, but in the already dead and featherless form.

    Knowing what I have read now makes things much clearer.

    And I admit I did not watch Rons video. I am not supposed to be a farmer. I know this now.
  • HeidiHeidi
    edited November -1
    Kris - I forgot to respond to this, but I think Rakka could kill a chicken quite quickly and efficiently, but I don't want her to get in the habit of killing chickens. I definitely want her to think that the chickens are mine and that only I may kill them.

    Jess - I was thinking as I typed the original post that it's a good thing I'm not you, lol. I like chickens, too, which is why I'm increasingly dissatisfied with the idea of factory farms and limit my intake of animal products to almost none. I'm kind of a faux-vegan, lol. It definitely takes a certain kind of person to be a farmer. I know people who will be up to their knees in cow manure at 3am giving a newborn calf mouth-to-mouth because they don't want to lose that calf and shed tears when they talk about the beauty of it all, then later be consuming that very same animal. I would really like to be one of those people because I don't want to mindlessly consume an animal without knowing the true cost - an animal's life.

    This reminds me of when I was looking up how to butcher a chicken and I came across a yahoo question asking how to do it and half the responses were, "That's mean! Don't kill your chicken, buy one from the store!" The difference between the questioner's chicken and the one at the store was probably that the one at the store had a much poorer quality of life.

    At any rate, I think it's really cool that you're vegan. I've decided to still use animal products, but do so mindfully. I definitely admire your lifestyle choice.

    Oh yeah, on a completely off-topic note, do you take B12 supplements? I recently discovered that I have a chronic B12 deficiency (due to difficulty absorbing it, not my diet) so I have to take sub-lingual tablets. I'm just curious what you do for B12 since it comes from animal products. I'm definitely getting some chickens soon for the organic, free-range eggs so I can get that healthy B12 boost.
  • JessicaRabbitJessicaRabbit
    edited November -1
    I do supplement, B12 (as well as the other Bs too), Calcium, Magnesium, Zinc, Omega Fatty Acids (with flax seed) and probiotics.

    It is funny I was reading the thing about the calf and thought I could stand in dung giving mouth to mouth, the eating part I am not equipped to do. And if I raised chickens (and liked eggs) I would eat them maybe. But I just couldn't do milk products. Ugh it makes my skin crawl (I know I am in the minority here).
  • HeidiHeidi
    edited November -1
    I sort of know what you mean about the milk. Once I had some breastmilk pumped for my MIL to give to Matea while I was away and Isaac got ahold of it and drank it, which really grossed my FIL out. Then I reminded him that cow's milk comes from some gross cow in a barn somewhere, how is Mama's milk grosser than that?
  • lindsaytlindsayt
    edited February 2009
    Forced Molting-Our hens were always fully feathered and fat but the brood hens removed their belly feathers though by choice/instinct. Our ladies were free range and natural, a lot of heirloom varieties, no special laying breeds that you find in a Tyson factory or something. I know that larger productions do forced molting, I think this is what is being mentioned. Forced molting is a process where the chicken is completely starved for a period of time (7-14 days), I think they are also forced into 24 hour lighted areas also. It's done a lot with the older birds, the stress sends their bodies into shock which somehow stimulates them into mega egg production. It must also have something to do with the time of year and the hens' natural inclination not to lay in colder, darker months when it would be difficult/impossible to raise a clutch, so the forced molting is tricking their body to go against nature and to fool them into thinking they are getting ready to raise a big brood. The resulting hen is emaciated, naked and weakened to the point of death. Amazingly, there are laws against this but they don't forbid it entirely.
  • HeidiHeidi
    edited November -1
    It is sad how a lot of animals get treated. I want free-range chickens, but I'm pretty sure they'd become dinner for a wild critter in no time, so I'm thinking I'll make a portable pen and coop and move it around so they have fresh grass.
  • lindsaytlindsayt
    edited November -1
    I hear those work nicely.
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