When I was about 8, my sister and I went to a friend's farm for a day of chicken butchering.
We had no idea what to expect. We were never around anything like that before. Worse... we also were mostly vegetarians back then.
Chickens heads were getting chopped off then the hen was immediately dunked in boiling water. If they accidentally lost their grip on that chicken, the hen flew around and tried to run with no head (blood and all). Truly where they got the saying! Ewww!
Next a group of women sat around and plucked them.
My sister and I sat staring in wide eyed shock.
Later that week we had sore throats. Our doctor said it was pschosematic. (spelling?) We had sympathy sore throats for those silly chickens. LOL!
LOL, I don't know if you'll be glad to know this or not, but most home chicken processing is now done without cutting the heads clean off. The birds are placed, upside down, in a cone, and the jugulars are cut, so the bird bleeds to death in a confined space. This gets most of the blood out of the carcass and eliminates the need to chase a headless chicken. :)
ReplyDeleteWe raise 80-100 broilers every year, and usually my kids don't want to eat chicken for about a week after processing day.
I must have been a preschooler when the neighbors had a chicken choppin' in their back yard next to our driveway. I remember trying to hide behind a rock, but I just couldn't keep from peeking. That image is burned into my memory. It was so hard for me to reconcile that with this kind gentle man who was actually doing it.
ReplyDeleteyikes! I don't think i would have liked seeing that!
ReplyDeletei hope all is well with you, I see you haven't blogged in awhile!
have a great week
marie